The Irish Medtech Skillnet newsletter - October 2025

Irish Medtech Skillnet is Ireland’s premier source of innovative, funded, industry-led training for the medtech and manufacturing sectors.

In this issue

1. Finishing Strong: Course Highlights for the rest of 2025
2. Industry News in Ireland
   1. Announcing the launch of ‘Talent to Thrive   - Powering Excellence: The Irish Medtech Skillnet Strategy 2026–2028’ and the unveiling of another flagship research report, ‘Moving Upstream – Disease Prevention as a Strategic Opportunity for Irish Medtech Innovation’.
   2. Momentum in Medtech: Investment, Jobs & Innovation
   3. Celebrating Ireland’s Women in STEM and Supporting the next Generation
   4. Budget 2026: Ireland Lifts R&D Support for Innovation
3. Irish Medtech Skillnet in the Spotlight
4. Industry Insights - In Conversation with Jackie Murphy, Vice-President and Manufacturing Plant Manager at Alcon Ireland, and Chair of Irish Medtech.

Finishing Strong: Course Highlights for the rest of the year

November - Funded Training

1. Project Management Professional (PMP)®, starting 1st November - Learn More
2. Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices, including Chemical Characterisation, starting 11th November - Learn More
3. Certificate in Employability, starting 17th November - Learn More
4.   Catheter Design & Development Workshop, starting 27th November - Learn More

January 2026 - Thinking Ahead with Funded Training for the New Year

1. Professional Mentor Training (EMCC), starting 20th January - Learn More
2. ISO 14971 in Action: Proactive Risk Management for MedTech, starting 20th January - Learn more
3. Post-Grad Cert in End-to-End Sterility Assurance (L9), starting 26th January. Learn More
4. Master of Science in End-to-End Sterility Assurance, starting 27th January. Learn More
5. Living Leadership, starting 10th February. Learn More
6. Data Analytics & Machine Learning, starting 11th February. Learn More
7. BioInnovate 101: Essentials of Health Technology Innovation, starting 10th March. Learn More

Remember, our training programmes are subsidised by the Government of Ireland and the European Union, saving companies a significant amount on standard course fees, with minimal barriers to access.

Whether you are a start-up, scaling up, or a multinational, all Irish companies can access our funded training programmes with no paid membership required.

Industry News in Ireland: The Global Medtech Hub

Shaping the Future of Irish Medtech: A Strategic Milestone event

Irish Medtech Skillnet invites you to a strategic event for Medtech leaders and decision-makers this November at Thomond Park, Limerick a day focused on foresight, capability, and collaboration.

This event marks the launch of two cornerstone initiatives:

• Talent to Thrive – Powering Excellence: The Irish Medtech Skillnet Strategy 2026–2028 – a roadmap for talent, capability, and competitiveness
• Moving Upstream – Disease Prevention as a Strategic Opportunity for Irish Medtech Innovation – our 2025 flagship research report

Why attend?

• Understand where skills and capability investment will deliver the greatest impact
• Gain insight into future workforce trends and innovation priorities
• Learn how upstream health strategies create opportunities for innovation and commercial growth
• Engage with industry leaders, funders, and policy influencers shaping the sector’s next phase

Event Highlights:
• Strategic priorities for workforce development and programme innovation
• Economic and health rationale for upstream investment
• Case study on Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischaemia (CLTI) with WifOR Institute economic modelling
• Skills and capabilities required for upstream innovation

Two Leaders. One Conversation.

A fireside chat that brings leadership, strategy, and culture into sharp focus—where talent thrives and head-and-heart leadership drives excellence.

Featuring:

• John Kiely – Manager of the Limerick Senior Hurling Team, who has led one of the most successful eras in GAA history through a powerful blend of strategy, resilience, and team culture.
• Evelyn O’Toole – Founder & CEO of Complete Laboratory Solutions, whose journey from start-up to industry leader reflects vision, adaptability, and a commitment to growth.

Facilitated by Padraig Hyland, CEO of The Core Story, this session will explore what it takes to build high-performing teams, lead with clarity and purpose, and sustain success in a changing world.

This conversation reflects the principles behind our new strategy:
Talent to Thrive – Powering Excellence, developed through deep discovery and the Heart Compass process. It’s about blending Smart + Heart, strategic foresight with human connection, to create lasting impact.

Speakers include:

• John Kiely - Manager of the Limerick Senior Hurling Team.
• Evelyn O’Toole – CEO, Complete Laboratory Solutions
• Mark Jordan – CEO, Skillnet Ireland
• Eoghan Ó Faoláin – Director Irish Medtech
• Kevin O’Keeffe – Stryker, Senior Director Operations and Site Lead, Stryker
• Finbar Dolan - Founder & CEO of Versono Medical
  …and other key voices

Date: November 11th, 2025
Location: Thomond Park, Limerick
Time: 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM

This event is about foresight, capability, and collaboration, which is essential for companies that want to lead in innovation and investment. We hope you’ll join us as we shape the future of Irish Medtech together.

Register Here

Momentum in Medtech: Investment, Jobs & Innovation

Despite international uncertainty, Ireland’s medtech sector has benefitted from a major investment wave in 2025, reinforcing its position as a global hub for innovation, talent, and R&D. Here are some of the highlights:

Investments & Expansion

• Complete Laboratory Solutions to create 140 new jobs in Galway as it scales global ambitions
• Dublin-based software firm Deciphex, has secured €15m venture debt to drive expansion of their digital pathology services, using artificial intelligence to interrogate tissue sections from biopsies to accelerate workflows and improve patient turnaround time and diagnostic accuracy.
• Dublin-based biotech Meta-Flux has raised €1.8m to expand its technical team in Ireland  and develop its AI-powered platform designed in order to conduct disease simulations in drug development.
• Mark O’Sullivan, the co-founder and CEO of NeuroBell, is named as this year’s Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Start-up (HPSU) Founder of the Year.

Celebrating Ireland’s Women in STEM and Supporting the next Generation

STEM Passport for Inclusion, run by Maynooth University, is calling on industry professionals to step forward as mentors to support girls from under-served communities entering STEM careers.  The programme has already reached more than 5,000 participants and partnered with over 1,000 mentors across 180+ companies.

The initiative offers Transition Year students a university-accredited STEM qualification, one-to-one industry mentoring and real work-experience pathways – specifically targeting young women from working-class backgrounds, who remain under-represented in STEM. For industry, this is a meaningful opportunity: professionals across medtech and related sectors can give back, build leadership capacity and contribute to a talent pipeline that better reflects the society we serve.

At the other end of the spectrum, we proudly recognise the winners, nominees, organisers and sponsors of the Women in STEM Awards 2025 which took place in Dublin on October 23rd. These awards celebrated the best and brightest women in Irish STEM – researchers, engineers, innovators and leaders who are shaping the future. Congratulations to all the award-winners, shortlisted candidates and everyone behind the scenes who made the event a success, particularly Susan Treacy BSc., M.Med.Sc., PG Dip. Of HealthTech Ireland, winner of the Women in STEM Award for Health Technology.

Why these initiatives matter for medtech-industry stakeholders:

• Mentoring young talent strengthens workforce diversity and builds a pipeline for future medtech innovation.
• Engaging with programmes like STEM Passport enhances your organisation’s talent brand and supports inclusion, which is increasingly important for global investors and supply chains.
• Recognising women leaders in STEM sends a powerful signal: that Ireland’s medtech sector is committed to equity, growth and future-proofing skills.

If your company has senior women in STEM roles, or mentoring-capable professionals, now is a great time to get involved – both to support talent and to benefit from the long-term upside. Read more here.

 Budget 2026: Ireland Lifts R&D Support for Innovation

In the recently announced Budget 2026, the Irish Government made strong moves to back research-driven business growth — a clear signal for sectors like medtech. One of the headline changes: the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit rate has been raised from 30 % to 35 %.

For smaller firms, the first-year refund threshold has increased from €75,000 to €87,500, improving early-stage cash flow. The Government also committed to publishing an “R&D Compass” in the coming weeks — a roadmap for further reform, which will look at issues such as outsourcing rules and qualifying expenditure definitions. In addition, funding for the Enterprise Ireland and other enterprise-agencies will be ramped up to support scaling firms, overseas market entry and innovation-led jobs.

Why it matters for medtech
For Ireland’s medtech sector, which relies heavily on R&D, innovation and global competitiveness, this budget isn’t just welcome — it offers a tangible boost. A higher tax credit rate and improved access for SMEs make the cost of innovation more manageable. The R&D Compass offers hope for further alignment of rules with how R&D actually works in practice (for example, outsourcing and university collaboration).

Bottom line
The Budget reinforces Ireland’s ambition to remain a top destination for medtech innovation and investment. It’s a strong vote of confidence in knowledge-intensive sectors and should help companies with long-term R&D strategies, product development and export growth. Learn more on the gov.ie  website.

Irish Medtech Skillnet Events Calendar

Irish Medtech Skillnet on the Road

Promoting our transformative training solutions “on the road” is all in a day’s work for our team! These events keep us close to our industry audience and drive awareness of our industry-led, funded programmes, which attendees can avail of.

If you’re planning an event or career day to support continuing professional development for your employees, we would love to have a stand there! We can also participate in industry events as speakers or panel participants. Here’s how the remainder of 2025 is shaping up. Please get in touch if you'd like us to add your event to the list.

• Launch of Talent to Thrive - Powering Excellence: The Irish Medtech Skillnet Strategy 2026–2028 and the unveiling of a research report, Moving Upstream – Disease Prevention as a Strategic Opportunity for Irish Medtech Innovation, on 11th November 2025 at Thomond Park, Limerick. Register Here
• Post Graduate Certificate in Sterility Assurance Graduation at the Irish Medtech Sterility Forum on 20th November 2025 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone
• Medtech Rising 2025: We’re proud to sponsor this Irish Medtech event on Thursday, 4th December 2025, at the Galmont Hotel, Galway
• We’re delighted to celebrate the achievements of participants on our subsidised training programmes, as they graduate from programmes in the coming months, including:
  • Bachelor of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing
  • Postgraduate Certificate in End-to-End Sterility Assurance (L9)
  • Masters in Medical Technology Regulatory Affairs

Industry Insights: An interview with Jackie Murphy, Vice-President and General Manager of Alcon Ireland.

Jackie is the Vice President, Manufacturing and General Manager of Alcon Ireland.

Jackie joined the company as a Manufacturing Engineer when it was Summit Technology, a manufacturer of refractive lasers before progressing to Head of Manufacturing.

When acquired by Alcon, the Cork plant was repurposed as an Intraocular lens manufacturing site, and Jackie was promoted to General Manager to start up the manufacturing process for Alcon’s IOL portfolio of products. During her tenure in this role, she has grown the plant to become a key site in the Alcon network, employing over 650 people. Jackie also spent three years as General Manager of Alcon’s US Intraocular lens/delivery device site in Huntington, West Virginia.