Medical technology in Europe, particularly ventilators to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, became an unexpectedly vital area of the industry in 2020. Manufacturing capacity was shifted to the production of ventilators to help patients with coronavirus, with established companies adding extra shifts and partners stepping up to ensure supply chains were supported.
- VENTILATOR TECHNOLOGY TAKES CENTRE STAGE
- VENTILATOR MAKERS DETAIL SHIPMENTS FOR OUTBREAK
- FOUR MORE VENTILATOR COMPANIES RAMP UK PRODUCTION
- ERICSSON, GETINGE BOOST PRODUCTION
The industry responded magnificently on the whole. Engineers developed new, low cost designs that were available as open source. New designs emerged from unexpected places, most notably UK vacuum cleaner makers Dyson and G-Tech, but struggled with certification as a medical device. The UK ventilator challenge went on to produce over 14,000 ventilators with two modified designs.
- RENESAS DELIVERS OPEN-SOURCE VENTILATOR SYSTEM REFERENCE DESIGN
- OPEN SOURCE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT REPAIR DATABASE FOR PANDEMIC
- MEDTRONIC RELEASES FULL DESIGN FILES FOR PORTABLE VENTILATOR
- UK VENTILATOR CHALLENGE TO START PRODUCTION OF 10,000 UNITS
- DYSON PULLS OUT OF UK VENTILATOR PRODUCTION
- VENTILATOR CHALLENGE FINISHES
Testing was also a key area, with new ways of delivering the ‘gold standard’ PCR tests. DNAnudge, the startup run by serial entrepreneur Prof Toumazou re-purposed its ‘lab on a chip’ microfluidics technology for Covid-19, while Bosch pushed forward its Vitalytic platform to reduce the test time. By the of the year this was down to under 30 minutes.
- LAB-ON-A-CHIP STARTUP GETS TEST BOOST
- WORLD FIRST WITH MULTIPLE TEST MACHINE
- BOSCH PUSHES PCR TEST TIME UNDER 30 MINUTES
- UK TEST SYSTEMS TO BE BUILT IN THE NETHERLANDS BY US COMPANY
- ST TO MAKE CARTRIDGES FOR TESTS
