ARC Hub for HealthTech at University of Galway opens up new minds and markets for medtech

Research Ireland, EU collaboration secures €34m in funding

Life

Pictured: Diarmuid O’Brien, Research Ireland; Dr Paddy Austin, Assistant Director for ERDF, Northern and Western Regional Assembly; Prof Garry Duffy, ARC Hub for HealthTech, University of Galway and RCSI; Prof David Burn, University of Galway; Elena Panteva, Directorate General for Regional & Urban Policy, European Commission

In association with Research Ireland

Launched today, the ARC Hub for HealthTech, based at University of Galway will fast-track the development of high potential health technologies. The hub is co-funded by Research Ireland and the European Union to the tune of €34 million.

Director of the ARC Hub for HealthTech Prof Garry Duffy explains that the ARC’s role is not just to fund ideas but to turn them into products. The hub is focused on helping researchers to move from “an academic mindset to more of a commercial mindset,” offering training in everything from product‑naming and commercialisation storytelling to market analysis and regulatory navigation.

An operations team at the hub “wraps around” first‑time founders so they aren’t forced to “be expert in every area” while centralised clinical and legal supports for AI and digital health mean “it’s not each company learning these things individually, we’re trying to centralise it, so companies benefit from that shared knowledge.”

The ARC Hub has the ambitious goal of creating nine spin-out companies by the end of 2029. “And by that we mean a company that has secured private equity funding,” says Prof Duffy.

ARC is supporting 23 projects across thematic areas including novel sensors, advanced wearables, decision support and intervention planning, algorithms and AI/ML models, and smart implants. The focus of the projects is on improving clinical outcomes and the management of chronic diseases and includes a smart urinary health monitoring system for early detection of infections, and a robotic-assisted platform for remote physiotherapy.

To secure a place at ARC selected projects need to show clear evidence of the maturity of their technology, explains Prof Duffy. “We definitely need some level of evidence on the technology side to come in. We call that technology readiness level three, which means there’s been some validation of the technology.” The projects also need to show they are meeting a clearly defined unmet need, and that they have commercial potential.

At the launch event, the ARC team put out a fresh call for projects to include the additional area of medical robots. Prof Duffy says the new round will also have a keen focus on femtech projects. “In the next round we have a dedicated budget for femtech projects too; we’re particularly prioritising projects in the femtech space. These are projects tackling medical problems that disproportionately affect women. We’re seeing a lot of global success for Irish projects in this space at the moment.”

Prof Duffy leads a team of 11 co‑investigators including clinicians such as Martin O’Halloran, Michelle Canavan, Emer Dolan, Aoife Lowery, Richard Costello, Suzanne McDonough and Derek O’Keeffe, many of whom are also involved in the BioInnovate Ireland programme, also at University of Galway.

The ARC Hub is grounded in the Northern and Western region’s long-standing strengths in life sciences, medtech, and medical devices. “I think [ARC] is the next stage, because medtech is moving from mechanical type devices to more smart devices, and more at‑home care versus in‑hospital care. There’s a real trend here, and we’re all excited by it. There definitely is an untapped amount of innovation in the university sector that just needs support to get out,” concluded Prof Duffy.

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