Healthcare and Life Sciences – An industry with significant potential for Greece
Article by Dr. Costas Troulos, Senior Advisor, Innovation Department, SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, at ECONOMIA
As Greece bounces back from a long period of dire financial challenges, healthcare and life sciences emerge as a vibrant sector with strong potential for the country. The remarkable growth of the sector is reinforced by local entrepreneurial activity (startups), Greek pharma investments, and the strategic interest of global giants such as Pfizer. Acknowledging the unique opportunity, SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises) recently launched a working group for the healthcare and life sciences innovation ecosystem. The aim of the group is to share experts’ knowledge and experiences, give critical updates on global developments and trends, and facilitate synergies and collaborations among the stakeholders, including pharma, startups, researchers, funds, and other institutions that support innovation.
Global pharma grows in record rates
The global pharmaceutical industry accounts for nearly EUR1.2 trillion and grows at an annual rate between 3 and 7%. Within the pharma industry, digital health grows by nearly 40% YoY – that is 10 times faster than the entire industry. Moreover, investments in adjacent and relevant sectors account for $70 billion. These money are invested in pharmaceutical and biotech research outside the big pharma, e.g., in startups, SMEs, incubators/accelerators, research centers and universities. Total investments in healthcare start-ups worldwide exceeded $100 billion in 2021 (record year), whereas healthcare investments increase by ~21% YoY, and digital health investments by ~27% YoY. Finally, 65% of drugs and diagnostics licensed in America and 35% in Europe come from industry collaboration with universities and startups.
Strong innovation potential to exploit the global opportunity
The Greek pharmaceutical industry plans to invest more than EUR1.2 billion in production, high-tech equipment, and R&D, over a four-year period. In addition, exports rose to EUR2.9 billion in 2020 up by 48.3% from 2019. With regards to the country’s startup ecosystem, evidence from Elevate Greece suggests that health-tech represents 14.1% of the startup innovation. Finally, top-class medical centers and research infrastructures are available in the country.
Greek startups are active but could use a strong push to scale up fast
Based on a recent study of SEV, more than half of the health-tech startups are in digital health and offer disease management, telemedicine, and wellness platforms. Other solutions in the ecosystem include diagnostic tests (a sector that grew fast during the pandemic), and medical devices. Nearly 70% of the companies in the ecosystem are young (ie. at early funding rounds) and are looking for funding from financial and strategic investors. Finally, 57% of the startups would look forward to meeting with a leading technology and market advisor, from the Greek Diaspora, to help them evaluate and further develop their products.
An imminent call to action
Our research offers critical conclusions and a clear direction for action: a) the industry needs investment to grow quickly and sustainably, b) it is critical to exploit synergies among the big corporations, funds, universities, and startups, and c) the industry needs an innovation ecosystem that supports the growth and success. In this context, SEV identifies three key areas of support and is placing significant effort and resources:
Business development. The companies in the ecosystem are primarily export driven and always look at the global channels for sales and growth. Funding is a critical element for developing the business fast. Mentors from the Greek Diaspora would greatly benefit startups and bigger companies in the industry.
IP management. The management of IP rights is a domain where the startups and SMEs need improvement and support. Also, Greece needs to develop a favorable and easy to navigate IP system, within the entire range from technology development in the university to IP commercialization.
Product development. The collaboration of start-ups, established companies and the public sector can lead to co-development of products that explore breakthrough innovation, market knowledge and distribution. The participation of the public sector is also beneficial for facilitating pilots, reimbursement schemes, etc.
SEV believes that the national innovation ecosystem will become sustainable only when stakeholders acknowledge its contribution to their success, and as a result, profits are reinvested in and capitalized by the ecosystem. To this end, SEV will continue to contribute to the development of an enabling framework that offers collaboration opportunities and makes critical resources for growth available.
