While the term MedTech might sound relatively novel, it refers to a technological shift that has been taking place since the previous century. For example, MRI technology — one of the major examples of a MedTech solution — has seen its development peak around the 1980s.
Nowadays, however, MedTech is becoming truly widespread and present in the daily lives of regular citizens. Why should you and how can you invest in MedTech development? We look behind the scenes of this incredibly lucrative industry (estimated global revenue in 2019 — 457 billion dollars!) in our guide below.
What MedTech products are there?
Every year we see new innovative solutions revolutionizing the MedTech industry, both on the micro and macro scale. Although MedTech has always been very highly linked to the use of external devices built specifically for medical use, current solutions are more and more often software rather than hardware-based.
Taking all this into consideration, what are the most common MedTech development areas that you might want to invest in?
- High-level complex medical devices — Once again, a good example are MRI machines. Such medical devices are the most difficult and time-consuming to build, both on the hardware and software side, and they also require a very high budget. However, as these devices are bought by medical professionals and hospitals, they often bring the highest revenue.
- Medical IoT (Internet of Things) devices — Much smaller in size and more often targeting directly patients. There is a huge selection of them and companies worldwide manage to tackle virtually every medical problem that exists. Some examples include inhalers for asthmatics that provide a regular diagnosis of the patient’s condition, small wearables informing medical staff about the location of patients with dementia, or insulin pens with tailored smartphone apps.
- Apps utilizing existing wearables — Apple Watch and its competitors made self-diagnosis more common than ever before. Filled with multiple different sensors, advanced smartwatches can provide insightful and detailed information on the user’s health condition. These sensors can also be utilized by third-party MedTech development companies who build watch and smartphone apps tailored to the needs of specific patients categories.
- Medical and health apps — Finally, there are purely software-based solutions. They can be tackling medical-related problems in a variety of ways. On one hand, these could be apps for the general public, such as feminine health apps (including menstrual cycle tracking); on the other, this could also be software for doctors and other medical staff, such as desktop apps helping with the management of patients' documentation.
The most important technologies for successful MedTech development
Unlike many other industries, picking the right technological stack for a MedTech product isn’t easy. There is a huge difference between developing desktop software for doctors, a small mobile app for casual users, a huge medical device, or an IoT solution.
Because of this, instead of a standardized list of technical skills that a MedTech developer should possess, we list some of the most important technological trends in the MedTech industry. Depending on which of these you will want to leverage, you will need a different set of MedTech development experts on board.
- Internet of Things
Effective IoT MedTech development requires both hardware and software expertise. Some of the most important skills in this area are:
- experience with sensors and network connectivity
- knowledge of relevant programming languages (most commonly used ones are C, C++, Java, Python, and JavaScript)
- experience with database management (SQL/NoSQL)
- experience with cloud platforms (most popular ones are AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud)
- experience with API development
- Apps for wearables
Most wearables are based on Android; the one that stands out is surely the Apple Watch, based on the special version of Apple’s mobile operating system. Therefore, to reach as many users as possible, you will most likely want to hire mobile app developers experienced in native Android development (with Java or Kotlin) and native iOS development (with Swift). Alternatively, you can also use some cross-platform development solutions, which allow developers to share a significant chunk of code between different versions of an app. One of such tools, Xamarin, offers full support for both Android and watchOS development with C#.
- VR and AR
Virtual and augmented reality are two technologies that are slowly getting traction in many industries, but they seem to be specifically important for MedTech. Especially VR can become a true game-changer — doctors already use it to run surgeries remotely and others develop VR experiences serving as a kind of therapy. VR products are usually developed using GPU-heavy video game engines like Unreal (C++) or Unity (C#).
- AI and machine learning
Complex AI and ML algorithms are what drives most diagnostic tools on the market today. Such solutions can be developed using many different technologies — popular programming languages for AL and ML are Python, C, C++, and Java.
Whether any of the above trends match the product you are developing or not, we recommend you to review your unique needs with a software consultant or an IT project manager experienced in MedTech development. They will be able to clarify what types of developers and other experts you exactly need and what tech skills should they have.
Always remember about cybersecurity
When it comes to MedTech development, cybersecurity is especially important. IoT products, for example, are one of the most common targets of hacker attacks as they are often left unprotected and vulnerable.
Make sure to tackle this problem early as medical data is one of the things that people want to keep to themselves and their relatives. If you let data leaks and other cyber breaches happen, the patients might be too afraid to use your solution.
There are, of course, many ways to keep your product cyber-secure but it’s important to note the current developments in the area of blockchain. It’s a unique way of transferring data securely by utilizing the power of distributed computing — data is saved on a huge number of devices so a hacker would need to alter the data on all of them, which is virtually impossible.
Soft skills crucial in MedTech development
While the required hard skills may differ case by case, project by project, the most important soft skills for MedTech development stay the same. These are:
- Attention to detail
To deliver results that patients can truly rely on.
- User empathy
To design the product around the patients’ needs.
- Desire to learn new things
To strive for exploring the industry and designing innovative solutions that can change the lives of patients.
The importance of previous MedTech experience
Even if the developer you hire has all the skills you want them to have, you should still make sure that they have previous experience in working within the medical industry, preferably specifically in a MedTech company. Medtech development requires a much different attitude and approach than other industries — remember that your solution will be directly impacting the health of other people.
Additionally, having such experience guarantees that your new MedTech development expert will be able to deliver results faster and more efficiently than a developer coming from another industry. The more the developer matches your company and unique project, the better the results both in the short and the long term.
Assembling your dream MedTech development team
We understand how difficult it can be to onboard all the MedTech development experts you need to take your unique product to the market. Your new hires need not only to have the highest level of expertise in relevant technologies but also have previous experience within the medical industry. In some local markets, such professionals are a true rarity.
That’s where we come in. At Ideamotive, we run the industry-leading network of IT talents from all specialties, including experts in MedTech development. Reach out to us and we’ll match you with professionals who truly fit your project and can deliver results beyond your expectations.
