I have worked for in the commerial team at the British Embassy in Madrid for 13 years and have covered various sectors. For the last 7 years I have focussed on the Life Sciences Sector and Agritechnology.

Before that I worked in the private sector in Germany. Spain is a large country where health is devolved to the autonomous regions.It boasts an extremely good public health system and also a strong private health network. The budget remains tight but
there is an appetite for innovation and for products and services that increase efficiencies and save cost/time. Unless a product really offers something different/unique it may be challenging to find distributors to take it on.

I am Trade & Investment Adviser for the Life Sciences and Agritech sectors at DIT Madrid and have been in role since April 2017.

My previous background combines both trade and investment experience. For seven years, I worked at the former international development agency for the Region of Madrid, having the opportunity to deal with different programs aimed at boosting the regional economy by fostering the exports and the business cooperation between Madrid-based companies and foreign companies. I have also held temporary positions at the DIT Madrid Investment team, which has given me insight into the Investment Attraction area. Lastly, I have experience in EU project management and consultancy.

I work for DIT as Life Sciences trade adviser. I am based at the British Embassy in Rome and I would be happy to meet UK
Life Sciences and healthcare companies to develop their business and export activities in the Italian market.

Our services include: support to identify business partners, clarification and assistance to overcome regulatory and administrative
procedure difficulties, organisation of events to promote UK companies in local market, networking. Relevant areas of interest are: Rehabilitation, surgical and hospital equipment; Diagnostic equipment; Emergency equipment; rescue/lift equipment; innovative digital health solutions; daily life aids; laboratory equipment.

The Swiss healthcare system is highly developed and innovative. Some CHF 70 billion – or more than 10% of annual economic output – is spent on healthcare in Switzerland every year, and 10% of workers are employed in this area.

Switzerland has the third highest life expectancy in the world. Private health insurance is compulsory in Switzerland and Swiss people have easy access to the latest products and technologies. UK suppliers generally have a good reputation and Swiss distributors are always interested in innovative products and technologies.

Marie Gow is a Senior Trade Officer with 16 years’ experience in Trade promotion. She covers the Life Sciences & Healthcare sector.

As part of the DIT Portugal team, my goal is to research the market and identify relevant business opportunities and potential partners for UK companies in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectors, supporting their plans to grow their business in Portugal (as well as third markets).

Main opportunities in the market can be found in areas such as personalised medicine, chronic disease management, assisted living technologies, remote monitoring sensors, augmented reality for health applications, AI and analytics for health, wearable technology and new diagnosis solutions, with local players very open to international partnerships and R&D collaborations. In addition, plans to build/renew and equip new hospitals in the coming 2-5 years, as announced by both the public and private sector, will open up new market opportunities linked to an increasing demand and supply chain needs from local stakeholders.

The need for efficient solutions also provides great potential for e-health and MedTech in the Portuguese market, an early adopter of new technologies where players can benefit from one of the most advanced digital infrastructures in Europe.

I have been working as a trade advisor for Life Sciences in the Dusseldorf British Consulate-General for 9 years.

Within the life science sector I focus on medtech (including medical aids) and healthcare as opposed to biopharma and diagnostics. The medtech industry is an important sector for the German economy. It is a growth market employing more than 210,000 people. Altogether, the health industry was worth €337 billion in 2016 (12% of GDP) employing over 7 million people.