Enterprise Ireland and Texas Medical Center announce Strategic BioBridge Partnership

• Connecting Ireland’s medtech industry and the world’s largest medical city, Texas Medical Center

Texas Medical Center (TMC) today announced a strategic partnership with Enterprise Ireland. The TMC | Ireland BioBridge partnership will provide gateway opportunities for Irish companies, entrepreneurs, researchers, clinicians, and industry partners to collaborate with Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical city, to solve global health challenges.

Focused on advancing health and life science through commercialisation, innovation and research, the partnership is designed to bolster collaboration and improvement of patient health and care experience through innovative medical devices, digital health solutions, and therapeutics. Research collaboration will focus on identifying opportunities for clinical research and clinical trial activities.

“The breakthrough technology and entrepreneurship that is coming out of Ireland is truly impressive, and the TMC team is thrilled to be in Ireland today to solidify our partnership,” said William McKeon, President and CEO of Texas Medical Center. “The past two years has shown the importance of collaboration at a global scale, and we are eager to start our work with Enterprise Ireland’s team to further global innovation and research.”

Welcoming today’s announcement, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD said “Years of investment by Government and industry has created a concentrated community of innovation and expertise within Ireland that is breaking new ground and making a major contribution to international healthcare. Today’s announcement by Texas Medical Center and Enterprise Ireland is a very positive development and will drive further integration and opportunities to bring Irish healthcare innovation to the world.”

“I visited the Texas Medical Centre during my St Patrick’s Day visit to Texas earlier this year. I am delighted that TMC have been able to return the visit to enter into this important BioBridge partnership with Enterprise Ireland. Ireland is a European leader in medical devices. This partnership will provide Irish companies and entrepreneurs with increased market access to develop the next lifesaving healthcare company,” said Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly.

“The size, scale and reputation of Texas Medical Center brings new opportunities for Irish companies to innovate and scale and enter the US market,” said Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland. “I am delighted to officially launch this partnership with TMC. Enterprise Ireland places a strong focus on driving innovation in the medtech industry and facilitating successful partnerships between Irish companies and influential global healthcare systems.”

Over the past few months, TMC has worked with LifeLet Medical, a start-up company from Galway, Ireland, who is developing a novel biomimetic leaflet material for heart valve replacements. Lifelet is part of TMC’s HealthTech Accelerator programme and is supported by Enterprise Ireland. High Potential Start-Ups, InVera Medical and Aurigen Medical are also past participants of the Health Tech Accelerator Programme. LifeLet Medical and Aurigen Medical have also been awarded collaborative funding under Irish government’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland.

TMC’s BioBridge programme facilitates the exchange of ideas and research at a global scale to better the patient experience and provide groundbreaking solutions for complex health care problems. The TMC I Ireland BioBridge is TMC’s fourth international partnership. Other global partners include Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Over 80% of TMC Innovation’s current HealthTech Accelerator cohort is composed of international companies, showing the reach of TMC’s international partnerships.

The TMC | Ireland BioBridge partnership was formalised at a ceremony held on May 9, 2022 in Dublin, Ireland.

About Texas Medical Center

Texas Medical Center (TMC)—the largest medical city in the world—is at the forefront of advancing life sciences. Home to the brightest minds in medicine, TMC nurtures cross-institutional collaboration, creativity, and innovation among its 106,000-plus employees. With a campus of more than 50 million square feet, TMC annually hosts 10 million patients, performs over 180,000 surgeries, conducts over 750,000 ER visits, performs close to 14,000 heart surgeries, and delivers over 25,000 babies. Beyond patient care, TMC is pushing the boundaries of clinical research across its extensive network of partner institutions on a daily basis, pioneering effective health policy solutions to address the complex health care issues of today, and cultivating cutting-edge digital health applications and medical devices.

About Enterprise Ireland

Enterprise Ireland is the Irish Government's trade and innovation agency. We invest in the most innovative Irish companies through all stages of their growth and connect them to international customers across multiple industries. Our goal is to build successful, long-term business relationships between international companies and Irish partners. With 40 offices worldwide, Enterprise Ireland's teams of industry experts consult with international businesses to understand and solve their business needs.