New GenAI Playbook sets out roadmap to strengthen Ireland’s global Medtech competitiveness
New industry Playbook identifies 92 high-value AI opportunities as sector looks to GenAI to strengthen Ireland’s global competitiveness.
Irish Medtech and Irish Medtech Skillnet with lead authors Brightbeam, have today launched the Generative AI for Medtech: The 2027 Playbook, a new industry-led roadmap designed to help Ireland’s medical technology sector move from AI experimentation to practical, responsible adoption across highly regulated operations.
The Playbook identifies 92 high-value GenAI use cases and 28 detailed deep dives across six core value streams, including Quality & Compliance, Manufacturing, Regulation & Sustainability, Supply Chain, Business Processes and Clinical Data.
The report comes as Ireland’s Medtech sector faces intensifying international competition for high-value investment and manufacturing. Ireland's Medtech sector employs more than 50,000 people, exports €20 billion annually, and is home to 14 of the world’s top 15 Medtech multinationals. However, the Playbook warns that maintaining this position as emerging markets increasingly compete for sophisticated medical device production will require a significant step-change in digital productivity.
One of the most significant opportunities identified is the potential to release highly skilled people from what the report describes as “administrative drag”. Across Medtech manufacturing sites, engineers and scientists are estimated to spend 20% to 40% of their bandwidth on manual data retrieval, documentation formatting and administrative reconciliation. GenAI can redirect this capacity toward higher-value engineering, innovation, and patient-centred activity.
Dr Ann O’Connell, Head of Funded Projects for Medtech and Engineering, Ibec / Irish Medtech Skillnet, said:
“Generative AI delivers a significant operational enhancement and provides a vital new capability for Ireland’s medical technology sector across six core value streams: Quality & Compliance, Manufacturing, Regulation & Sustainability, Supply Chain, Business Processes, and Clinical Data. This Playbook demonstrates how companies can move from ambition to action by unlocking these high-value opportunities responsibly.
“Rather than replacing human expertise, Generative AI serves as a powerful new enabler that eliminates administrative drag and frees our skilled engineers, scientists, and quality specialists to focus on high-value innovation. Through Irish Medtech Skillnet, our priority is to provide and support the talent pipelines, accredited qualifications, and practical supports required to turn this new capability into an enduring competitive advantage for Ireland.”
From Experimentation to Enterprise Capability
AI experiments through focused experimentation and scaling to strategic integration, at which point AI becomes embedded as a long-term business capability.
For one of the world’s most highly regulated industries, it establishes critical human-in-the-loop governance as a fundamental principle. AI can support search, data extraction, pattern synthesis and initial document drafting, but qualified subject-matter experts must retain full visibility and accountability. AI-generated outputs affecting quality, regulatory or manufacturing records should continue to be filtered through established Quality Management Systems and processes.
The Playbook provides a four-stage adoption framework to help companies progress from isolation.
Dr. Eoghan Ó Faoláin, Director of Irish Medtech, said:
“Generative AI represents a transformative leap for Ireland’s medtech sector. By accelerating product innovation, streamlining complex business processes, and optimising advanced manufacturing, the technology will enable the sector to not only drive operational efficiency, but also deliver world-class, patient-centred solutions faster and more competitively on the global stage.
“By identifying where AI can be applied today, and by acting on the recommendations in this report, we are taking another collective step forward to ensure Ireland remains a global leader in innovative, patient-centred medical technology solutions.”
Brian Hanly, CEO of Brightbeam, said:
“Ireland’s competitive advantage is driven by our ability to attract and execute on high-value, complex manufacturing operations in a highly regulated environment.
“To sustain this position of global leadership, the sector must build upon its strong foundation of lean principles and existing digitalisation, using AI as a strategic enabler. Much of the knowledge needed to improve performance already exists within each site, but it is scattered across systems, documents and individual experience. Expressed simply, the opportunity with AI is to bring that knowledge to the point of the decision, every time."
Turning AI Potential into Competitive Advantage
The report identifies three factors that will be critical to translating AI investment into tangible value: eliminating administrative drag; protecting organisations against the loss of tacit knowledge; and using the Medtech sector’s rigorous regulatory and compliance frameworks to underpin safe and transparent AI deployment.
It also sets out four immediate actions for executive leadership: target high-cost value streams; appoint an executive sponsor with cross-functional authority; invest in measurable pilot projects; and prioritise workforce capability so employees can use AI effectively, challenge its outputs and retain appropriate human governance.
Irish Medtech Skillnet is aligning its education and professional development portfolio with this transition, including its MSc in Medical Technology Regulatory Affairs, MSc in Digitalisation of Manufacturing, Level 8 Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Strategy & Lifecycle Regulatory Affairs, and a new Level 9 Postgraduate Certificate in End-to-End Sustainable Medtech Production, which will incorporate AI and Data Analytics.
The Generative AI for Medtech: The 2027 Playbook is now available from Irish Medtech and Irish Medtech Skillnet at: https://www.talent-to-thrive.ie/gen-ai-medtech-playbook/
About Irish Medtech
Irish Medtech is the business association within Ibec representing the medical technology sector. Irish Medtech has more than 250 members, located throughout the island of Ireland. The group’s broad focus is to promote and support an environment that encourages sustainable development and profitable growth of our FDI multinational and SME member companies. Irish Medtech is led by a Board of CEOs and Chief Representatives, it implements its strategy through working groups, taskforces and networks. The group acts as a promoter and supports training and upskilling for medtech and engineering businesses in Ireland through the Ibec Apprenticeship programmes and Skillnet Business Networks.
About Irish Medtech Skillnet
Irish Medtech Skillnet is an industry-led learning Business network that works with Ireland’s Medtech sector to identify and respond to current and future skills needs. Its education, training and professional development programmes support the development of the specialist talent and leadership capabilities required to sustain Ireland’s international competitiveness.
Irish Medtech Skillnet is co-funded by Skillnet Ireland and network companies. Skillnet Ireland is funded from the National Training Fund and the European Union through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
About Brightbeam
Brightbeam integrates digital intelligence into enterprise organisations. Their mission is to be the most helpful services company in the world. They provide end-to-end support through four core service pillars: focus, build, embed and invent.
