Ensuring a Successful HealthTech Innovation Journey in Today’s Acceleration Economy

Bringing technology innovations to patients, doctors and healthcare providers is no easy task, but the challenge attracts entrepreneurs around the world who are on a mission to transform healthcare. And that is attracting record amounts of investment dollars. In 2018, U.S. venture capital firms invested over $28 billion in healthcare firms – an all-time high. However, bringing the next generation of innovative healthcare solutions to market is quite different than it was just a decade ago, thanks to a much tighter regulatory environment, new pressures to keep costs down and higher-than-ever expectations for fast delivery and high quality– a core attribute of the Acceleration Economy.

Early-stage healthcare companies are just setting out on this journey. Typically they will have already successfully identified gaps or problems that their solutions can help solve, but there are significant milestones and scenarios to prepare for, ranging from materials and supply chain management, testing and quality assurance, and manufacturing needs.

Success requires strong external partners who can serve as expert guides to help healthcare companies bring their innovative solutions to end-users sooner and as intended. As a leader in design, manufacturing, automation and supply chain solutions, Celestica brings global expertise and insight at every stage of product development – from the design to full-scale production and after-market services. We enable companies of all sizes, from early-stage companies to multinational, legacy healthcare brands, to take their products to the next level – accelerating market entry and maintaining their value throughout the entire product lifecycle.

Recently, Celestica partnered with a US-based healthcare firm, Respiratory Motion, to bring their next generation minute ventilation monitor to market. Paul Heller, Vice President of Manufacturing for Respiratory Motion, worked closely with Celestica’s design, engineering and manufacturing teams to ensure their needs were met.

“We are pleased to be working with a tier 1 company like Celestica to bring the ExSpiron 2Xi to market. As we continue to see tremendous adoption of the ExSpiron for monitoring respiratory status, it is advantageous to be working with a manufacturing company that can scale to high volumes in a short period of time to accommodate to the demand and bring the next generation device to market,” says Paul.

Another example of Celestica’s involvement with early stage firms is with Bodyport, a company that develops smart scales with unique cardiac sensors. It allows healthcare providers to assess the overall health status of their patients and flags deviations from each patient's individualized health baseline. Bodyport’s Founder and Head of Product, Sarah Smith, first engaged with Celestica in 2018.

“Celestica has played a critical role in helping us bring the Bodyport product to market. Their years of experience working in tightly regulated industries enables Celestica to build quality healthcare products without sacrificing speed and flexibility. As an early-stage startup, we’ve relied on their broad expertise to help us navigate the complexities of medical device design and manufacturing,” says Sarah.

As other early stage healthcare firms set off on their innovation journey, there are several considerations they need to keep top-of-mind:

Agile Manufacturing to Accelerate Market Entry
Companies must be ready to deliver when interest in their new products spikes. Scaling manufacturing is critical in the Acceleration Economy where increased demand for faster delivery is at an all-time high. A strategic partner with specialized expertise in high-speed automated manufacturing and presence in low-cost geographies for speed and cost advantage is a resource that will prove invaluable on this innovation journey. Celestica’s flexible 24/7 manufacturing with a broad spectrum of automated processes helps healthcare companies scale rapidly at the most effective cost. In addition, Celestica possesses an international healthcare center of excellence (COE) network comprised of ISO 13485 certified and FDA-registered facilities across North America, Europe and Asia with localized supply bases to maintain cost efficiencies and speed time-to-market. 

The Best Components and Materials Deliver the Best Experience
Building new healthcare solutions necessitates deeper consideration and doesn’t follow the same path as the consumer electronics product journey. With an intent to improve patient and provider care, next generation healthcare solutions can ill afford to possess any electronics components and other sourced materials that are subpar. Electronics components design and supply chain management are of critical importance. 

Maintain Quality and Performance Anytime, Anywhere
There should be no boundaries or barriers to delivering great patient care. Whether in the home, outpatient facility or a hospital, healthcare solutions need to perform their best in every environment. Celestica’s integrated quality and operational platform ensures solutions entering the marketplace maintain their high-quality throughout their lifecycle and are top performers in any environment.

At Celestica, we build and sustain strong relationships by offering agile manufacturing and supply chain solutions, a commitment to quality and compliance, and a heritage of technology leadership. We work with OEMs’ and healthcare firms’ development and quality/regulatory groups to apply processes and pre-launch rigor that minimizes risk, accelerates market entry and avoids post-launch issues.

Are you ready to accelerate your innovation journey without sacrificing quality and efficiency along the way? Learn more about Celestica’s capabilities and how we are enabling healthcare technology solutions for the future.