Stryke Force

WORDS BY Tara Corristine

Medtech giant Stryker is firmly embedded in Ireland, with its European Regional Headquarters and seven cutting-edge operations located here. David Tallon, Vice President of Research and Development, Stryker Neurosurgical, speaks to us about the dynamic educational partnerships they have launched, and how Ireland’s industry spectrum offers huge potential for growth.

IT’S SOMEWHAT OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT TO SAY THAT IT’S BEEN A BUSY COUPLE OF DECADES FOR STRYKER IN IRELAND. THE WORLD-LEADING MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY BEGAN ITS IRISH JOURNEY IN 1998 WITH TWO GREENFIELD SITES AND A HANDFUL OF EMPLOYEES IN CARRIGTWOHILL, COUNTY CORK. IT HAS NOW GROWN TO SEVEN MANUFACTURING FACILITIES, INCLUDING A STATE-OF-THE-ART ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FACILITY AND A GLOBAL INNOVATION CENTRE, AND ITS EUROPEAN REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS WITH AROUND 3,800 STAFF ON THE ROSTER.

Stryker was founded in Michigan in 1941 by Dr Homer Stryker after he had invented the turning frame and walking heel while studying orthopaedic surgery at the University of Michigan. Today, the company offers products and services across orthopaedics, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine, with 7,784 patents owned globally in 2018.

Stryker Instruments Innovation Centre in Carrigtwohill, county Cork

David Tallon is Vice President of Research and Development for Stryker’s Neurosurgical business units with responsibility for R&D sites in the US, Germany, Ireland and Japan. He joined the organisation when it established in Ireland. “It was a different climate when Stryker came to Ireland in 1998. There were a lot of medtech companies starting here at the time and a cluster was beginning to establish. We had studied several different locations, and two divisions within Stryker decided to locate in

Ireland and our CEO had us both locate together in Cork. The cluster has only grown significantly since. A lot of our suppliers are in Ireland, and there is a strong startup community within medtech that has grown here.”

The growing medtech cluster facilitated Stryker’s growth both organically and through business development and acquisition. “Stryker acquired orthopaedics company Howmedica in 1998, and with it a facility in Limerick, and it acquired Boston Scientific’s neurovascular facility in Cork. That was all due to the cluster. It’s a perfect success story: the company chose two small facilities here early on but because of the cluster, the environment and the success of the original facilities, the company has grown over the years.”

Stryker Instruments Innovation Centre in Carrigtwohill, county Cork

The turn of the century saw the organisation invest heavily in research and development to continue its journey of innovation. “Manufacturing competency was part of the reason why companies came here, but that’s changed significantly over the years. We started our R&D journey in about 2000 and a large part of that was access to the European market and customers. There has been a lot of investment in research and development in the universities, a lot of incentives around establishing R&D and most companies, not just those in the medtech sector, have significantly invested in R&D over the years.”

Last year, Stryker poured over six per cent of its global sales into research and development, and in June of this year announced that it is to invest over €200m in Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) projects at three of its five Cork facilities: the AMagine Institute in Anngrove, which develops additive manufacturing products for three divisions, Spine, Craniomaxillofacial and Joint Replacement; the Neurovascular business in Model Farm Road, which develops stroke treatment products; and its Instruments Innovation Centre in Carrigtwohill, which designs, develops and commercialises surgical devices.

Stryker Anngrove, Cork

Announcing the news, Stryker’s Group President, Orthopaedics and Spine Spencer Stiles said, “The continued growth and investment in Ireland is the result of many factors, inclusive of the Research, Development and Innovation support from IDA Ireland and the partnerships built with leading Irish universities and research centres. The support from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has allowed access to incredibly talented engineers and scientists based in Ireland.”

One of those partnerships is the Digital Platform Services Centre of Excellence, a strategic collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) to develop digitally-enabled care products and performance metrics to deliver better patient outcomes. Announced in July of this year, it will be located in RCSI’s Smurfit Educational and Research Centre on the Beaumont Hospital campus.

Stryker Model Farm Road, Cork

According to Shaun Braun, Vice President of Digital Platform Services at Stryker, the partnership will ensure that the firm’s digital offering is grounded in clinical reality and, says Tallon, expectations are high. “The concept of having an R&D team embedded in a research hospital and focused on digital products is something we haven’t done anywhere else and we have big ambitions for what is going to come out of that.”

This collaborative environment supported by the calibre and number of organisations offers a company such as Stryker significant growth opportunities in Ireland. “The potential is there, particularly in the ICT industry and the pharma industry. From a combination device perspective, Ireland is very strong in data and the regulatory policies we have around data. We’ve got a very strong software industry so if companies start collaborating across industries, there is huge potential for growth.

David Tallon, Vice President of Research and Development, Stryker Neurosurgical

“In the medtech business, digital healthcare is becoming really important and it’s not just about the device that’s used in surgery, it’s about preparing the patient for surgery, preoperative planning, surgery itself and monitoring the patient afterwards, and that heavily relies on connected devices, digital health products and data, and software is the glue that ties all of that together. All of those competencies exist in multinationals and indigenious companies in Ireland so there is certainly potential to leverage that.”

“From a policy point of view, the Irish Medtech Association is very focused on driving initiatives around industry collaboration, and the talent pool is there. The universities are investing in software centres and AI. That’s going to be ripe for harvesting in the future.”

Stryker Tullagreen, Cork

One relationship that is already yielding rewards is the Manufacturing Apprenticeship Programmes run in association with Institutes of Technology nationwide. “It’s about 10 years since we started our first-time graduate development programme and it is in high demand, we have way more people applying externally than we are taking on. It’s extremely competitive and is now one of the most attractive development programmes in the country and in our industry, attracting engineering talent north and south. It’s been extremely successful.”

Developing and maintaining relationships between education in industry will ensure Ireland continues to deliver the talent pool that industry needs. “If we look at where the market is going in digital health and artificial intelligence, design thinking, user experience and UX design are really important in the future, and making sure that universities are adapting their curricula, not to the needs of industry today but keeping up with what industry is going to need five and ten years from now, that they are relevant and ahead of the pack in terms of the graduates they are producing.

Stryker Instruments Innovation Centre

“The R&D leads here in Ireland all have networks in the universities, they are on advisory boards for curriculum because relationships with academics is key to influencing those curricula, and Stryker does a good job across all the different sectors that we are in within Ireland.” When considering the current talent availability, Ireland offers more than just its own pool, he points out. “We are tapping into, not just the market in Ireland, but the markets within Ireland. Stryker sites are spread around the country and there are very strong universities in Cork, Belfast, Dublin and Limerick. One of the benefits of being a member of the EU is the free movement of people, giving us access to talent in Europe. Our hiring is very multicultural and diverse and we have all nationalities in the Innovation Centre. We also have a really strong organic programme for developing our own lead talent internally. We’re in a good place.”