
Matthew Calleja
30th May 2024
MedTech Europe CEO Oliver Bisazza Presents Manifesto During MTF 2024
“Let’s bring that awesome innovation potential into focus, for the next five years and beyond.”
– Oliver Bisazza, CEO, MedTech Europe
At The MedTech Forum 2024 (MTF24), in collaboration with MedTech Europe and the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), Oliver Bisazza, the CEO of MedTech Europe, unveiled an exciting new vision for the future of European healthcare.
Inside the 2024 MedTech Europe Manifesto
“Medical technology is one of Europe’s most dynamic, and innovative sectors, delivering world-class technologies for patients and health systems in Europe while supporting local economies.”
– MedTech Europe Manifesto, 2024

The MedTech Europe Manifesto for 2024 – 2029 presents a visionary plan to transform healthcare across Europe. It calls for the EU to prioritise patients, invest in innovative digital health technologies, and develop a resilient, sustainable healthcare system.
The manifesto is driven by the belief that Europe can excel in health and wellbeing by leveraging EU policies to lead change, set new standards, and reinforce social and economic vitality.
Despite Europe’s strong social security systems, challenges like budget and staffing shortages, an ageing population, and rising non-communicable diseases persist. Addressing these issues requires making health systems more patient-centric, digitally advanced, and sustainable.
Medical technologies are crucial for this transformation.
The EU has a pivotal opportunity to build on recent reforms, supporting healthcare improvements and economic growth. Keeping healthcare a top priority on the EU’s political agenda is essential for continued progress.
Patient-Centricity
In Europe, ensuring high-quality care and access to advanced medical services requires substantial efforts. While healthcare is primarily a national responsibility, the EU can address access disparities and drive innovation.
The manifesto proposes three key recommendations: addressing major healthcare challenges, improving the CE marking system for medical technologies, and enhancing public-private partnerships for innovation.
Additionally, adopting better regulation principles, reducing legislative overlaps, and promoting harmonised application among Member States will make Europe more attractive for investment and technological advancements.
Digital Advancement
For healthcare to evolve, the EU must embrace the digital age fully. The manifesto suggests leveraging digital innovations to empower patients and enhance healthcare professionals’ skills, advocating for a unified approach to digital health.
Key recommendations include leading in AI-enabled medical technologies, investing in digital health literacy, and aligning digital health assessments across Europe.
Moreover, the EU should establish a single market for digital health and health data, ensuring uniform standards across member countries for digital medical technologies.
Resilience
The first half of this decade was defined by the response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the focus shifts to building resilient healthcare systems by implementing crucial lessons learned. This demands the same dedication as the post-pandemic recovery, with an emphasis on prevention, healthcare workforce retention, and timely access to care.
To achieve this, the EU can take several key actions. Prioritising healthcare workforce retention is essential, supported by customised technologies and digital solutions. Enhancing European competitiveness in critical medical technology supplies is vital. Additionally, protecting medical technology suppliers from international trade disruptions is crucial.
Streamlining the regulatory framework is equally imperative. Coordinated mechanisms for joint procurement of medical countermeasures should be ensured. Moreover, adjusting regulations to leverage Real-World Evidence will enhance patient care while ensuring safety standards for medical devices. These actions aim to fortify European healthcare systems for future challenges.
Sustainability
The European Green Deal is the EU’s new growth strategy, aiming to create a fairer and more prosperous society with a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy, targeting no net emissions of greenhouse gases by mid-century. Sustainability in healthcare involves improving performance while upholding the highest health and safety standards.
To achieve this, the EU can foster collaboration among healthcare actors to drive system change and improve performance. Leveraging synergies between the Green and Digital agendas can enhance system efficiencies. Future legislation should align with sector-specific regulatory requirements and boost the sustainability of medical technologies. Developing realistic transition pathways for manufacturers is crucial for uninterrupted access to medical technologies.
Harmonising rules will fortify the European internal market, supporting environmental protection and a competitive medical technology industry.
About Oliver Bisazza

Oliver Bisazza, who joined MedTech Europe in 2017 and became CEO in January 2023, is dedicated to recognising the value of medical technology innovation in addressing healthcare challenges.
Last November, Bisazza attended and gave a keynote at MedTech Malta 2023 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. In his speech, he provided valuable insights into the sector and discussed the ongoing changes and uncertainties surrounding the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR).
Before MedTech Europe, Bisazza worked at Medtronic and held various trade association roles in Brussels. He is a dual national of Australia and Malta and enjoys travel, family time, and rock climbing.
About MedTech Europe
MedTech Europe, the trade association for the medical technology industry, aims to make innovative medical technology accessible while promoting sustainable healthcare.
Established in 2012, it engages with EU regulators to shape policies, highlights medical technology’s value through economic research, and organises events to discuss industry trends and opportunities.
MedTech World for the latest news

Stay updated and stay ahead! Bookmark our newspage, subscribe to our YouTube Channel, and sign up for our Newsletter for insightful perspectives, overviews, and the latest MedTech news.
Psst..! Don’t miss out on MedTech Malta 2024 this November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. Secure your tickets now to be part of shaping the future of healthcare.