MedTech Europe’s Facts & Figures 2026

The data in this Facts & Figures 2026 edition tells a story of resilience in the face of adversity. Europe’s medtech sector is innovating and hiring at record levels: employment has passed 950,000, patent filings remain at record highs, and our innovation efficiency continues to outperform every comparable sector.

Yet Europe’s global position is narrowing. Spending on medical technology here grew just 1.8% in 2025, against a decade average of around 5.6% and below faster-moving markets. Europe now holds 25.6% of the world medtech market, down from 26.4% a year earlier and close to 29% in 2015. The constraint isn’t our capacity to invent, it’s Europe’s shrinking share of places where innovation is adopted, reimbursed and scaled.

The sector’s strength isn’t in question; whether Europe still rewards it is. Much of the answer lies in a regulatory system that hasn’t kept pace. The revision of the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR), under negotiation as this report went to press, is the clearest opportunity in a decade to restore speed and predictability without loosening patient safeguards.

AI makes this urgent. AI-enabled diagnostics already used in European hospitals must simultaneously satisfy medical device rules, the AI Act, data protection, cybersecurity and the European Health Data Space, with no binding mechanism to align them. Europe can fix this without lowering protections: assess how new rules interact with the sectoral framework before adopting them, resolve inconsistencies in the legislative text rather than later guidance, and let compliance demonstrated once under the MDR or IVDR count across the rest.

Public procurement, a key part of market access, is tightening too. Constrained budgets and ageing populations now weigh on investment as much as regulation, even though medtech absorbs less than 1% of Europe’s GDP. Purchasing priorities are shifting toward supply security, long-term value and sustainability, the last of which can’t be delivered by pressuring suppliers alone, since only 5 to 10% of sector emissions sit under companies’ direct control.

This report records Europe’s first-ever fall in company numbers, and smaller companies, some 90% of the industry, are least able to absorb compliance costs and price-driven purchasing simultaneously. Rewarding value over price alone is the correction Europe needs.

These figures show what our sector can do. Whether they reach patients in Milan or Warsaw depends on choices made in Brussels and every Member State. I invite you to explore this year’s insights and join us in making the case for smarter regulation as the foundation for a stronger, safer and more competitive European medtech sector.

Download the full report below.