Ireland to Become Global Hub for Women's Health Innovation, Finds FemTech Report

• A report has suggested Ireland can be a technology, research, and innovation world leader for women's health
• It follows a two-year study, the 'FemTech in Ireland', which it says sets out its findings
• The report points out that the FemTech industry is able to attract more female entrepreneurs

Ireland can be a world leader in technology, research, and innovation on women's health, a new report on the FemTech sector has stated. The 'FemTech in Ireland' research undertaken over two years, shows increasing momentum in Ireland's women's health innovation community.

The report, published by Health Innovation Hub Ireland, points out that the FemTech industry is not only growing very quickly but is also attracting an increasingly high percentage of female founders, with 75 percent of FemTech startups being founded by females.

FemTech is technologies, products, and services that are meant to solve women-specific health problems. These encompass aspects like reproductive health, menstrual health, menopause, pelvic and sexual health, fertility, among others.

Director of Health Innovation Hub Ireland and FemTech Ireland founder Dr Tanya Mulcahy explained that there was a tremendous increase in awareness regarding women's health research.

"WOMEN were kept out of clinical trials for a long time and that has resulted in knowledge gaps about many female-specific illnesses," she said. We now see the necessity to investigate more targeted research—both in conditions affecting women only but also in conditions that affect women differently than men.

Tanya further commented that filling these gaps will result in both men and women receiving improved healthcare solutions. "FemTech entrepreneurs often come into the space because of personal or family experiences. They witness the absence of solutions firsthand and are compelled to create change."

More than 30 Irish start-ups working on solutions for women's health have been helped by Health Innovation Hub Ireland since its establishment in 2022. These include wearable devices to monitor menopause symptoms as well as smart tools for fertility and pelvic health.

The worldwide FemTech market size will be $97 billion by 2030, and the European market alone is set to be worth €60 billion by 2027. Nevertheless, the report cautions that the majority of available research funding and investment today continue to ignore female-specific health conditions despite the sector's explosive growth and potential.

To realize Ireland's potential as a FemTech hub, the report makes several key recommendations:

• Committed funding for women's health condition research
• More funding for Irish start-ups that address women's health
• Development of a national FemTech community space to promote collaboration between innovators, clinicians, and patients