The UK is looking to strengthen medical technology ties with the Middle East on its departure, Brexit, from the European Union on January 31.

 

This week at Arab Health, UK-based Lexington Communications held a presentation and Q&A, Making a success of Brexit: Opportunities for UK MedTech at the Dubai congress.

 

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“The UK will want to showcase even more its position as a world-class leader in healthcare provision and healthcare technologies, particularly in areas such as AI, digital health and robotics,” said Paul McGrade Lexington’s senior counsel on trade and post-Brexit regulation.

 

According to recent UK Government figures, there were close to $250 million of UK health exports and 19 new joint projects in the Middle East region in from 2017-2018. The UK brand is already well known in the region

and the Association of British Health Industries (ABHI), the trade body for MedTech has said that more than 50% of their members anticipate a rise in Middle East exports over the next five years.

 

Data and AI are the two most important areas driving health technology.

 

Lexington said that looser controls on healthcare data replacing the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation could mean greater opportunities for mining UK patient data for technology development.

 

A 2019 Global AI Index report placed the UK only behind China and the US in investment, innovation and implementation of AI. But lagging regulation could be a roadblock to deployment of AI in both regions requiring future-proofed operating frameworks.

 

 

Source: MedTech News

Image credit: iStock







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Medtech UK Brexit healthcare Middle East AI data trade deals UK MedTech plans to build on strong export ties with the Middle East