Press Release: Medical Devices: high-level conference on delivering innovative healthcare

Medical devices make a critical difference to quality of life for millions of EU citizens everyday. From the simple bandage to the most sophisticated life-supporting products, the medical devices sector plays a crucial role in the diagnosis, prevention, monitoring and treatment of diseases to improve the lives of people suffering from illness or disability.

EU Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli, and Hungary's Minister of State for Health Miklós Szócska, will co-chair a High Level Conference in Brussels on "Exploring innovative healthcare – the role of medical technology innovation and regulation". They will call for improvements in the innovation process so that, safe, life-saving and life-enhancing medical equipment can be brought to Europe's patients and consumers as quickly as possible. The outcomes of the Conference are expected to feed into concrete initiatives, in particular to the recently launched European Partnership on Innovation and the upcoming Recast of the medical device legislation.