European medtech industry 2026: patents rise, market share slips

The European medtech industry 2026 report from MedTech Europe shows a sector that continues to invent and hire even as it loses ground in sales markets. Employment rose above 950,000. Patent filings remained near record levels. The grant rate at the European Patent Office stays well ahead of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Europe’s share of the world medical device market fell to 25.6%, from 26.4% the prior year and nearly 29% in 2015. Spending on medical technology in Europe rose 1.8% in 2025, compared with a decade average near 5.6%.

MedTech Europe published Facts & Figures 2026: The European Medical Technology Industry in numbers on 5 October 2026. Unless stated otherwise, “Europe” in the report covers the EU27, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Market figures are manufacturer sales, which exclude wholesale and retail margins, transport and certain taxes.

The European medtech industry 2026 in numbers

Source: MedTech Europe, Facts & Figures 2026.

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Medical technology covers products, services and solutions used to save and improve lives, from prevention through diagnosis and cure. The report splits it into medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and digital health, and the catalogue runs from plasters, syringes, masks, spectacles and self-tests to gene-mutation tests, heart valves, pacemakers and joint implants. More than 2 million technologies are available, grouped into more than 7,000 generic device groups by the World Health Organization.

Innovation and patents

Global research and development intensity in medical technology is estimated at 6.5% to 7% of revenue, and about 10% among the 100 largest companies. MedTech Europe says the revision from the roughly 8% cited in the 2025 edition reflects newer and more broadly corroborated sources, not a one-year collapse in spending, and should be read as a multi-year estimate.

The European Patent Office received 15,905 medical technology applications in 2025, up 1.3% and reversing the prior year’s decline. That was the fourth-largest technical field, behind computer technology (17,844), digital communication (17,802) and electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (16,997), and ahead of transport (9,846), measurement (9,487), biotechnology (8,203) and pharmaceuticals (7,833). Of the applications, 39.7% came from EPO member states, 39.7% from the United States and 20.6% from elsewhere.

Granted patents were higher in medical technology (12,310) than in any other field. The granted-to-application ratio was 77.4%, against 38.6% in pharmaceuticals and 21.5% in biotechnology. Over two decades medtech filings have roughly doubled, while pharma (about 7,800 applications) and biotechnology (about 8,200) have grown far more slowly.

Digital health moves from pilots into routine care

Germany remains the benchmark, with 59 DiGA active at the end of 2025, of which 50 are permanent and nine provisional. Six new DiGA were approved in 2025, and nearly 70% of provisional listings later became permanent. France runs two routes: the LATM list for remote-monitoring activities, which in 2026 includes 37 brand-specific and 60 generic codes, and the early-access PECAN pathway, which has drawn 11 submissions, seven opinions and four favourable outcomes in its first three years. France also recorded its first digital solution approved for routine reimbursement through the List of Reimbursable Products and Services. Belgium started national reimbursement of m-health solutions in January 2025, added seven heart-failure apps from February 2025 and five oncology remote-monitoring apps in April 2026. Switzerland added a digital health chapter to the MiGeL list from 1 July 2026, with cognitive behavioural therapy for depression as the first generic category.

Reimbursement for digital health is real but still concentrated, and MedTech Europe warns that these counts show pathway activity rather than a comparable inventory of products on the market. Absolute numbers can swing sharply from one year to the next, particularly in France, and are not meant for precise cross-country benchmarking.

Source: MedTech Europe, Facts & Figures 2026. Reimbursed digital solutions by indication, 2025. Counts describe pathway activity, not market size; cells marked 0 correspond to categories the report leaves empty.

Spending, market share and growth

Healthcare absorbs about 10% of European GDP. Medical technology is about 7.3% of that healthcare spend, which is under 1% of GDP and about €325 per person. The country range runs from roughly 5% to 12% of health expenditure. Within the 2025 healthcare-spend split, inpatient and outpatient care and other items are 71.5%, pharmaceuticals and other medical non-durables 21.2%, medical devices including imaging 6.7%, and IVDs 0.6%.

The European medical device market is 25.6% of the world market, second to the United States at 47.6%. China is 5.4%, Japan 4.6%, Canada 1.9%, Mexico and South Korea 1.8% each, and others 11.6%.

Source: MedTech Europe, Facts & Figures 2026. European medical device market by country, manufacturer prices, 2025.

Decade average growth is 5.6%. The series was hit by the financial crisis (1% in 2009, then 8.2% in 2010) and by the pandemic rebound (11.5% in 2022). Recent device growth: 2019 2.4%, 2020 3.3%, 2021 5.9%, 2022 11.5%, 2023 9.2%, 2024 6.0%, 2025 1.8%.

Source: MedTech Europe, Facts & Figures 2026. 2025 growth by device sector, manufacturer prices.

Source: MedTech Europe, Facts & Figures 2026: The European Medical Technology Industry in numbers, published 5 October 2026. Innovation uses the WIPO IPC and technology concordance and the EPO Patent Index 2025. Market size draws on the European IVD Market Statistics Report 2025 (preliminary) and Fitch Solutions’ Worldwide Medical Devices Market Factbook 2025. Trade uses International Trade Centre statistics accessed 2 October 2026. This article paraphrases and organises those figures.
Read the MedTech Europe Facts & Figures 2026 report