Six winning products set to make Irish healthcare greener

The diverse products range from circular economy medical devices to eco-friendly ultrasound gels.

After a months-long competitive pitching process, the winners of the first-ever ‘Green-tech in healthcare’ call have been announced.

The competition was opened last October by Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI), together with the HSE and the Irish College of General Practitioners (GPs), inviting products which can disrupt the stream of waste produced by the healthcare sector. The call has been described as the “first step” in tackling the research and innovation gap in this area.

The Irish healthcare sector is responsible for an estimated 5pc of the country’s global greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, the health sector contributes 4.4pc of net global emissions. According to Healthcare Without Harm, if the health sector was a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter on the planet.

The six winners of this call are attempting to disrupt and reduce the waste produced in Irish healthcare. Their products will now be trialled, allowing Irish health providers to pilot, refine and adapt the sustainable solutions. HIHI will lead collaborations across Irish healthcare sites to deliver product trials.

The call’s winners include Aerogen, which showcased a sustainable and circular way to produce its solo nebulisers; Vanguard AG, which demonstrated a solution for remanufacturing a single-use medical device; and HaPPE, which pitched a sustainable solution for healthcare waste, specifically for compostable personal protective equipment (PPE) and food waste.

Other winners include EccoSpray for its eco-friendly alternative to ultrasound gel, as well as Offerre, a new consortium of companies which pitched a solution focused on medical waste treatment and recovery, and Medfirst Supplies, which pitched a cabinet system automating the manual cleaning of reusable invasive medical devices.

“Today marks a significant step toward integrating sustainable innovation into Irish healthcare,” said HIHI’s national director Dr Tanya Mulcahy.

“The diversity of the selected products – from circular economy medical devices to eco-friendly ultrasound gels – demonstrates a broad commitment to tackling healthcare’s environmental footprint. This initiative sets a strong precedent for future collaborations in green healthcare innovation.”

While Dr Andrée Rochfort, the director of quality improvement at the Irish College of GPs highlighted the importance of protecting the finite resources of healthcare while minimising the sector’s environmental impact.

“The innovations identified by the green-tech initiative have potential to improve healthcare sustainability in a practical way. We look forward to the reports on these green healthcare products after they are tested in primary and secondary care”.

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