While the U.S. continues to be a worldwide leader in producing innovative medical technology, innovators increasingly are going outside its borders to countries such as China, India, Brazil, or "to seek clinical data, new-product registration, and first revenue," according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Overall, the nature of innovation is changing as developing nations are becoming leading markets for "smaller, faster, more affordable" equipment that can provide delivery of healthcare anywhere and help bend the cost curve down at the same time, notes PwC's new "Medical Technology Innovation Scorecard," which looks at results in nine countries.

Many of these countries are free from the "handicap of an entrenched healthcare system" that is looking to keep the status quo as well, the report adds. However, some international companies may be wary of poor intellectual property protections in these countries.

By 2020, countries and companies will need to move from a "silo-based" method of promoting innovation to a new focus on "system-oriented and value-based incentives." This means that areas such as mobile health, value-based purchasing, and personalized medicine will be combined to provide collaborative cost-effective and outcomes-based initiatives.

Information technology will be needed to connect those elements of care throughout the healthcare system and to validate the results, the report says.

For more details:
- see the PwC Medical Technology Innovation Scorecard report

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