Research Assessment #3

Date: September 17th

Subject: Medical Device Market

APA Citation:

Dallas Fort-Worth Hospital Commission Foundation. (2020, December). Community

Demographics Dashboard. Healthy North Texas.

http://www.healthyntexas.org/indicators/index/dashboard?alias=demographics.

Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Commission Foundation. (2020, December). Community Health

Dashboard. Healthy North Texas.

http://www.healthyntexas.org/indicators/index/dashboard?alias=alldata.

U.S. Department of Commerce. (2017). Medical Technology Industry. SelectUSA.gov.

https://www.selectusa.gov/medical-technology-industry-united-states.

Assessment:

Continuing on the market analysis portion of my entrepreneurial journey, I need to assess

the market for my product, assessing my customers and competition. I am currently only using

secondary sources and have not gotten to direct research yet. As part of the research project

during which I developed this idea, I evaluated the existing devices on the market for

communication for stroke survivors and found that my device was unique and addressed the

problems I found with those existing devices. I also briefly talked to healthcare professionals

about my device, who could see how my device was beneficial. As my device is meant to

address a specific medical condition, I already know who my customers are. However, I still

need to determine if I have access to a sufficiently sized market, what the income range and
employment rate of the market is, how saturated the market is, and how competitive my pricing

is. All of this information can be found through secondary research, so I aim to address them in

this research assessment.

First, I need to analyze the medical technology market. As I have not been able to find

specific data for this for Collin County, I am using national data. I do have Collin County data on

demographics and information that can be used to draw conclusions about the market. Since data

on the sales of medical devices in Collin County is of a very narrow scope, it makes sense that I

have not found said data. The national data, however, remains promising. According to the U.S.

International Trade Administration, the United States is “the largest medical device market in the

world” (Medical Technology, 2017) being worth 156 billion dollars. Furthermore, “more than 80

percent of medical device companies in the United States consist of fewer than 50 employees”

(Medical Technology, 2017), indicating that small companies and/or startups are the norm -

which is good news for an entrepreneur. As life expectancy increases and populations age

globally, healthcare needs continue to increase, allowing the market for medical devices to

prosper (Medical Technology, 2017).

Regionally, the market appears to have potential as well. The percentage of Collin

County residents over the age of 65 is steadily increasing and has been for many years now

(Community Health, 2020). However, the percentage of adults who have experienced a stroke is

lower than both the state and national averages, at 2.4% (Community Health, 2020). Although

this may suggest that the market in Collin County is not very large, the following information

suggests that the market may still be a strong one. 87.5 percent of people in Collin County have

medical insurance, above the state average (Community Health, 2020). Furthermore, Collin

County is an affluent area of the nation, with the median household income more than 1.5 times
the national average and the same reflected in the per capita income (Community Demographics,

2020). Only 6.3 percent of people live below the poverty level, which is less than half the state

and national averages (Community Demographics, 2020). This information, in full, leads me to

believe that there is potential for my device.

Having done this analysis of the market, I can start thinking about other steps in this

journey, though I still need to conduct primary research interviews to gain more insight into the

market. One of the topics I think is important for me to research in the coming weeks are the

rules and regulations that would apply to my device. Medical devices need to be FDA cleared,

but as my device could be interpreted as a non-medical communication device, I may not need to

go through any clearance procedures.