Graham Armitage. Image: EIT Health
An aeronautical engineer by background, Graham Armitage has been the interim managing director of EIT Health Ireland and UK since April 2022.
EIT Health, part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, has appointed Graham Armitage as managing director of its Ireland and UK division today (29 August).
A not-for-profit funded by the EU, EIT Health is one of Europe’s largest networks of organisations innovating new health technologies. Headquartered in Munich, it provides funding, training, mentorship and networking opportunities to start-ups.
To date, it has supported more than 2,500 start-ups which have gone on to raise nearly €2bn in investment and develop 113 healthcare products and services launched to market.
Armitage, who had been interim managing director of EIT Health’s Ireland and UK division since April last year, is an aeronautical engineer by background. After spending nearly two decades with the Royal Air Force in the UK, Armitage pivoted to a career in health innovation.
A founding director of Innovo Insights, a health-focused consulting firm, Armitage has spent the last 17 years advancing health research to improve patient outcomes.
He also served on the board of a PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) charity in the UK and has led business and innovation activities at Newcastle University’s national innovation research centre focused on ageing.
More recently, Armitage was appointed as an honorary visiting professor at the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Brunel University in London to guide the institution’s innovation and public involvement activities.
“The next few years at EIT Health are set to be exciting and transformative as our priorities will be collaborating with partners, start-ups and innovators in our ecosystem,” Armitage said.
“We have a strong team, now largely based in Ireland, who strive to engage the energy and knowledge of our highly innovative partner base here and support them to solve unmet health needs.”
Armitage first joined EIT Health in 2019 and has since held several key positions within the network. As managing director, he will aim to identify new opportunities for the body to collaborate with new partners and expand its portfolio of health innovators.
“With a career spanning military service, industry strategy and academic engagement, Graham brings with him expertise in programme management, innovation and quality leadership,” said Annika Szabo-Portela, ad interim chief partnership management officer at EIT Health.
“Ireland and the UK are of strategic importance to EIT Health, as they play host to renowned academic institutions, world-leading medtech and biopharma companies, and support thriving innovation ecosystems.”
Earlier this year, EIT Health revealed that 16 of the Irish start-ups it has supported raised a total of €75.3m last year, through a mix of private and public funding. Overall, it has backed more than 90 start-ups in Ireland, including Luminate Medical and Selio Medical.
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