Aerogen and Irish Medtech Skillnet

Irish Medtech Skillnet: Developing highly specialised talent within Ireland’s medtech industry.

Headquartered in Galway, Ireland, Aerogen is the world leader in acute care aerosol drug delivery. With over 25 years of experience, 300 international patents and associated with over 300 clinical papers and publications, Aerogen technology has been used to treat 30 million patients in 80 countries worldwide.

Irish Medtech supports businesses of all sizes in the medical technology and engineering sectors through the provision of subsidised upskilling programmes. The network’s mission is to further Ireland’s position as an emerging global medical technology hub by enhancing the specialised knowledge and skills of the talent base. Collaborating with industry, the network designs, develops and delivers responsive, bespoke and flexible training courses to address the ongoing needs of businesses.

The Challenge

Ireland’s medtech sector identified a growing skills gap in sterility assurance, a critical discipline that ensures medical devices are safe, compliant and free from viable microorganisms. Through the Irish Medtech Association’s Sterility Forum, industry leaders highlighted that graduates often lacked the specialist industrial sterilisation knowledge required to meet the needs of medtech manufacturers.

As Caroline Walsh, Senior Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Assurance at Aerogen, explained: “We find that graduates coming out of the universities or the technological institutes just don't have that industrial sterilisation knowledge that we need to service our businesses.”

We find that graduates coming out of the universities or the technological institutes just don't have that industrial sterilisation knowledge that we need to service our businesses.

Caroline Walsh, Senior Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Assurance, Aerogen

The Solution

Working closely with industry partners, Irish Medtech Skillnet led the development of Europe’s first Master’s in End-to-End Sterility Assurance. The programme was created through a unique collaboration between Irish Medtech Skillnet, the Irish Medtech Association’s Sterility Forum and Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Galway, with support from Skillnet Ireland.

Industry experts and academic partners worked together to ensure the curriculum reflected real-world business needs, regulatory requirements and specialist sector knowledge.

Ann O’Connell, Network Manager, Irish Medtech Skillnet, said: “We worked with our industry partners and ATU Galway were just phenomenal. We were able to create partnerships with the people in industry that knew the specific content with the people working in the university, and that's been really successful.”

The programme was shaped by expertise from companies across the medtech sector, including Aerogen, Boston Scientific, DePuy Synthes, J&J, Medisize (Philips), Merit Medical, Medtronic and Teleflex, ensuring graduates gain the practical skills required by employers.

The Outcome

The Master’s in End-to-End Sterility Assurance has created a sustainable pathway for developing highly specialised talent within Ireland’s medtech industry. The programme demonstrates the power of collaboration between indigenous businesses, multinational companies, academia and Skillnet Ireland to address critical workforce challenges.

For businesses such as Aerogen, the programme provides a mechanism to address identified capability gaps and influence the development of targeted training solutions. More broadly, it strengthens Ireland’s position as a global medtech hub by embedding industry expertise directly into higher education.

Looking ahead, Irish Medtech Skillnet will continue to evolve the programme alongside regulatory changes and industry requirements, ensuring graduates remain equipped with the skills needed to support one of Ireland’s most important and innovative sectors.