The global product design and development services market size is expected to reach USD 17.1 billion by the end of 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 10.9% over the forecast period, according to a new report published by Grand View Research, Inc. Low product cost, short time-to-market, and demand for advanced technologies are some of the factors boosting the growth. Medical and life sciences companies face extreme cost pressures to develop new innovative products in shorter time frames while complying with stringent regulatory requirements of medical device. The regulatory process greatly affects the pathway of device development.

The manufacturers face more hurdles in getting cost-effective high-quality products to market faster along with some internal factors, such as designing and production. Hence, medical device companies adopt a design-to-manufacturing approach where design, engineering, as well as production teams work in collaboration to form product model. This approach enhances both product quality and profitability by decreasing errors in development and designing thereby increasing success rates.

Outsourcing design engineering is anticipated to witness healthy growth over the forecast period as an increased number of manufacturers-from start-up ventures to established companies-capitalize on the benefits related to outsourcing design engineering such as improved product design and cost-effectiveness to attain a competitive edge.

Besides, expert engineering organizations can offer broad multidisciplinary expertise to supplement internal skills, resulting into superior as well as market-dominating products. Outsourcing to a third-party can bring greater control to the development of a medical device as they are bound by contract to perform and deliver.

Further key findings from the report suggest:

  • The research, strategy, and concept generation services segment accounted for the highest revenue share in 2018 as the stage requires extensive research and business and design strategy that generate maximum revenue
  • The surgical instruments segment held major market share of 26.6% in 2018, due to the complexity of instruments required in detailed designing for making them suitable for direct contact with human body
  • Key players in emerging economies of Asia Pacific and Latin America are witnessing significant increase in their revenue owing to the presence of lucrative growth opportunities. Medical device Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are outsourcing the production of their devices to these economies due to availability of labor and raw materials at affordable cost
  • Some of the players operating in the product design and development services market are Ximedica; DeviceLab Inc.; Jabil Inc.; Flex Ltd.; Plexus Corp.; Celestica Inc.; Starfish Medical; Nordson MEDICAL; Planet Innovation; and Donatelle