The Republic has been ranked in sixth place in a global listing of countries that are responding best to the Covid-19 crisis with innovative solutions.
In addition, Dublin has come 13th place in a related city ranking, which is led by San Francisco.
The US government may have been slow to respond to the crisis but it comes first globally for its innovation efforts, according to the list. It is followed by Canada, Estonia, Switzerland and Israel.
The rankings have been compiled by StartupBlink in collaboration with the UN-backed Health Innovation Index (HIEx), the Moscow Agency of Innovations and additional partners such as Crunchbase.
According to Enterprise Ireland, more than 100 client companies are responding to the Covid-19 crisis, through a variety of means. These include working on diagnostic solutions and providing supports for front-line workers.
The presence of leading medical device makers also explains why the Republic performs so strongly in the ranking.
Medtronic, for example, which has ventilator manufacturing plant in Mervue, Co Galway, recently said it was ramping up the number of devices it produces to meet worldwide demand. Chief executive Omar Ishrak said it intended to up production in Galway from 400 a week at the end of April to 700 weekly by the end of May, and more than 1,000 by the end of June.
The Dublin-headquartered company also recently shared the design specifications for one of its ventilators – Puritan Bennett 560 (PB 560) – which can be used to treat critically ill patients suffering the worst effects of Covid-19.
San Francisco tops the list of cities for Covid-19 innovation, followed by two other US cities: Boston and New York. Toronto, Milan, London, Seattle, Zurich, Moscow and Paris round out the top 10.
StartupBlink, a Swiss-Israeli company that collects data on early-stage companies, has produced a coronavirus innovation map to highlight the hundreds of innovations and solutions being developed globally in response to Covid-19.
