Research and development is the number one focus in the healthcare industry. Healthcare services, products, and treatments require continuous innovation to treat new diseases and illnesses. The delivery of healthcare treatments are constantly further improving in order to detect, diagnose, monitor, and treat new illnesses and diseases. As a result, the world of healthcare is changing rapidly due to innovation and technology.

Examples of Eligible R&D activities:

• Developing and devising prototypes.
• Developing processes for scale-up to full production.
• Developing algorithms and software packages to support patient and staff systems.
• Improve or further improve performance or functionality of a medical device.
• Research and Development related to wireless monitoring or measurement devices.
• Developing products that collect data, provide medical accuracy, and allow patients to link their data to their standard medical records. 
• Design and development or experimentally developing 3-D printing of medical devices.
• Developing engineering solutions for robotic automation or developing software codes for the operation of a medical device, designing electrical equipment, and implementing processes or robotics.
• Carrying out of clinical tests conducted prior to commercialization, and generating prototypes for testing and validation.

Expenditures can include wages, third-party contractor cost (contractor performing R&D in EEA), materials, machinery, equipment, and overheads.