Top 10 patent applications by technical field. Number of patent applications registered with the European Patent Office in 2013 (1).

Biomedical engineering is one of the fastest growing areas and the rates of employment are growing year by year, particularly in the area of innovation. For your information, in 2013, more than 10,000 patent applications were registered at the European Patent Office in the field of medical technology, more than in any other technical field. 41% of these patent applications were deposed by European countries, while 38% by the United States. In the biomedical engineering field the Innovation is so important that, on average, a medical technology will be replaced by an updated version within 18-24 months since its introduction (2). The biomedical engineer can find his place as the expert, project manager or project leader in the R&D departments, consultancy firms and academic research groups to design, develop and optimize medical devices for clinical or research use.

There are almost 25,000 companies in the field of medical technology in Europe employing more than 575,000 people, compared to the 520,000 people employed in this sector in the United States. The pharmaceutical industry employs 675,000 people in Europe (3). The demand for workers with a high level of training is therefore important in the field of medical technology in general and especially in our country. The training of a biomedical engineer was developed following such requests.

The biomedical engineer can apply in big companies renowned for a long time for their development and design of medical equipment and also - and especially - in the many SMEs (Small-Medium-sized Enterprises). Indeed, the European medical technology industry is made up of 95% of SMEs (4). These companies are driven by the considerable size of the medical technology market. In Europe, it is estimated at around 100 billion euros (5). Europe also has a positive trade balance of 15.2 billion euros (2013). The destinations and the distribution of the import/export, according to the different countries are specified below, and Belgium has the highest rates.

Main export destinations of European medical technology (2012) (6).

Import and Export of Medical Technology for country (2013) (6).

Our country offers a wide range of employment opportunities for biomedical engineers. To give an idea, in Belgium the medical device industry employs about 18 000 people, the turnover of the medical devices sector on the national market amounts to 3.4 billion euros, the medical devices sector is growing at a rate of 4% per year (2010) and our country has more than 380 companies specialized in medical devices, 70% of SMEs (7).

The interdisciplinary training of this field offers its graduates the spoilt for choice with regard to its career, including, for those who wish, in other fields than biomedical engineering. Indeed, depending on the orientation chosen by the student during his course (which will provide him an advanced technical level), the biomedical engineer will be able to apply to other "More traditional” fields such as mechanics, electronics and computer science. Finally, thanks to the odness of its training anchored in the medical reality, the biomedical engineer can also claim to occupy important functions in hospital services and in the management of hospital structures.

As an example of companies working in the field of medical technology in Belgium, here is the list of members of the Belgian Federation of the Medical Technology Industry, unamec.

• (1) European Patent Office, Eucomed calculations. Medical technology as defined by World Intellectual Property Organization (based on the WIPO IPC-Technology) & Eucomed - medical technology industry in Europe (2014).

• (2) Eucomed - medical technology industry in Europe (2014).

• (3) S. Tripp, M. Grueber, R. Helwig - The Economic Impact of the U.S. Advanced Medical Technology Industry, Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, March 2012. & EFPIA & The Pharmaceutical Industry in Figures. Key Data 2013. Europe refers to EU + Norway, Switzerland.

• (4) Eucomed - medical technology industry in Europe (2014).

• (5) WHO Global Health Expenditure Database, Eurostat, Eucomed calculations based on the data obtained from National Associations of 15 countries.

• (6) Espicom, Eucomed calculations and figures. Manufacturer prices. Medical technology excluding in vitro diagnostics.

• (7) UNAMECs’ annual report, National Bank of Belgium, HUB-VLEKHO & Le consortium de l’innovation MedTech.be, UNAMEC (2013).