Major medical device companies are increasingly outsourcing their innovation. Here’s what that means.

The medical device industry is increasingly relying on small, young companies to provide innovations, but the early-stage medtech companies are mostly relying on angel investors.

It’s also more important than ever to protect intellectual property and mitigate exposure to litigation.

Those were some of the big takeaways from a Greenberg Traurig–sponsored panel on medtech M&A, IP and product liability trends — held at DeviceTalks West in December. (Check out Greenberg Traurig’s next panel about medical device industry trends at DeviceTalks Minnesota, March 23–24 in Minneapolis.)

Panelists included Marlon Housman, senior legal director at Medtronic Vascular; Casper de Clercq, a general partner at Norwest Venture Partners; Roman Fayerberg, a shareholder and registered patent attorney at Greenberg Traurig; and Ginger Pigott, vice chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Litigation Practice.

Go to our sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing and discover four medical device industry trends affecting innovation.