Best Planet Innovation alternatives in 2026

Founded in 2007, Lemberg Solutions builds both hardware and software, and has offices in Lviv, Hamburg, London and Kraków. For medical device teams it covers electrical engineering, firmware, RTOS and embedded Linux development, FPGA programming, GUI work, connectivity and IoT, edge AI and cybersecurity, so one vendor can own the device electronics, its embedded code and the cloud or mobile side that talks to it. Healthcare is one of its core industries alongside automotive, energy and logistics, and named clients include Astronics, Caltech, Ferno, Cellink and Bosch Rexroth. The company holds ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certification and runs its own hardware lab. It does not manufacture finished devices at volume and does not obtain regulatory clearance on a client's behalf; it supplies the engineering documentation the client's regulatory team needs.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Owns PCB design, firmware, embedded Linux, IoT backend and edge AI under one roof, so device and cloud are designed together. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Lemberg Solutions is better for connected and smart medical devices, one engineering team.

StarFish Medical was founded in Victoria, British Columbia, by Scott Phillips (the company gives 1999; some directories list 1998). It works only on medical devices, covering design, development and low-volume manufacturing in ISO 13485 certified facilities, and reports around 230 staff across Victoria, Toronto and Irvine (per company website; independently unverifiable). In November 2024 it acquired Omnica Corporation, a California medical device design firm, which added a larger US West Coast presence. Victoria remains the headquarters and its largest site.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Medtech-only practice that can build clinical and early commercial units in its own certified clean room. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, StarFish Medical is better for startups needing design plus pilot manufacturing.

Founded in 1992 by MIT-trained engineers, Sunrise Labs is a privately held product development firm that now operates from Bedford, New Hampshire, with a Boston-area office added in 2022. Its work concentrates on electromechanical medical devices: infusion and fluid handling, diagnostics instruments and therapeutic systems that combine motors, sensors, electronics and embedded software. Directory listings put the team at roughly 90 to 100 people. Sunrise Labs handles development and design transfer and does not run its own volume manufacturing.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Three decades of work on pumps, fluidics and motion-heavy medical systems where mechanics and firmware are tightly coupled. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Sunrise Labs is better for electromechanical devices, fluidics and infusion.

Velentium was founded in 2012 and is based in Katy, near Houston, Texas. It designs, develops and manufactures active medical devices, including implantables and their programmers, and offers systems engineering, firmware, software, cybersecurity and CGMP manufacturing. Great Point Partners completed a growth recapitalization in 2021, the company sold its oil and gas division in 2023 to focus fully on medtech, and it took $15M in growth financing from Trinity Capital in 2024. Headcount estimates range from 51 to 250.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Combines active-implantable engineering with a dedicated device cybersecurity team that prepares FDA premarket security documentation. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Velentium is better for implantables and FDA cybersecurity submissions.

Cambridge Consultants has done contract research and product development from Cambridge, UK, since 1960. It became part of Capgemini through the 2020 acquisition of Altran and now sits within Capgemini Invent, with a headcount of about 900 to 1,000. Medical and life sciences is one of its main sectors, and its public work includes the optics behind Ellume's FDA-authorized COVID-19 home test. Projects tend to involve new sensing, surgical robotics, drug delivery or diagnostics technology rather than incremental redesigns.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Physicists, chemists and engineers working in one building on problems no off-the-shelf design can solve. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Cambridge Consultants is better for novel technology with high technical risk.

TTP (The Technology Partnership) has operated for around 40 years from its own science park in Melbourn, South Cambridgeshire. In December 2021 TTP Group moved to 100% employee ownership through an Employee Ownership Trust. Its Medical Devices team works on drug delivery, surgical systems and diagnostics, and the wider company does deep technology work in sectors such as life science instruments and industrial products. Headcount is not published in a form we could verify.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Employee ownership plus long-running drug delivery and surgical device work for large pharma and medtech clients. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, TTP is better for pharma device programs, inhalers and injectors.

Partner-owned since its 1968 founding in Switzerland, Zühlke is headquartered in Schlieren near Zurich, with teams in Germany, Austria, the UK, Serbia and Asia. Its headcount is somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 depending on the source. In healthcare it covers regulated device and systems engineering, connected-device software and the cloud and analytics platforms around devices, and it states more than 50 years of medtech experience (per company website; independently unverifiable).

How it differs from Planet Innovation: A device engineering practice and a large digital practice under one owner, useful when a device program is really a platform program. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Zühlke is better for european medtech firms modernizing device software.

MedAcuity was founded in 2007 by software engineers and is based in Westford, Massachusetts. It concentrates on medical technology software: architecture, embedded and application development, risk management and the technical documentation behind FDA submissions, with experience across Class I, II and III and PMA devices. It is ISO 13485:2016 certified, and listings put its team at about 119 people. In 2021 it partnered with Fathom Consulting to add human factors engineering.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: US-based, ISO 13485 certified team that does nothing but regulated device software. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, MedAcuity is better for device makers with hardware but no software team.

Key Tech (Key Technologies Inc.) was founded in 1998 in Baltimore, Maryland. It is ISO 13485 certified and works on medical device development, in vitro diagnostic instruments and consumables, drug delivery systems and human factors engineering, with an earlier client list that includes Becton Dickinson, GE, Thermo Fisher and Abiomed. Co-founder Jenny Regan handed the CEO role to Alex Flamm. The most recent public headcount we found was around 75 designers and engineers, which may now be higher.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Designs the diagnostic instrument and its cartridge together, with human factors in the same studio. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Key Tech is better for IVD instruments with consumables.

Team Consulting began in 1986 as a general product development consultancy started by five former colleagues and has worked mainly in the medical sector since the early 1990s. It is employee-owned and based in a converted barn in Ickleton, near Cambridge, with somewhere between 140 and 190 staff depending on the source. Its best-known work is in inhaled and injectable drug delivery devices, where it combines industrial design, mechanical engineering and human factors.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Three decades of medical-only industrial design and human factors, especially for drug delivery. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Team Consulting is better for Inhalers, injectors and human-factors-heavy devices.

Minnetronix was founded in 1996 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and its first project was an electric motor-driven total artificial heart. It designs software- and electronics-based medical devices and also offers turnkey contract manufacturing as an ISO 13485 certified, FDA-registered manufacturer. The company has said it has run more than 200 design and manufacturing projects for over 150 medtech firms (per company website; independently unverifiable). The last firm headcount we found was about 200 in 2014.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Develops and then manufactures electronic medical devices in the same Minnesota medtech cluster. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Minnetronix Medical is better for electronic devices from design into US production.

Orthogonal is a Chicago software company founded in 1998 and led by founder and CEO Bernhard Kappe, with its office in the Merchandise Mart. It builds Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), digital therapeutics and the mobile and cloud software that connects to medical devices, working with venture-backed startups as well as established medtech and pharma companies. Directory listings describe ISO 13485 and HIPAA compliance and Class I–III experience. Team size estimates vary widely, from about 11 to 60 people.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Agile delivery adapted to FDA-regulated software, focused on the app and cloud side of connected devices. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Orthogonal is better for SaMD and device companion apps.

S3 Connected Health is the connected health business of Dublin's S3 Group (Silicon & Software Systems), which dates to 1986; the connected health unit itself is listed as founded around 2001. After the group sold its semiconductor unit to Adesto, it concentrated on this business. It works with pharma and medtech companies on connected drug delivery, SaMD, IoMT platforms, wireless connectivity and data security, and partnered with Ypsomed on connected injection devices. Employee figures range from about 200 to 300.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Combines embedded wireless engineering with patient-facing apps and data platforms for pharma programs. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, S3 Connected Health is better for pharma companies adding connectivity to drug delivery.

Veranex was formed in 2021 by Summit Partners, which combined Providence-based device developer Ximedica (founded 1985) with Quartesian and Boston Healthcare Associates. It has since acquired Experien Group, IMM Recherche, the healthcare design firm Worrell, Fusion Biotec and Horus Scientific. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, it reports more than 800 staff and offers product design and engineering, clinical research (CRO) services, regulatory work and market access consulting.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: One contract can cover engineering, clinical studies, regulatory strategy and reimbursement. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Veranex is better for device design plus clinical trials and reimbursement.

Sagentia Innovation is owned by Science Group plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. Its roots go back to 1986; the current business was formed in 2021 from Sagentia, OTM Consulting and Oakland Innovation. It is based at Harston Mill near Cambridge, with R&D facilities in Cambridge and Epsom, and its medical work covers devices, combination products and surgical robotics. Science Group employs more than 650 people across all its businesses.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Medical development backed by a listed science group that also runs a regulatory consultancy. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Sagentia Innovation is better for surgical robotics and combination products.

Bluefruit Software has written embedded software from Redruth, Cornwall, since 2000 and is employee-owned. A Plymouth University partnership case study reports that medical devices grew from 10% to 60% of its work. It handles embedded software development, testing, some hardware development and edge AI integration, plus support for regulatory compliance and quality assurance. Its team is roughly 70 to 90 people.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Small, employee-owned embedded team with medical devices as its largest market and a strong testing culture. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Bluefruit Software is better for UK device makers outsourcing firmware and testing.

Since 2013 this Irvine, California, company has developed software for medical devices, from low-level firmware to cloud services, along with postmarket support. Directory listings say it follows IEC 62304 and holds ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 9001:2015 certification. It has also built cybersecurity products for the industry, including CyberMed Cloud and the MedISAO information-sharing service. The team is small, with estimates of 11 to 50 people.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Pairs contract device software with its own medical cybersecurity tooling and information-sharing service. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Promenade Software is better for small device makers needing software and security.

Integrated Computer Solutions (ICS) has worked in software since 1987 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with offices in Sunnyvale and Ottawa. It describes itself as the largest independent source of Qt expertise in North America and runs a dedicated medtech practice for regulated device development (per company website; independently unverifiable). Since 2019 it has partnered with BlackBerry QNX for safety-critical medical work. ICS does not publish its headcount.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Qt and embedded UI depth applied to regulated device software, including on QNX. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Integrated Computer Solutions (ICS) is better for touchscreen user interfaces on medical devices.

Delve is a product design and innovation firm headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, with studios in Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Trinity Hunt Partners bought it in 2021 and merged it with Philadelphia's Bresslergroup (founded 1970), and the combined business now operates under the Delve name and later acquired digital design firm altr. Its team is estimated at 200 to 500 people. Delve says it designed and engineered the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor (per company website; independently unverifiable), and medical devices are a large share of its work alongside consumer and industrial products.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Design research and industrial design depth from two long-established US studios. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Delve is better for user research and industrial design for medtech.

Kaleidoscope Innovation was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1989. Infosys acquired it in September 2020, and the deal coverage described its services as focused mainly on medical devices. It is listed as ISO 13485 certified and FDA compliant, and runs product development labs that it has expanded for healthcare clients. Headcount estimates range from about 100 to 250.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: US medical design studio with access to Infosys engineering and digital capacity. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Kaleidoscope Innovation is better for enterprises already working with Infosys.

Product Creation Studio is a full-service product design and development firm in Seattle, Washington. It marked 20 years in 2019, which puts its founding around 1999. In 2017 it received ISO 13485:2016 certification after a BSI assessment, and it says it is the only ISO 13485-certified product development firm in the Pacific Northwest (per company website; independently unverifiable). It works on medical devices and lab and test instruments, and can work within a client's QMS. Headcount is not published.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Small ISO 13485 studio that can follow its own quality system or the client's. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Product Creation Studio is better for pacific Northwest startups and lab instruments.

Simbex was founded in 2000 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and works on product design, applied research and commercialization in medtech, health tech and sports technology. Riddell, the American football helmet maker and a long-time client, acquired it in April 2024. Its medical work includes RestEaze, a remote monitoring device for sleep disorder diagnosis built with Tanzen Medical, and fall-detection wearables. Team size estimates range from 11 to 100.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Biomechanics and sensor research background applied to wearable health devices. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Simbex is better for sensor wearables and biomechanics research.

Houston-based Softeq Development Corporation dates to 1997 and builds hardware, embedded, mobile, web and cloud products. The company holds ISO 13485 certification, which it presents as evidence that it can build medical devices to industry rules. Medical devices are one of several markets it serves, along with consumer electronics and industrial IoT. Its team is in the 250 to 500 range.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Hardware, firmware, mobile and cloud teams in one company, with ISO 13485 in place. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Softeq is better for connected devices needing hardware plus apps.

Healthcare IT has been a ScienceSoft practice since 2005, inside a McKinney, Texas, software company that dates to 1989. The company holds ISO 13485:2016 certification for medical device software and SaMD, and it states experience preparing software for FDA clearance and CE marking (per company website; independently unverifiable). Its team is about 750. Its medical work is mostly software: SaMD, device companion apps, data analytics and medical device software testing.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Large, ISO 13485 certified software team with healthcare analytics and testing services. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, ScienceSoft is better for SaMD and device software on a budget.

Tata Elxsi is a Tata Group engineering and design company founded in 1989 and headquartered in Bengaluru, with more than 13,000 employees across automotive, media and healthcare. Its medical device practice covers hardware, firmware, mechanical engineering, verification and validation and lifecycle management under an ISO 13485:2016 compliant QMS, and it offers pre-submission support for 510(k) and PMA filings. In 2026 it opened an offshore development center for Terumo in Pune and launched AnaTel, an AI tool for preparing regulatory documents.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Offshore scale for verification, documentation and sustaining work on existing device portfolios. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Tata Elxsi is better for large medtech firms offshoring sustaining engineering.

Phillips-Medisize is a subsidiary of Molex, itself owned by Koch Industries, and provides outsourced design, development and manufacturing to pharma, diagnostics and medical device companies. It is based in Wisconsin and has about 7,000 employees. Molex's purchase of inhalation specialist Vectura added combination-product expertise, and the combined team includes more than 1,200 engineers and scientists across 30 sites. A $110M manufacturing campus in Katowice, Poland, opened in November 2023.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Design, molding and assembly of drug delivery devices under one global quality system. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Phillips-Medisize is better for drug delivery devices needing high-volume production.

Jabil Healthcare was formed in 2020 when Jabil combined its Nypro business with its orthopedics, spine and trauma units. At launch it had nearly 20,000 employees and more than 35 sites, and its factories producing finished medical devices are FDA registered. It covers minimally invasive devices, surgical robotics, complex catheters, diabetes care and consumer health, and the acquisition of CDMO Pii extended it into drug development and aseptic fill-finish. Jabil reported $8.3 billion in company-wide revenue for its second fiscal quarter of 2026.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Global scale, supply chain and FDA-registered production for established medical device brands. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Jabil Healthcare is better for global production capacity for cleared devices.

Flex Health Solutions is the healthcare division of Flex Ltd. and operates as a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for medical devices and pharma. Flex lists 26 manufacturing sites, six design and engineering sites, 16 FDA-registered entities and 21 ISO 13485 sites for health (per company website; independently unverifiable). In 2025 it opened a North American new product introduction (NPI) center for healthcare customers, and it shared a 2025 PDA Drug Delivery Innovation Award with Merck KGaA for an autoinjector.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Dedicated NPI center and design sites that feed directly into Flex's medical manufacturing network. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Flex Health Solutions is better for design transfer into global contract manufacturing.

Plexus Corp. is a NASDAQ-listed company headquartered in Neenah, Wisconsin, that offers design and development, supply chain, new product introduction, manufacturing and sustaining services. Healthcare and life sciences is one of its three markets alongside aerospace and defense and industrial. Its healthcare work includes surgical equipment, imaging equipment and diagnostic instruments. The company has around 20,000 employees in total, though only part of that is healthcare.

How it differs from Planet Innovation: Engineering, NPI and sustaining services for low-to-mid volume, high-complexity medical equipment. While Planet Innovation excels at diagnostics roots plus product and commercialization experience in Australia and the US, Plexus is better for complex capital equipment needing build and sustaining.