Day in, day out, a team of Costa Ricans are working to put Costa Rica once again on the global innovation map. This is happening at Establishment Labs, a company that works on research and development, design, manufacture and marketing of new products for minimally invasive and prophylactic breast reconstruction surgery.

At present, the professional team at this company – the first Costa Rican firm to be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market – consists of 426 employees in Costa Rica and 86 around the world.

The 35 professionals in the R&D Unit are dedicated to creating concepts and developing products and services for women’s health and well-being. Working in the field of reconstructive plastic surgery, the team is researching cutting-edge polymers for implantable devices, 3D technologies, biosensor microchips and regenerative medicine devices.

This is part of what was explained Thursday morning to Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, who met with the Establishment Labs team in the company of Foreign Trade Minister Dyalá Jiménez, Private Sector Liaison Minister André Garnier, Costa Rican Export Promotion Agency (PROCOMER) General Manager Pedro Beirute, and Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) General Director Jorge Sequeira.

“We are pleased to see companies like Establishment Labs harnessing the country’s quality human talent and helping to consolidate Costa Rica as a center of innovation and world leadership in health sciences companies,” remarked President Alvarado.

In support of the President’s statements, Establishment Labs founder and CEO Juan José Chacón Quirós expressed his certainty that the country has the potential to develop as a center for medical innovation, an example of this being the R&D team at Establishment Labs.

“These professionals are characterized by their ability to understand the industry’s unmet needs and create meaningful solutions for women’s health and well-being,” he said.

He emphasized that the company’s success is due to having “a team that can solve complex problems at a global level, a team that perseveres in the face of adversity and dreams with its feet on the ground. This team has a goal and works very hard to a reach it.”

Foreign Trade Minister Dyalá Jiménez noted that “Establishment Labs Holdings continues to amaze us… A few months ago, we celebrated the news that it had become the first Costa Rican firm to list on NASDAQ, and today we’re here to meet its Research and Development Unit. Once again, you’ve reaffirmed the excellent quality of work in Costa Rica, and you remind us of the impressive human talent we have here. You are definitely challenging us to continue working to strengthen favorable competitive conditions and being better every day.”

CINDE Director General Jorge Sequeira congratulated the company on its breakthroughs. “Establishment Labs Holdings is an example of perseverance and conviction. It is part of an extremely important sector for this country: life sciences. At the October close, 29% of exported goods were medical devices.”

At present, Establishment Labs has patients in more than 70 countries and more than 500 employees distributed among its Costa Rican operations and 8 international offices in the United States, Brazil, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Belgium.