Healthcare industry

Expert interview - 08/03/2023

How do new active substances from university research reach patients?

Access to capital remains one of the biggest challenges in the life sciences sector. Over the last two years, the Baden-Württemberg Center for Academic Drug Discovery (BWCAD2) has successfully implemented a model of cooperation between academic drug research and industry for the development and validation of therapeutic concepts. Dr. Barbara Jonischkeit spoke with the initiator and leading figure behind the BWCAD2 project, Prof. Dr. Stefan Laufer

Chemical building blocks from plastic waste; Reducing the risk of falls using virtual orientation aids: Konstanz chemists Manuel Häußler and Lukas Odenwald as well as sport scientist Lorenz Assländer receive Baden-Württemberg prototype funding for their transfer projects "Waste2DCA" and "Augmented Balance".

Spindiag GmbH, together with the University of Freiburg and the Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung e.V., was awarded the Technology Transfer Prize 2020 from the German Physical Society (DPG) on April 09, 2022 for the development of the PCR-based rapid test system Rhonda.

Inspiration, innovation, networking are the name of the game on April 12, 2022, when the trinational event “Innovation Day Upper Rhine” (IDUR) takes place at the Palais Universitaire on the University of Strasbourg campus. Twelve universities in the Upper Rhine region, including the University of Freiburg and 100 partner companies of the EU funded project “Knowledge Transfer Upper Rhine” (KTUR), invite to a day of exchange and meeting.

The Deep-Tech Start-Up memetis GmbH from Germany, which produces the world’s most compact and lightest commercially available valves driven by shape memory alloys, announces a new partnership with Fluid-o-Tech S.r.l., an Italian innovation and market leader in the field of fluid-pumps.

Evotec SE announced today the launch of beLAB2122 in the Rhine- Main-Neckar region to efficiently advance first-in-class therapeutic concepts into investable drug discovery projects. Mediated and supported by BioRN, Evotec’s newest BRIDGE brings together the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (“EMBL”), the German Cancer Research Center (“DKFZ”), the Goethe University Frankfurt, Heidelberg University and the University of Tübingen.

CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), and Novartis AG announced today that they have signed an initial agreement for the manufacturing of CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. Preparations for the start of production, technology transfers and test runs are already underway.

Company profile - 16/12/2019

Velabs Therapeutics GmbH: each droplet is a test system

Using microfluidics to detect new therapeutic antibodies is, in simple terms, the concept developed by Velabs Therapeutics GmbH. The Heidelberg-based start-up was spun out from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in 2017 with the support of EMBLEM Technology Transfer GmbH. More recently, investors have provided the young company with additional funding to expand its technologies and applications.

Velabs Therapeutics GmbH, a leader in rapid screening of functional therapeutic antibodies, today announced the closing of a €3 million Series B financing round to advance its functional antibody screening programme and to strengthen its own pipeline of preclinical functional antibodies against diseases with poor treatment options. Further details of the financing round were not disclosed.

Article - 15/01/2018

Blockchain technology as an opportunity for more transparency and self-determination

In the healthcare sector, blockchain technology is still in the early stages of development, although it has huge potential in this field. It is expected that patients will particularly benefit from the introduction of a decentralised database for managing and sharing health-related information with treating physicians. Statutory health insurance companies become less important as intermediaries. But how exactly does this technology work?

Article - 24/07/2017

Cancer medicine development as a science and industry partnership

The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Bayer AG are collaborating on a strategic partnership focusing on the development of innovative cancer therapies. The two partners have developed an active substance which selectively blocks a mutation of a metabolic enzyme that occurs in certain types of cancer. The substance has been successfully tested in preclinical studies and is now also being tested in a clinical trial on patients with brain…

Article - 01/06/2017

Biotechnology – key technology of the 21st century

According to a study published by the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) on 5th April, biotechnology is a key technology of the 21st century and has huge innovation potential. What are the trends within the industry and what are the challenges we face?

Article - 19/04/2017

Are start-ups a matter for the boss? A professor’s thoughts on university spin-offs

Research work and entrepreneurship are by no means mutually exclusive. There are numerous successful university spin-offs in the life sciences sector that prove this only too well. However, the road from a good idea to a commercially successful company can be long and arduous. Those who benefit from the support of their boss from the outset can consider themselves extremely fortunate. Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Rammensee talks about his experience with…

The European Research Council awards Wilfried Weber an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Wilfried Weber, Professor of Synthetic Biology at the University of Freiburg, has received a grant of roughly €150,000 for his project “Hide and Seek with Cancer Drugs” in which he is working to improve the drugs used in cancer treatment.

Press release - 13/12/2016

Early-diagnosis systems from Baden-Württemberg help prevent the spread of drug-resistant pathogens

More and more bacteria are developing resistance to multiple antimicrobial drugs. These multidrug-resistant bacteria can impede the action of common antibiotics via mutations or DNA transfer. More than 30,000 people are infected every year with multidrug-resistant bacteria in German hospitals alone. This could be prevented with appropriate hygiene measures and innovative test systems. Innovative test systems that enable reliable and rapid…

Article - 06/06/2016

ZEISS Vision Science Lab: understanding vision

Carl Zeiss AG and the University of Tübingen have been jointly running the ZEISS Vision Science Lab since 2013. This is a workgroup that is both fully integrated into research as well as delivering results for the development and improvement of products. The “Industry on Campus” professorship shows how different interests can turn out successfully for both parties involved.

Medical technology - 14/03/2016

The operating room of the future: minimally invasive and future-oriented intervention techniques

Being able to diagnose and treat tumour patients in just a few hours is just one of the many promising goals of the Fraunhofer Project Group for Automation in Medicine and Biotechnology (PAMB). The overall goal of the Intervention and Therapy research group is to take innovative technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions from laboratory development to prototype production for use in clinical trials.

Baden-Württemberg is home to numerous technology parks and thus offers an excellent infrastructure and attractive high-tech locations for life sciences companies in close proximity to scientific excellence. Young companies and business start-ups particularly stand to benefit from the opportunities for cooperation with other companies and research institutions in the technology parks and also from the relatively cheap rents for office and…

Press release - 03/08/2012

Rentschler and MHH sign licensing agreement for a gene therapy vector system

The Hannover Medical School (MHH) and Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH have signed a licensing agreement for the commercialization of a vector system for gene therapy that promises significant therapeutic and economic advantages over conventional technologies. Rentschler, an experienced specialist in the development of cell culture-based manufacturing processes and the production of relevant biopharmaceuticals, attains the right to develop…

The last round of file ideas for projects within the 7th Research framework program has been started. The European Commission will support innovative projects over eight billion euros to europe for global competition to strengthen and protect jobs. In addition to innovation, the focus is on health, environment, urbanization and waste disposal. The promotion is organizations and companies in all EU-member-states and partner countries open.

Press release - 05/12/2011

Cellzome founder wins EU women innovators award

Cellzome announces 5 December 2011 that Dr. Gitte Neubauer has received the highly esteemed EU Women Innovators Award. The award recognizes her outstanding contribution in translating academic research into a commercial venture through the foundation of Cellzome. The prize value of 100.000 euros awarded by the European Commission Innovation Union was presented by Jos Manuel Barroso in a ceremony as part of the Innovation Convention 2011 in…

Today marks an important step for ELIXIR, Europe’s emerging research infrastructure for life-science information, as five countries plus the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to catalyse the implementation and construction of ELIXIR. The memorandum has been signed by Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and more countries are planning to join in the near future. All…

Press release - 02/09/2011

German Government starts the initiative "Health - Made in Germany"

The overall aim of the initiative is to exploit the dormant capacities that lie within the export of health care products made in Germany. In Germany, many companies are already world leaders in their fields, in part due to a policy of consistent and early promotion of health care in Germany. German technology suppliers possess decades of valuable experience in realizing health care projects both at home and abroad. Provider of products and…

Press release - 27/06/2011

NMI TT GmbH – creating value from research

NMI TT GmbH is a subsidiary of the NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen with which it works closely. Developments by the renowned NMI are commercialised by NMI TT GmbH and the profit flows back into the NMI’s research activities – thus leading to a value creation cycle that benefits research and development as well as the economy.

Article - 06/06/2011

Knowledge transfer depends on the application of learning

The ability of scientists from different disciplines to understand each other as well as excellent communication skills play an ever-increasing role in the transfer of knowledge from academic research to industry. Vice president of research at the Konstanz University of Applied Sciences HTWG Professor Gunter Voigt explains how academia and industry work together and also highlights the conditions that are necessary for such cooperations to lead…