Medtech & Biotech

In the future, biotechnology and medical technology will have more in common than they could ever have suspected in the past. New forms of treatment and operating techniques are contributing to this, as are the trend towards miniaturisation and the associated new developments on the implant market.
There are links on several different levels:

• Increasing use is being made of equipment and instruments with a biocompatible or organic coating. This applies, for example, to surgical instruments for removing and reimplanting organic material.
• Biomaterials are an important growth market. Surfaces are being developed that can be populated with cells – to cover wounds or replace vessels, for example.
• New and specially adapted technological solutions for cell detection, real-time documentation and imaging are required for the diagnostic analysis of implanted cells.

In applications such as these, the biotech industry is a key partner for medical technology, providing ideas and developing methods and intelligent biomaterials.
Its unusually high number of companies and research institutes from both the medtech and biotech sectors provides the STERN BioRegion with an excellent starting point in this respect. Around 120 medtech companies have set up in the STERN region, including large companies, SMEs and suppliers. Together with the 100 or so biotech companies, they form a strong and sustainable community.