Netscouts is project partner
in the excellence cluster Medical Valley EMN association
„Combining competences“ is the motto of the European Metropolitan Region Nuremberg (EMN) and the Medical Valley EMN association – and Netscouts is project partner of the excellence cluster Medical Valley EMN.
The Medical Valley EMN association led by Professor Erich R. Reinhardt (Siemens AG), Professor Heinz Gerhäuser (Fraunhofer IIS), and Professor Jürgen Schüttler was awarded in the final round of the excellence cluster competition run by the German government for their project outline „Exzellenzzentrum für Medizintechnik“ (centre of medical engineering excellence). The Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF = Federal Ministry of Education and Research) is going to provide a 40 million Euro fund to the EMN. This will create up to 2.500 new jobs in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region in the medium term.
The aim of the project is the development of a region-wide test environment for innovative telemedical products and services. Netscouts is project leader of the part “IS-03 Smart Sensors A - Textile Integration körpernaher Sensorik” (support code 01EX1014W = integration of textile close-to-body sensors) and therefore involved with both personal and technical resources as well as with a test bed.
The test bed covers the every day life of a person. Field tests (concerning safety, performance, functionality, and acceptance) carried out there are going to allow sound conclusions concerning the intended marketability of telemedical products. The project meets all technological requirements (telecommunication, IT infrastructure and maintenance, sensor technology, tests of medical software products to certify their conformity with current legislation, RFID, adaptation, and implementation) as well as real life medical everyday attendance in social facilities for impaired persons, residential homes for senior citizens, rehabilitation centres, hospitals etc.
Global trends stimulate market growth and define the chances of medical engineering. The demographic development indicates a population growth of nearly 50% until 2050. At the same time life expectancy is increasing, but also the prevalence of certain diseases. This development results in a growing demand for prevention, diagnostic, therapy, and rehabilitation.
The Medical Valley EMN association is a consortium of economy, science, health providers and politics to charge the strategic advancement of the potentials in the field of medical engineering. Medical Valley EMN is a non-profit association financed by members. It is oriented towards the utilisation of synergy potentials within the cluster. The aim of the joint effort is to establish the Medical Valley association as an international centre of excellence in the field of medical engineering.
Medical Valley stands for dynamic growth:
- 180 companies with more than 16.000 employees dedicated to medical engineering
- 500 other companies with more than 45.000 employees related to medical engineering
- 15 % growth in employment within the last eight years
- 18 institutions of higher education with 90.000 students and 1.500 postgraduate students
- Numerous endowed chairs and courses relevant for medical engineering
- High-quality integrated health-care infrastructure comprising of 43 hospitals with more than 220.000 beds
- 22 extramural research institutes directly or interdisciplinarily linked with medical engineering companies
- 100 start-ups in the medical engineering sector since 1996
Medical Valley EMN belongs to the international top class in the following categories of medical engineering products:
- Medical imaging (X-ray computed tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging, interventional imaging)
- Therapy systems (ophthalmology, lithotripsy, eye laser surgery)
- Tele-medicine (medical information systems, home care, telerehabilitation, monitoring)
- High tech implants (pacemakers, revision implants)
Medical Valley EMN association has been founded to optimise the networking of science, economy, and health care. This will significantly fasten up the innovation cycles of new medical engineering products. Find out more about Medical Valley EMN online at www.medical-valley-emn.de.
