Where innovation comes to life

How digitalisation can drive healthcare forward

On 21 September, high-profile guests including Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn and Bernd Montag, CEO of Siemens Healthineers, met for the second ‘Global Market Leaders Innovation Day’ to discuss how digitalisation can drive healthcare forward.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn praises Erlangen

Spahn emphasised the important role played by medical research carried out in Erlangen and Germany as a whole, especially in view of the coronavirus pandemic. ‘Erlangen is also a prime location for medical engineering, it’s where innovation comes to life,’ said Spahn. He stressed that Erlangen, the University, the companies based in the region and across the country all help make Germany a world-class location for medical engineering. ‘The world’s first PCR test and the world’s first vaccine against coronavirus both came from Germany,’ explained Spahn in a television interview with Franken Fernsehen.

After having been chosen by the Bavarian government as the location for the Digital Health Hub in Bavaria, Erlangen excelled as the host city of the event run by the German financial magazine Wirtschaftswoche, as did FAU as one of its initiators. Where engineering research meets medical expertise: the University’s reputation for outstanding research in medical engineering reaches far beyond Germany. All the more reason for FAU President Joachim Hornegger to be pleased that so many guests attended the event and had the opportunity to discuss such fascinating topics. ‘FAU and the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region are the place to be when we’re talking about digital health, even on the international level,’ he said.  ‘The region has been actively driving forward innovation in digital health for several years now due to Medical Valley, the strong network between the University, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and more than 500 companies from the medical engineering and healthcare industry.’

BDI president Siegfried Russwurm, CEO of Datev Robert Mayr, Vice President and General Manager of Amgen GmbH Manfred Heinzer and FAU alumnus Jan Kautz from NVIDIA also attended the event.

Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder was patron of the event.

Impressions from the event

Further information

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