Collaboration projects

A groundbreaking project was launched in April 2015 under the direction of the cluster organization MedicalMountains in Tuttlingen:

In the meantime, 27 network partners have joined forces to form “CleanMed – the competence network for technical cleanliness, cleanability and sterilization in medical technology”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology within the framework of the Central Innovation Program “Mittelstand” (ZIM).

The goal of the network is to develop new processes and services with which products can be produced as freely as possible from production residues and which are also easy to clean and sterilize during the use cycle.

The network is concerned with five fields of technology and competencies in which various projects are developed and processed:

1) “Standardization and Validation”
2) “Construction and Reconstruction”
3) “Functional Surfaces”
4) “Technical cleanliness in production”
5) “cleaning”

The broad excellence network includes both development providers, the classic manufacturers of medical instruments and implants, as well as manufacturers of cleaning equipment and cleaning agents. In addition, service providers for cleaning processes are integrated. Furthermore, renowned addresses for technical cleanliness are represented from research.

In the long term, the collaboration network could become an established center of excellence for the cleaning of medical devices with established structures, procedures and sustainable self-financing. As a result, the competitiveness of the companies involved will be significantly improved. Because technical cleanliness, cleanability and sterilisability as a quality feature for implants and instruments from the Cluster MedicalMountains strengthen the market outlook and therefore the location significantly.

More information of CleanMed can be found here: www.clean-med.de

Interreg is an EU regional development program that sets out thematic priorities for which researchers can apply for project ideas. Initiator of the project Machining 4.0 is the project consortium led by the coordinator Sirris, a Belgian cooperation center for the technology industry. MedicalMountains is a project partner in the funding project Machining 4.0 and uses the funds to support the companies in the machining industry in the region.

Machining 4.0 shortly explained:

Within the framework of the project, various actions will be developed and implemented within the next three years to support the machining industry’s SMEs in the digital transformation. This is to prevent productions from high-wage countries from migrating to cheaper countries.

Knowledge and know-how transfer is one of the measures. For this purpose, an international online portal is planned in the project, which provides know-how from the cutting industry on the subject of digitization bundled in English. The homepage for the portal is already online: www.machining4.eu. With an intelligent search, interested parties will be able to obtain comprehensive information about the current state of technology, existing technologies, best practices and potential technology partners.

In addition, demonstrators will be presented at seven locations, illustrating the most diverse aspects of digitization, from assistive robots to digital work preparation to entire learning factories. Together they form a field laboratory network. One of the training factories, for example, is being developed at the Institute for Mechatronic Systems (IMS) at the ZHAW, where it has already been used successfully in training. The demonstrators should offer SMEs the opportunity to study concepts and applications of digitization, to contribute their own ideas and to test functionalities on a laboratory scale.

Furthermore coaching sessions and financial incentives are included: SMEs can apply for so-called “vouchers” directly on the homepage machining4.0.eu in the near future. Fifty selected projects receive a working-time financing with a voucher worth 12,000 euros.

The Machining 4.0 Voucher System

Your Analysis & Conception Voucher for cooperation projects with companies from the Interreg Machining 4.0 consortium.

This voucher will grant the recipient expert analysis of their existing products, processes, services, procedures & methods

As a result of this analysis, practical integration and validation activities could be carried out within the recipients business.
Consecutive combinations of analysis and integration will be eligible within the voucher system.

Within the voucher system’s permitted research activities, the purchase of hardware or already available software & software licenses will not be eligible.

The content of the planned project addresses the field of Machining and is oriented towards the innovation platform of the Machining 4.0 consortium. The expected benefits must be tangible and relevant to the founded company, with a clear link to an important business challenge e.g. cost reduction, delivery improvement, quality improvements, etc.

The funded company must be open to share all relevant Information and learnings with the Machining 4.0 consortium and other companies through presentations, publications, fact sheets and company visits. The funded company must be open to a long term follow up of the project.

Funding includes services and support, no money is paid directly to your company.

To apply for a voucher please follow the link to machining4.eu/machines/SME_vouchers

The tasks of MedicalMountains in the Machining 4.0 project

In the coming months, MedicalMountains will focus on bringing companies of the cutting and machining industry to the attention of the Machining 4.0 project and getting them actively involved in the project. The cluster initiative sees itself as the first point of contact for all companies in the region who want to get involved in Machining 4.0 or are looking for know-how. Together with industry partners and members, so-called technology sheets and testimonials with application examples for the know-how platform are delivered. Know-how bearers of the region are in demand to submit ideas for this.

You have questions and / or are interested in the project Machining 4.0?

Then contact us: norwat@medicalmountains.de +49 7461 96 97 214

With SmaC, the “Smart Caravan” of the Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung e.V., an integrative and at the same time expandable cooperation basis is created which enables companies, developers, service providers and end users to develop, realize, evaluate and finally experience new ideas in the Smart Home sector and similar business fields.

• Cooperations: The SmaC platform serves as a basis to give companies the opportunity to test technical cooperations and integrations in a realistic, flexible environment. In addition to the temporary rental to individual companies and consortia as well as the technical support of integration tasks, it is planned to organize theme-oriented hackathons in which new cooperation ideas can be specifically developed and implemented.
• Innovations: The SmaC platform is available for the evaluation of new ideas as a realistic system with an existing basic infrastructure. The implementation and evaluation is actively supported by the project participants. The active initiation of innovations is carried out through so-called hackathons as well as explicit open innovation workshops.
• Learning and teaching platform: In addition to using SmaC as a cooperation and innovation platform for companies and service providers, it can and should also serve as a training platform for trainees and students. You can experience and apply Smart Home technologies yourself in a realistic environment and at the same time implement your own solutions in the form of training and study projects.
• Demonstration: In addition to the application and implementation of new ideas, the SmaC platform is also used for demonstration purposes, so that the general public can also be informed about new offers and technologies in the area of Smart Home and their application.

What once began as a visionary idea with experiments of all kinds has become an established method: additive manufacturing. In medical technology, so-called 3D printing makes it possible, among other things, to produce shapes and geometries that nature likes. Individually and tailor-made for the respective body. Serial products can also be rethought and their manufacture efficiently designed. The potential of additive manufacturing processes for medical instruments, devices and implants is therefore one of the global megatrends in the industry.

The MedPrint competence network of MedicalMountains GmbH with currently 24 highly specialized partners from industry, including global players and SMEs, from research and development as well as from universities and colleges, is dedicated to these potentials.

The objective is well-defined: progressive and improved patient care and – in order to achieve this – the user-oriented further development of corresponding materials, machines, products and processes. MedPrint should also help its participants to make the technical and economic leaps in innovation that are necessary not only to keep up with international competition, but also to take on a technological leadership role. After all, Baden-Württemberg’s medical technology sector in the Tuttlingen area will continue to live up to its reputation as a world centre for medical technology.

Further information can be found at https://medprint-netzwerk.de

MedPrint is one of the successfully selected network projects of the nationwide programme “Central Innovation Programme for SMEs” (ZIM) and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy.