The Research Alliance

LEIBNIZ HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES

The member institutes and industry partners of Leibniz Health Technologies are working on concrete technology solutions for pressing medical issues. Together they follow the goal of improving medical care for patients. Through the cross-disciplinary approach, diagnosis, therapy and monitoring converge to increase the quality of life.

The Leibniz research alliance unites competencies from very different scientific fields: from photonics and medicine to microelectronics and materials research to economic research and applied mathematics. This results in health technologies that together with industry, hospitals, insurance, and politics are led to marketability along a complete innovation chain. Simultaneously, Leibniz Health Technologies conducts research on the social and economic impact of new medical technologies to optimize their applicability for users and create wide social acceptance of new technologies.

Challenge

Demographic changes, a Western lifestyle, and increasing globalization confront health systems with increasing and changing needs in terms of services. An increase in age and lifestyle-related diseases can be expected. Global commerce and tourism, as well as migration tendencies, also facilitate the fast spread of infections, pathogens, and resistance genes. This requires a new care concept in which prevention, diagnostics, treatment, and aftercare converge and individual treatment plans gain importance.

Vision

Leibniz Health Technologies will sustainably accelerate the translation of research results to marketable products via the long-term collaboration of its partners to improve the medical care of patients and thus increase the quality of human life. Parallel to excellent application-oriented fundamental research in the life sciences and medicine, the economic, social, and ethical consequences of new medical technologies will be researched in a multidisciplinary process.

Strategy

The Leibniz research alliance facilitates the targeted cross-disciplinary collaboration of institutes from different sections of the Leibniz Association with each other and with external partners such as hospitals and companies to advance the topic of health technologies along the innovation chain from fundamental research to the marketing of solutions and methods via industrial partners. At the same time, this accompanying research will help recognize possible risks and conflicts early on in the process and allow required corrections to the research agenda to be made.

Networking

To actively promote interdisciplinary networking between the members of Leibniz Health Technologies, the Leibniz Research Alliance offers three internal funding instruments:

Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM)
This funding instrument enables young scientists to spend a limited period of time researching at one of the 16 Leibniz institutes or associated partners. During an STSM, new methods can be learned in cooperation with specialists and scientific work can be carried out that is not possible at one's own institution.
Conference Participation Initiative (CPI)
This funding instrument supports the participation of young scientists in leading conferences (or other scientific events) in order to promote networking with external medical technology researchers as well as with stakeholders in the health care system.
Funding for Feasibility Studies (FFS)
In order to promote the development of innovative health technology approaches and to critically evaluate the transfer potential of novel technologies, Leibniz Health Technologies provides start-up funding for feasibility studies within the network. The findings from these studies are to be incorporated into collaborative projects that build on them.

All three funding instruments pursue the goal of strengthening the exchange between the members of Leibniz Health Technologies, enabling efficient networking with external actors in the health sector and rapidly transferring innovative research approaches into translation-oriented collaborative projects.