At the Innovation Day for SMEs, the BMWK’s Head of Digital and Innovation Policy Christina Decker handed over the certificate for the best ZIM innovation network in 2024 to Dr. Klaus Eichenberg, Managing Director of BioRegio STERN Management GmbH. Dr. Verena Grimm and Nina Henzler, who developed the biohymed network with support from strong regional network partners, were delighted about this recognition of their commitment. “BioMedTech e.V. in Tübingen laid the foundation for the project with its idea of building a bridge between biotechnology and medical technology,” explains Dr. Grimm. “This combination enables new, interdisciplinary developments to be implemented that would be impossible using a purely medical or biological approach. Offerings of this kind deliver a high level of added value for patients,” she adds.

The network partners have succeeded in finding numerous pioneering solutions for preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases. These include human-analogue training phantoms for the education and development of medical specialists, micro-labs known as lab-on-a-chip analysis systems, and innovations for the foodstuffs industry, plant breeding, sports medicine and laboratory automation. “For this purpose, companies and research institutes in the biotech, chemical, medtech, prototyping and logistics
sectors work together on research and development projects on an interdisciplinary basis,” continues Dr. Grimm. One example of a successful biohymed cooperation project is the solution of the network partner PolyMedics Innovations GmbH in Kirchheim unter Teck. In collaboration with the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF), this company has developed a wound dressing system, including the associated manufacturing process, based on synthetic and biological components.

“biohymed offers ideal conditions for innovations,” emphasises Dr. Eichenberg. “Thanks to ZIM funding, the network has developed highly dynamically in the STERN BioRegion. Some 36 funded project partners have initiated no fewer than 14 research and development projects worth a total of over nine million euros,” he reveals.