In the region between the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Elbe River, one of the most important locations for medical technology, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology has developed in recent decades. With globally active companies such as Dräger, Olympus Surgical Technologies Europe and Eppendorf and internationally renowned scientific institutions such as the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY), the Bernhard Nocht Institute and the university hospitals Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) and Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), a large number of global players with a long, unique success story belong to the Life Science Nord region. Their innovative, ground-breaking work over decades – sometimes over centuries – still forms the basis today for the excellent reputation and strong appeal of the region as a business hub.
Working together for success
Life Science Nord has established itself as one of the leading life science networks in Europe. Some 600 companies, research institutes and institutions with more than 55,000 employees, a gross value added of €5.7 billion and an export volume of €7.9 billion are based in the region.
Complete value chain in the life science industry
As an innovative core area of the health industry, life sciences are an important future field for the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Factors such as demographic change, climate change and globalisation, which brings with it new infections and routes of infection, are constantly presenting the industry with new challenges. Business and science are therefore working hand in hand. Together, they cover the entire value chain required for the development of new therapies and medical devices: from research and development and clinical studies to manufacturing, marketing and sales. This close co-operation of researchers and clinicians with industrial partners and highly specialised service providers is reflected in the diverse innovative products, projects and technologies from the region. In the medical technology and biotech/pharmaceutical sub-sectors, the cluster boasts outstanding expertise in the following areas:
- Imaging
- Surgical technology/precision surgery
- Implantology
- Orthopaedics
- Laboratory equipment
- Molecular diagnostics
- Pharmaceutical research – particularly in the indication areas of neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, inflammation and infections
- Platform technologies
Efficient infrastructure
Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are not only known for their economic efficiency and outstanding quality of life – in infrastructure, too, no one can outdo the North Germans, e.g. when it comes to access to thematic networks, the availability of highly qualified personnel and the proximity to the scientific community. In addition, the North boasts an industry structure with excellent networks and well thought-out development tools, underpinned by huge political support. Since the founding of the Life Science Nord cluster, the Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg state governments have worked together and with great commitment to promote North Germany as a life science hub and to create excellent conditions for entrepreneurs and scientists – also in comparison to competing regions.
Renowned science & research institutions
They are a flagship, and at the same time an important basis for the added value of the Life Science Nord cluster: The universities, together with the university hospitals and non-university research institutes cover a broad spectrum of research and science, both in basic and applied research.
Non-university research institutes in the north:
- Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
- European XFEL
- Research Center Borstel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology
- Fraunhofer Research Institution for Marine Biotechnology and Cell Technology
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Centre of Materials and Costal Research
- Leibniz Institute of Virology
Universities
- Kiel University - Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
- Europa-Universität Flensburg
- Fachhochschule Kiel
- Helmut-Schmidt-Universität – Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg
- Hochschule Flensburg
- Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg
- Technische Hochschule Lübeck
- Hamburg University of Technology
- Universität Hamburg
- Universität zu Lübeck