Innovation through Collaboration
It's all in the mix: Life science pioneers have been active in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein for many decades, as have renowned research institutions or emerging companies and start-ups. All of the approximately 600 players benefit from the direct proximity to four research associations, two university hospitals, 14 research institutions – including unique large-scale research facilities such as DESY or the European XFEL – and eight universities. Countless research and development collaborations have produced new products and spin-offs that are continuously bringing us closer to our goal of supporting global healthcare in a targeted manner from northern Germany.
Working Together to Make the World of Tomorrow a Better Place Already Today
The life science industry in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein is internationally oriented and works closely with partners worldwide. This contributes to global networking and the exchange of knowledge and technologies. Stable and future-oriented bridges have been built not only to numerous European countries, but also to Japan, China, and the USA.
From the Basics to the Final Solution
Outstanding features of the cluster are its broad corporate base and complete value chains from basic and applied research to clinical trials and marketable end products. The intensive, trusting collaboration between researchers, clinicians and industrial partners is reflected in innovative products, sustainable projects, and new technologies.
As an innovative core area of the healthcare industry, life sciences are an important future field for the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Factors such as demographic change, climate change and globalization, which brings new infections and infection pathways, are constantly presenting the industry with new challenges.
Outstanding Expertise in all Life Sciences
Industry and science are therefore working hand in hand. Together, they cover the entire value chain required to create new therapies or medical devices: from research, development and clinical trials to manufacturing, marketing, and sales. This close collaboration of researchers and clinicians with industrial partners and highly specialized service providers is reflected in the diverse, innovative products, projects, and technologies from the region. In the subsectors of medical technology, biotech, pharma and digital health, there are outstanding competencies in the fields of:
- Imaging
- AI integration
- Surgical technology
- Precision medicine
- Implantology
- Orthopedics
- Laboratory Equipment
- Molecular diagnostics
- Drug discovery – especially in the indication fields of neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, inflammation, and infections
- Platform technologies
Life sciences – a sector with purpose for the future
With more than 55,000 employees, the North German life sciences sector achieved a gross value added of 5.7 billion euros in 2021. Between 2012 and 2021, the cluster recorded an average employment increase of 1.2 percent per year. This means that the number of employees in the LSN sector grew by 0.2 percent per year more than in the overall economy in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
In 2021, Life Science Nord was awarded the GOLD label "Excel in Cluster Excellence" by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) for the third time in a row.
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