Healthy living and health economy

The healthcare industry is one of the most employment-intensive sectors with the greatest growth in Thuringia and is therefore a significant part of the regional economy. The specialization field of Healthy Living and Healthcare encompasses the areas of medical technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, the food industry, and healthcare.

The topic of “Healthy Living” addresses a broad spectrum of industries. Traditional strengths in the field of optics make Thuringia an international innovation leader in the areas of microscopy, laser technology, and ophthalmology. New fields such as infection research and aging research have been established in recent years and have gained international recognition. And the production of pharmaceutical products also proves to be an important sector for Thuringia.

The actors in the food industry are building competencies for topics such as “Healthy Nutrition” and “Prevention of diet-related cardiovascular diseases”. At the same time, they are advancing social issues of modern life and challenges of demographic change – such as social participation and health or occupational health management – at an interdisciplinary level and bringing these into public awareness.

The scientific expertise for this is found in six universities – including three universities and three universities of applied sciences – 15 research institutions, two technology and start-up centers, and the Jena University Hospital.

The entire field is characterized by a particular strength of Thuringia's research institutions. They have succeeded in attracting further structure-building R&D initiatives to Thuringia in highly endowed and prestigious calls for proposals, competing with other German regions. These include, among others, the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse“ (approx. 47 million euros in funding for infection research) and the "Leibniz Center for Photonics in Infection Research (LPI)“ with a funding volume of 150 million euros.

Specialization profile for download
Specialization profile for download [jpg file , 540 KB]

The economy in the specialization field in figures

14.5 Revenue in billion euros

8400 Branches

179000 Dependent employees

Data source: own calculation based on data from the TLS, as of 2023 (figures rounded)

Profile

Derived from the specialization profile, five topics are currently emerging as potential drivers for this field:

Biophotonics/Bioinstruments
Infections/Diagnostics
Digital Health
Healthy nutrition
Healthy Aging

Competence fields

Medical devices
- Medical technology
- In-vitro diagnostics
- Imaging
- Microelectronics
- Regulatory Affairs (new MDR, IVDR): Support for SMEs
Diagnostics / Analytics
- decentralized diagnostics/analytics
- Personalized Biomarkers
- Coordinated infrastructures
- Platform technologies
Biotechnology
- Process Development
- Analytics
- Lab-on-a-Chip / Organ-on-a-Chip
- Systems
Pharma
- Production
- Pharmaceutical Development
- Anti-infectives
- Drug Delivery (e.g., nanoparticles)
Healthy Living / Nutrition
- Prevention
- Aftercare
- Occupational Health
- Medical care models
- Nutrition industry

Cross-Sectional Fields

Digitalization
- Digital Health (connected health solutions)
- Big Data
- Artificial Intelligence
- Data security
Research
- Infection research
- Sepsis research
- Biophotonics
- Aging research
Internationalization
- from Public Health to Global Health
- Networking with EU institutions, international factors and representatives of the FH North Network
Translation / Exploitation
- New spin-offs and start-ups from science
- Technology transfer

Vision and goals

Health innovations from Thuringia have international appeal and create closed value chains locally through interdisciplinarity:

Existing, supra-regionally radiating lighthouses and top positions in analytics, diagnostics, infection research, and medical technology are being expanded and serve as examples for the development of the entire specialization field. Promising niches are identified and filled, taking into account the competencies of adjacent specialization fields.
Through the close cooperation of top research institutions and industry, we are developing innovative anti-infection strategies in Thuringia to combat infectious diseases. This opens up opportunities for participating companies to develop and market effective strategies and products in the sense of linking diagnosis and therapy.

Thuringia is becoming an innovative pharmaceutical location again.
In the food industry, Thuringia offers healthy food from the region for Germany and Europe. We are improving our innovative strength and competitiveness through the development of new processes and products.
As an attractive employer, the healthcare industry in Thuringia enables people to work and live healthily and contributes to value creation through the provision of healthcare services.

Cluster and Network Organizations

medways e.V.

medways e. V. is an industry association of leading German research institutes, industrial companies and universities with the aim of developing innovative procedures for the diagnosis and therapy of strongly age-correlated diseases as well as globally marketable medical technology products.

medways advises companies on the certification of medical devices, on the establishment and maintenance of quality management systems according to DN 13 485, as well as on market introduction. For the qualification of employees, the association continuously conducts further training events and offers individual in-house training and courses. In addition, medways takes over the complete project management for research projects, from topic research to the application for funding and coordination to controlling.

www.medways.eu

InfectoGnostics – Forschungscampus Jena

The InfectoGnostics Research Campus Jena is breaking new ground in infection diagnostics as a public-private partnership. More than 30 partners from science, medicine, and industry are developing market-ready solutions for the rapid and cost-effective on-site analysis of infections, e.g., tuberculosis in human medicine, chlamydia in animal diseases, and pathogen diagnostics in food, in the triad of technology, application, and production.

www.infectognostics.de

The Thuringian Food Network e.V. (TH-ERN)

The Thuringian Food Network e.V. is an alliance of currently 36 companies and stakeholders in the food industry, giving their sector a strong voice. Supported by the Thuringian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Thuringian Ministry of Agriculture, the association focuses on industry-relevant topics and represents the industry towards politics. In addition to its function as a platform for linking business and science for knowledge transfer and innovation promotion, the association is dedicated to public relations. Through image campaigns, it aims to increase the visibility of industry representatives in order to sustainably enhance their reputation and thus open up new markets. This is intended to secure long-term employment and growth for the industry.

www.th-ern.net