Our Purpose:
Support Medical Innovations
Our Activities
Why do we promote medical innovations?
Because we know that many interesting ideas are born in laboratories and in the day-to-day work of healthcare professionals that can improve diagnostics and therapy or the management of patients’ health problems. At the same time, we know that the healthcare sector is particularly challenging for young inventors who want to start a business.
Startup projects with medical innovations are particularly complex, expensive and risky. This is due to the 4Cs: Commercialization, Certification, Clinical Studies and Copyright. Medical devices have to be specially certified, which usually requires clinical studies to be carried out. In addition, it is a long and expensive process before the costs of a new product are reimbursed by health insurance companies. That is why we support courageous innovators to overcome these high hurdles and in this way contribute to the success of medical innovation.
How do we promote medical innovations?
Together with our subsidiary, Medical Innovations Incubator GmbH (MII), we promote medical innovations in various ways.
- We support individuals in transferring their ideas and inventions into applications for patients through training, coaching, financing and startup support.
- To this end, we have initiated the necessary qualification programs, lecture series, partner networks and a company builder platform including a financing program to find, promote and establish new business ideas on the market.
Our activities are based on our unique approach of the 4C Concept and Regulatory Thinking®. The aim is to identify the hurdles and opportunities in the areas of Commercialization, Certification, Clinical Studies and Copyright and – through the Regulatory Thinking® method – to understand them in a connected way. This enables innovators to manage the complexity to which innovations are exposed on their way into the healthcare market sustainably, efficiently and independently.
The 4Cs and Regulatory Thinking® are the starting point for our actions and run like a common thread through all our activities:
Our qualification program for MedTech startups: The 4C Accelerator Workshops
Together with our subsidiary, Medical Innovations Incubator GmbH, we have developed a highly specialized qualification program called “4C Accelerator”. Accelerators are an established format in startup funding, which we interpret and implement in our very own way. This enables us to provide targeted support to startups in the complex healthcare sector.
The 4C Accelerator takes place twice a year, is limited to eight participating startups per round and is divided into two parts:
- Part 1 | Interactive 4C workshops organized by the Foundation for Medical Innovations. In the first part, our internal 4C experts, together with experts from our network, impart relevant knowledge and methods relating to the 4Cs in 15 workshop sessions. Through practical exercises, this knowledge is applied directly to the respective product idea and the participants receive individual feedback.
- Part 2 | Individual 4C coaching by Medical Innovations Incubator GmbH. Following the workshops, the participants receive individual, needs-oriented coaching from the MII startup coaches over a period of one year. The aim is to plan and implement the work packages resulting from Part 1.
We are particularly proud that this program has not only convinced previous participants, but also our sponsors, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg, its Startup BW campaign, the B. Braun Foundation and the Hector Foundation.
Further information on the 4C Accelerator can be found here. 
Our intensive program: The 4C Bootcamp
As part of the Startup BW campaign, we specifically support early-stage MedTech startup projects from Baden-Württemberg with the “4C Bootcamp”. Our aim is to provide them with the right tools to develop a business model in the highly regulated healthcare industry. During the 1.5-day workshop, participants will learn what is important for a MedTech startup, which regulatory hurdles they need to overcome and how to successfully build a business model.
Our lecture series: How does the novelity enter medicine?
Supported by the non-profit Hertie Foundation, we have designed the event series “How does the new enter medicine?“. It highlights the challenges for new ideas in the healthcare sector and discusses how the chances for those interested in founding a company can be improved. In keynote speeches and discussion rounds, the most important basic rules for successful market access are worked out.
Previous speakers:
- Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing of the State of Baden-Württemberg)
- Dr. Ingmar Hoerr (Founder of CureVac AG)
- Prof. Ralf Kindervater (Managing Director at BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg GmbH)
- Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland (Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen (NMI))
- Dr. Matthias Perleth (Federal Joint Committee (G-BA))
- Dr. Diedrich Bühler (National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-SV))
- Tobias Brode (Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA))
- Prof. Thomas Gottwald (Startup founder & CEO Ovesco Endoscopy AG)
- Prof. Thomas Bauernhansl (Director of the Fraunhofer IPA & IFF of the University Stuttgart)
- Günther Steffen (Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn)
- Winfried Plötze (Managing Director Baden-Württemberg, BARMER)
- Prof. Stefan Laufer (Startup Founder, Head of the Chair of Pharmaceutical/Medical Chemistry, Tübingen Center for Academic Drug Discovery, Department of Pharmacy & Biochemistry, EKUT)
- Dr. Timo Schmelzpfenning (Authorized signatory and Head of Research & Development, SPORLASTIC GmbH)
- Prof. Eberhart Zrenner (Foundation for Medical Innovations)
