Let us introduce two of the best practices, identified in the frame of the Medtech4 Europe project, one of them is Research Campus M²OLIE and the other one is CleanMed Cluster project.
M²OLIE
The scientific focus of the research campus M²OLIE is to improve therapy options for oligometastatic tumour patients. The M²OLIE closed-loop-process from diagnosis to therapy leveraging digital and automation will result in better medical outcome, higher precision, efficiency, cost savings, and patient centricity. The public-private partnership focuses on establishing an intervention environment for minimally invasive cancer treatment within the framework of a one-stop shop. Improved individualised therapeutic procedures in the fields of interventional radiology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy as well as supporting imaging methods, patient-specific radio-pharmaceuticals, and robot-based intervention assistants are developed in a multidisciplinary environment at the University Medical Centre Mannheim with more than 25 partners from industry, research and public life. Procedures are developed within the framework of 3 collaborative projects with over 110 scientists dedicated to the establishment of a process model and a clinical trial management system to monitor and improve organizational processes.
The already achieved milestones will be assembled to treat the first patients in the closed-loop-process at the end of the current funding period. This closed-loop-process will be extended to other indications to achieve a continuity of the research campus in 10 years.
M²OLIE is a successful PPP is involving medtech companies and academic institutions linked to university hospitals and backed by long-term public funding. Scientific success and the development of exploitable results are targeted equivalently. Therefore, research and IP rights are clearly regulated in the master cooperation agreement and in specific work package contracts.
The CleanMed cluster project
CleanMed has been created with the vision of raising technical cleanliness, cleanability, sterilizability and clean handling of medical technology products to a new level. More specifically, CleanMed focuses on standardization and validation, construction (materials, design principles, manufacturing processes), functional surfaces (antibacterial, non-stick), technical cleanliness (forming and machining production, particle sources, cooling lubricants) and cleaning (alternative methods, agents). Under the leadership of the cluster organisation MedicalMountains, the network has been supporting innovative companies and research institutions in the field of purity in medical technology.
The CleanMed project has been selected for funding within the “Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM)” by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and triggered several project ideas. Until March 2018, 18 project ideas were developed from within the cluster of which some applied for R&D funding.
The CleanMed cluster project is a successful example of a private cluster initiative born out of a common interest and need “from within” the industry and supported financially by a public funding program.
This Good Practice is useful for public authorities who want to improve cluster policies, especially in terms of adequate funding or face the need of developing a (new) industry standard. CleanMed also provides a good example for private actors who want to address a sector-wide need/problem and gain insight into the structure and organization of clusters.
The Medtech4 Europe project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the State of Hungary.