German healthcare industry, digitalization and DiGA: Portuguese delegation visits Pfizer Healthcare Hub
On Thursday, April 27, 2023, the Pfizer Healthcare Hub in Berlin opened its doors to a Portuguese delegation with representatives of the digital life science industry. The delegation, composed of founders, partners and CEOs of the innovative companies BMD Software, Complear, Healthy Smart Cities and PLUX, was led by Joana Feijó, Business Development Director of Health at Cluster Portugal. The team around Pfizer Healthcare Hub provided insights into the digitalization of the German healthcare sector. During the discussion about current developments, opportunities and challenges of the digitalization of the healthcare sector, a mutually beneficial dialog with new impulses, insights and perspectives emerged.
The Pfizer Healthcare Hub as an enabler of digital collaborations
Thorsten Mintel, Director Strategic Innovation, introduced Pfizer to the visitors:inside and emphasized the importance of the Pfizer Healthcare Hub in his presentation: "With the Healthcare Hubs, Pfizer wants to further achieve its digital goals. New players like startups are helping shape the healthcare system of the future. We collaborate with them to benefit from each other." Maja Hoock, Lead of Pfizer Healthcare Hub Berlin, outlined the status quo of the digital healthcare market in Germany and the Digital Healthcare Act as the basis for reimbursable healthcare applications (DiGA). Using the three collaborations with Selfapy, Cortrium and Eila, Innovation Manager Paulina Achter drew a picture of how the Healthcare Hub works. "The Expert:innen team from Portugal showed us what a positive role digitalization can play where it is already actively lived. We are taking away many impulses and suggestions," said Maja Hoock. She outlined the challenges of the growth market DiGA and deepened the insights into the working methods of the Pfizer Healthcare Hub. In the subsequent Q&A session, participants discussed access to the German healthcare market and possible cooperation models for players in the Portuguese life sciences industry.
Take-away for the Portuguese representatives
The similarities and differences between the healthcare systems, especially with regard to mutual learning, were the focus at the end of the event. For the hub team, the insights and experiences of the Portuguese visitors with the digital infrastructure were profitable: Due to the strong political will of the Ministry of Health, Portugal is ahead of Germany in many areas. For the visitors, the insights into the German DiGA landscape were particularly valuable - for example, the requirements for data protection, user-friendliness, evidence of positive effects on care for inclusion in the DiGA directory, or the fast-track procedure.
We at Pfizer Healthcare Hub look forward to continuing this exchange!
Pfizer makes the case for cross-border innovation ecosystem
Kick-off for the cooperation between the Pfizer Healthcare Hub and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland: At the start of a joint project to optimize patient care, five students of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts gained exciting insights into Pfizer's highly automated production facilities at the Freiburg site.
Promoting resilient innovation ecosystems is one of the core tasks of the Pfizer Healthcare Hub, which the two teams in Freiburg and Berlin are advancing in a variety of ways - this time through a collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. As part of the CreaLab teaching and development format, five students develop solutions for current social and economic challenges within a few days. The format is supervised by Prof. Dr. Tina Haisch, university lecturer and experienced consultant for innovation processes.
The students work together with experts, doctoral students, lecturers and companies such as Pfizer on a defined problem. Pfizer thus offers students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge using real-life practical examples: through the format, students not only learn about innovation management approaches in theory, but experience them first-hand. In return, Pfizer benefits from current methods, approaches and new perspectives. And by the way, the project brings the two countries in the border triangle a little closer together.
We wish the students every success in carrying out the project!
Showroom for the use of immersive technologies in the healthcare industry
On February 15, the Baden Campus became a showroom for the digitized healthcare industry: 22 innovators from Germany and Alsace demonstrated their solutions, ranging from platforms for creating VR training, visualization solutions for medical and life sciences research to VR-supported rehabilitation applications. On stage, experts from XR and the healthcare industry discussed and spoke about the role of immersive technologies for the healthcare industry. The conclusion: We are on the right track, even if a lot can and must still happen. VR and AR are not an end in themselves, but offer the potential to improve healthcare and thus create direct added value for patients.
AR and VR in use at Pfizer
After the welcome by Peter Neske from Pfizer Healthcare Hub, Dr. Thomas Scheuerle from BadenCampus, Iris Frick from Deutsche Messe and Maren Courage from VR Business Club, Thomas Kleine, Head of IT & Digital Pfizer Germany, opened the event with more than 150 participants with his keynote about new technologies with the focus goal of translation into everyday care. He began by using the development of the Corona vaccine as an example to show the enormous potential of digitalization for the pharmaceutical industry and the concrete benefits for patients. Using two concrete examples, he showed that Pfizer is actively driving the establishment of new technologies such as AR or VR and embedding them in the respective patient pathway: For example, Pfizer is developing virtual reality training courses to provide further simulation-based training for medical professionals. For this purpose, Pfizer is cooperating with the startup 3spin, which is developing the corresponding software that allows users to create their own VR and AR training courses at the click of a mouse. The company from Darmstadt was one of 22 startups to present its no-code software to the interested audience.
"Quality medicine in real time": Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz on the digital transformation of a university hospital
"No patient will be treated at Freiburg University Hospital without the influence of AI," said Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Executive Medical Director of Freiburg University Hospital, about the state of digitalization at Freiburg University Hospital. In his keynote, he provided insights into the digitalization of the University Hospital and emphasized the urgency of the transformation processes: "Digital transformation is a huge challenge, but if you don't start now, you won't be able to offer services in two to three years."
Experience virtual reality in person
After a high-level round of introductions of all the startups present, which was moderated by Günther Illert of Healthcare Shapers, the participants were able to experience live at 22 stations what functions virtual reality can assume for the healthcare industry: With VR goggles, headsets, controllers and gloves, the participants moved through simulations, virtual rooms and faced challenges, such as those used in the training of nursing staff – along the way, questions were answered, valuable contacts were made and initial ideas for collaborations were already being considered.
From the 5-HT network: Visual Abstracts and Goodly Innovations
Among others, Dr. Benito Campos from the startup Visual Abstracts and Robert Hoffmeister from Goodly Innovations, with whom Peter Neske established contact at the 5-HT Innovators Club in November 2022, were also present. This meeting not only gave the two startups the opportunity to present themselves to a tri-national network in Breisach, but there are also talks with several Pfizer business units about a cooperation between Pfizer and Visual Abstracts as well as concrete interest in carrying out a proof of concept with Goodly Innovations via the global hub network – a real 5-HT success story.
Cynteract and StellDirVor
Also present was Cynteract with Gernot Sümmermann: The startup wants to make hand rehabilitation more motivating through a gamification approach. The Pfizer Healthcare Hub has been watching Cynteract for some time, and scaling via the Hub network would be interesting for Cynteract. Theda Ockenga presented StellDirVor, also a startup for which the opportunity to present itself at the innovation event arose through contact with the Pfizer Healthcare Hub to to drive concrete projects in the local innovation ecosystem.
How does innovation around digitalization get into the reality of care?
The panel discussion with Prof. Dr. David Matusiewicz, founder and CEO of the DXM Group, Prof. Dr. Miriam Rüsseler, Professor of Medical Didactics and Clinical Simulation, Dr. Armin Pscherer Co-Founder and CEO of the Healthcare Innovation Institute and Thomas Kleine addressed, among other things, the advantages of digital training for medical staff. Prof. Dr. Rüsseler reported on her experiences in the simulation hospital, where virtual training modules can be used to train processes and procedures virtually before they are carried out at the patient. Structural hurdles, such as outdated licensing regulations, which prevent translation into the real world of healthcare, were also discussed. Thomas Kleine emphasized the importance of cooperation in order to establish digital innovations in everyday care: "We are on the right track. We have recognized what is needed and must now move from thinking to acting. For this, we need strong partnerships not only between startups and pharma, but between all players in the healthcare ecosystem." When asked what advice she would give to startups and companies, Prof. Dr. David Matusiewicz replied, "Just do it. Start with small things, then bigger things develop from there."
Conclusion
Immersive technologies have enormous potential, offering solutions to major challenges such as the shortage of skilled workers or even the climate crisis. And if the mood on the BadenCampus is to be believed, VR, AR and the Metaverse not only make processes more efficient, procedures simpler and training more lively – they also bring a lot of fun!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the event such a success!
This is the state of digitalization in the German healthcare sector: A look back at #DHC22
On November 30, 2022, the Bitkom Digital Health Conference (#DHC22) took place at Kosmos Berlin. For the seventh time, the key players in the healthcare sector met to discuss the crucial issues and topics surrounding digital healthcare. A special focus this year was on the topics of digital care, tech trends, social governance, and data spaces & platforms.
"We can move digitally in Germany – that was seen during the pandemic. We have an outstanding startup landscape and together we can succeed in digitizing the healthcare industry," with these words Dr. Bernhard Rohleder, Chief Executive Officer of Bitkom, welcomed the visitors. The #DHC22 focused on all the questions surrounding the opportunities and possibilities of digitization, AI, algorithms and machine learning for tomorrow's healthcare: How can we improve patient care through new digital technologies? What goals and challenges does the German eHealth strategy address? And how can we use digital solutions to make healthcare more sustainable? Experts from science, business and politics addressed technology trends for the healthcare sector on three stages and provided insights into digital applications for doctors' practices, clinics, hospitals and care.
"For a long time, the prevailing attitude of the medical profession toward digitization was characterized by skepticism, distance, and in some cases even rejection – certainly also with serious concerns about maintaining the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship. In recent years, however, this skepticism has increasingly given way to advocacy", said Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, about the state of digitalization in the German healthcare system.
Pfizer at the #DHC22
As a premium partner of the event, Pfizer was represented in large numbers on site: Dr. Sabine Gilliam, Country President at Pfizer Germany, held her keynote as one of the highlight speakers at #DHC22 directly after Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach and Dr. Peter Schardt, Chief Technology Officer at Siemens Healthineers. The Pfizer Healthcare Hub informed with a booth about how startups can establish their digital developments on the market in cooperation with Pfizer. Maja Hoock, Innovation Lead of the Pfizer Healthcare Hub Berlin, together with Patrick Schraps, Project Manager at AOK plus, formed the jury for the startup pitches.
Digital Solutions in Global Pandemics: Keynote by Dr. Sabine Gilliam
Dr. Sabine Gilliam spoke about the pivotal role digital solutions played in the rapid development of a vaccine and drug against Corona. She cited the following three key learnings:
- With supercomputing and AI, Pfizer was able to reduce the overall time of complex calculations by as much as 90%
- Collaborations: The rapid development of the Corona vaccine and antiviral drug was only possible because government agencies, companies and scientific institutions pulled together globally
- Knowledge sharing and data exchange only work if data can flow freely.
Her conclusion: data availability must be increased and private research must also be given equal access to data. Fast and unhindered data exchange and, above all, global cooperation are essential for pandemic control and prevention: data flows must be thought of globally. She concluded by calling for a dialogue on the use of data that is free of ideology, driven by pragmatism and the added value for patients.
Startups at #DHC22
"Developing digital state-of-the-art products has to happen so fast that new technologies are not already current when they are launched. That's why collaborations with agile startups are so important for large companies. The six startups that presented themselves and their developments at DHC22 aim to help patient:ing with cancer, endometriosis and long covid with AI-based training, digital companions and databases. It's great to witness this spirit of innovation," said Maja Hoock about the six young companies on stage at #DHC22. The following startups were in attendance:
Digital technologies are the future of healthcare
Whether telemedicine, health apps or operating robots: medical care must continue to become more digital – not only to catch up with other countries in the digitalization of healthcare, but above all to be able to guarantee patients high-quality, up-to-date medical care in the future. Dr. Sabine Gilliam summed up the importance of digitization for the healthcare system in the words of Mikael Dolsten, Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer: "Science will win and digital will help us to win faster."