MeDiCircle

Circular economy, sustainability and recycling - these important topics have also become indispensable in the healthcare sector. Nevertheless, a survey conducted by Forum MedTech Pharma e.V. showed that they play a rather subordinate role despite their high relevance in day-to-day business. For example, only a quarter of the companies surveyed stated that they were involved in the area of environmental sustainability, even though the healthcare industry in Germany is responsible for 5.2% of global CO2 emissions.

f.l.t.r. Simone Theobald (Project Manager Medical Valley EMN e. V.), Tina Johnscher (Head of ZD.B Topic Platform Digital Production and Engineering), Marco Wendel (Managing Director Medical Valley EMN e. V.), Dr. Jörg Traub (Managing Director Head of Innovation Network Health at Bayern Innovativ.), Stefanie Brauer (Project Manager Bayern Innovativ), Dr. Eva Schichl (Project Manager Umweltcluster Bayern) and Alfred Mayr (Managing Director Umweltcluster Bayern) initiated the start of the project

Project goal

The cross-industry consortium has joined forces to determine and visualize what is necessary for the transformation of the Bavarian healthcare industry into a genuine "circular economy".

Activities and results

The project is divided into six work packages: To begin with, a basic overview of the regulatory framework at the interface of the circular economy and medical technology will be compiled and the current state of research will be researched. In the highly regulated environment of medical devices, it is essential to record the status quo of the current legal requirements. In addition, the status of scientific research in the area of the circularity of medical devices must also be determined. The subsequent creation of a survey to interview numerous stakeholders in the network should serve to identify challenges and hurdles to the implementation of a circular economy in the healthcare industry. The next step is to identify first-practice approaches and examine how these can be transferred to the entire industry. With the help of a round table and a partnering event, the insights gained will be presented in order to develop a strategy for transferring them to the entire industry. Based on the derivation of practical guidelines, a presentation and a roadmap for the transformation of the healthcare industry from a linear to a circular economy will be developed.

Consortium

The consortium consists of the Bavarian Medical Technology Cluster (Medical Valley EMN e.V. and Bayern Innovativ Gesundheit), the Environmental Cluster and Bayern Innovativ.

Funding and project duration

The MeDiCircle project is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy as part of the "Cross-Cluster Bavaria 2023" funding initiative.

The project started on 01.01.2023 and ran until 31.12.2023.