The network

AKM was one of the eight award winners of a competition held by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2000. What began as a partnership between research institutes, clinics and companies has today established itself as the Aachen Centre of Competence for Medical Technology – AKM. The agency AKM Innovationsmanagement GmbH takes care of operations management and provides services along the supply chain.
Innovationsmanagement GmbH takes care of operations management and provides services along the supply chain.

Main activities

The agency AKM Innovationsmanagement GmbH provides services in the four main fields of:

• project management

• analyses and studies

• event management

• networking

We coordinate and support the scientific research of involved scientists with clinical, natural science, and engineering backgrounds. The aim is to accelerate the development of innovative ideas into products. The projects which have been given support in the German "Medical Technology Innovation Programme" bear witness to our success.

We cooperate closely with RWTH Aachen University and University Hospital Aachen and have an extensive network of contacts. In forward-looking innovation and technology studies, we share this expertise in the field of medical technology with the market.

Furthermore, we see ourselves as a multiplier of knowledge and a facilitator of its transfer into practice. Our event management activities range from the creation of training seminars on medical technology issues to international congresses and the organisation of tailor-made events for our clients.

The technological focus

Minimally invasive medical techniques require the use of extremely small instruments. Ideally, the development of miniaturised medical devices and systems should be organised in joint projects involving close collaboration between experts from a number of different disciplines. This is the task of the Aachen Centre of Competence for Medical Technology, which strengthens the region's medical technology basis in the process. Furthermore we see ourselves as a multiplier of knowledge and a facilitator of its transfer into practice. From ideas to products: AKM delivers service and knowledge transfer in medical technology for the worlds of science, business and policy development.

Highlights

In the field of scientific project management, AKM participates in the funding application process and the coordination of joint projects in federal state and national competitions in the field of medical technology. One of the nationally funded projects is orthoMIT – minimally invasive orthopaedic therapy. The main objective of the project is to develop an integrated platform for smart therapy in orthopaedic surgery and traumatology. Flexible modules for hip, knee and spine surgery make an individual therapeutic procedure possible. orthoMIT is one of the largest projects of orthopaedic research in Germany. This joint project of 24 partners – clinics, research institutes, medical industry enterprises and further stakeholders – will receive funding of nearly 14 million euros from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research until the year 2010.  Another project coordinated by AKM is called ForSaTum and will start in 2010. The goal here is to develop a unique research satellite for the accelerated implementation of new tumour treatment methods.
Furthermore, AKM is a competent contact for providing a detailed picture of the state of the art in the field of medical technology in the form of expert comments and incisive analyses.