SEMECO – We're doing our part

Working together to increase the speed of innovation in the development of secure and efficient medical technology.

The healthcare system is facing enormous challenges. Technological innovations can play a significant role in tackling them. But innovations in medical technology are often lengthy, complex and strongly regulated ‒ for good reason. Ultimately, it's a matter of people's health. In the future, one issue will be strengthening the connectivity of medical devices and enabling these to communicate with the cloud via the internet to speed up remote updates in the lifecycle and thus to enable secure and efficient medical care. SEMECO aims to shorten innovation cycles for medical technology.

Two doctors working on a tablet in the OR.

The future of medical technology lies in the combination of improved approval processes, greater security and digital innovation.

What it's all about

"Secure Medical Microsystems and Communications" ‒ abbreviated SEMECO ‒ is a group of experts and companies that have set themselves the goal of accelerating the development and approval of medical devices and implants and thus promoting progress in medical technology.

The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) is intended to increase the efficiency and security of medical devices and implants and therefore improve the health and well-being of people worldwide.

SEMECO was named one of the winners of the Clusters4Future competition organized by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 117 clusters applied in the second round of the competition. Physicians, researchers and companies collaborate to increase the speed of innovation in medical technology and break down the innovation backlog in the medical technology sector.

More information on the SEMECO initiative

Who's participating & our role

A diverse partner and network community is rising to the challenge posed by SEMECO, and we are very pleased to play an active role on the team.

The Institute of Communication Technology at the Technical University of Dresden – Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering is taking on the research coordination for the project. The Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health is also closely involved. We, the Health Solutions business line at ZEISS Digital Innovation, bring our experience and expertise in the application requirement and practical implementation of the cloud-based connection for complex medical products in the area of "Secure & trustworthy system architectures."

A team from academia and industry handles the respective work packages in the subject area – from hardware security to the cloud connection. This lays the foundation in medical technology for revolutionary, quick and secure functionalities such as capabilities for online updates during operation and a true "cloud nativity" for the products.

Timeframe – first steps

In the first step, personnel and the organization are being set up, and afterwards the plan is to form the expert team for the topic "Secure & trustworthy system architectures." This is a topic where we play a leading role. The kickoff took place on 12 May 2023.

Where the teamwork takes place

SEMECO is a regional initiative where partners from medicine, research and business bundle their competencies so that leading digital innovations in medical technology can be made available more quickly. Saxony, with Dresden as main hub, is one of the leading European locations in academia and industry for microelectronics, communication technology and artificial intelligence. Ideal conditions for collaborating on the SEMECO future cluster.