SEMECO

We help to shape the future.

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

The healthcare system is facing major challenges, and technological innovations can make an important contribution to overcoming them. However, innovations in medical technology are often lengthy, complex and heavily regulated - for good reason, after all, people's health is at stake.

In the future, it will be important to connect medical devices more closely and enable them to communicate with the cloud via internet. This will provide valuable data that can be used to optimize processes and products. Shorter innovation cycles for medical technology are necessary in order to bring innovations to patients in a timely manner and enable safe and efficient medical care.

This is precisely the goal of SEMECO.

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" - SEMECO for short - is a network of academic research institutes and companies that has set itself the goal of accelerating the development and approval of medical devices and implants with electronic and digital components and thus promoting the progress of medical technology.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as secure hardware and software platforms are being developed to enhance the efficiency and safety of medical devices and implants, while also accelerating the approval process. Ultimately, this should benefit the health and well-being of people around the world.

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, scientists and experts from industry and research collaborate now to increase the pace of innovation in medical technology and overcome the obstacles impeding innovation in the medical technology industry.

More information on the SEMECO initiative

Who's participating & our role

A diverse 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 fields of end-to-end implementation of cloud-based, modular platforms, and enablement of connections of complex medical devices. Specifically we contribute in the Q1 subproject "Secure & Trustworthy System Architectures".

In our subproject, we are cooperating intensively with secunet Security Networks AG and Deutsche Telekom MMS GmbH. This lays the foundation for revolutionary, fast and secure cloud-based use cases in medical technology, such as remote device management. In addition, it will be possible to gain insights from the evaluation of diverse data and use them for better patient care and new business models. 

Timeframe – first steps

In the first step, the personnel and organization has been set up and then the composition of the team of experts was planned for the subproject "Secure & Trustworthy System Architectures". The kick-off took place on May 12, 2023. 

Where the teamwork takes place

SEMECO is a predominantly 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. Thus, ideal conditions for collaborating in the SEMECO future cluster.

What is the current status?

Numerous preperation activities have been carried out so far such as gathering relevant information that is needed for taking next steps. Several interviews were conducted with various stakeholder groups, including hosting partners and MedTech companies, and more with collaborative projects. Afterwards, the synthesis of these interviews was carried out in order to obtain the most important insights. In addition, an in-depth research on hosting partners, competitors and other relevant information was carried out and prepared in several documents. This enables a comprehensive overview of the market and allows the identification of potential opportunities for innovation.

The requirements analysis and documentation were also initiated to ensure that all relevant aspects of the project are considered and documented in a structured manner. This serves as the basis for the selection of partners and the implementation of platform components.

Two large workshops were planned and carried out in order to incorporate external perspectives into the requirements. The aim of the workshops was to determine the target group for the cloud platform more precisely and to define relevant use cases and cloud services. Initial solution architectures and a detailed project plan were developed to clarify the next steps.

What are the next steps?

The information collected forms the basis for further interviews with external and internal partners to validate existing assumptions and define potential changes. By gathering feedback from potential users, we ensure that the developments efforts are realistic and user-oriented.

More information on this will be provided soon.