STIMULATE research campus
On January 30th 2013 the STIMULATE research Campus (Solution Centre for Image Guided Local Therapies) for innovative medicinal technology was opened at OVGU in attendance of State Secretary Cornelia Quennet-Thielen of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the former science minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff, representatives of the state capital, and Siemens AG Healthcare representatives.
With a symbolic push of a button, the interdisciplinary research project started as an international flagship project in the Experimental Factory in immediate vicinity of the university campus. Under the umbrella of the research campus, researchers and developers of the engineering and medical faculties of the University of Magdeburg and non-university research institutions, in cooperation with Siemens AG Healthcare and regional companies, will create technologies for image-guided minimally invasive techniques in medicine that aim to improve both medical treatment methods as well as contain the cost explosion in health care. The focus is on the most common diseases in the areas of oncology, neurology and vascular disease.
“With the research campus STIMULATE, we want to take the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg into a world-leadership position as a center for image-guided procedures”, said Dean Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan in his welcome address.
BMBF State Secretary Cornelia Quennet-Thielen emphasized in her keynote speech the importance of cooperation between companies and university: "The aim of the research campus is to enable new, long-term opportunities for cooperation between science and industry. Magdeburg is a good example, because here strong partners have teamed up to jointly build an international beacon for medical imaging".
To realize this, the federal government provided 1.6 million Euros in funding for the first year and, after a successful preliminary phase, up to two million Euros in subsequent years. In addition, contributions made by the supporting scientific and industrial partners further increase the available budget. In perspective, the total possible funding period by the BMBF is up to 15 years. Overall, the BMBF supports nine of these innovative collaborations.
Turning research results into products functions particularly well "when science and industry closely work together", said the minister for science and industry of Saxony-Anhalt, Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff, in her keynote address. "The new research campus offers the best prerequisites. It will greatly strengthen the medical device industry in Magdeburg and all of Saxony-Anhalt. "
“The support of the BMBF for the construction of the research campus is a confirmation of the high quality and the great potential of the medical technology industry in Magdeburg”, said medical technician and speaker of the Research Campus Dr. George Rose (faculty of Medical Telematics and Medical Technology) during the presentation of the project. "Here, doctors and engineers, but also the University and Siemens, have been working together closely for many years and on par". In the long run, the project STIMULATE will develop to become the "German center for image-based medicine."
Dr. Heinrich Kolem, CEO of AX Division of Siemens Healthcare, emphasized in his speech that the objective of the research campus STIMULATE is an excellent fit into the strategic direction of his company. "With our long-term partner in Magdeburg we would like to develop product innovations for the international healthcare markets, and therefore strongly support the research campus".
The basis for this multi-million Euro research focus at the University of Magdeburg lies in the disproportionate increase of age-related diseases such as cancer, stroke, dementia, and heart attack due to the demographic development. Already today, image-guided minimally invasive methods offer very efficient and least harmful treatment methods that should be further developed within the research campus and in particular be applied to the treatment of other diseases.
Find out more at https://www.forschungscampus-stimulate.de/
Movie:http://www.campustv.ovgu.de/videos_forschungscampus-stimulate_155.html
