The German economy is ailing. Does this also affect your sector?

The healthcare industry is part of the overall economy. Naturally, our businesses are also affected by the current trend. However, healthcare services are always needed – even in times of crisis. This makes companies in the healthcare industry particularly robust and resilient.

However, we are confronted with fundamental problems: How can we deal with demographic change? How can an increasing number of elderly people with ever higher care needs be looked after by fewer and fewer young people? And above all: How can this system be financed in the long term?

Sounds challenging...

Germany used to be one of the most innovative countries in the world. Here, inventions and developments were created that were used worldwide. We need this innovative spirit again to address the issues of our time. Unfortunately, we are increasingly being overtaken, particularly by the United States, but increasingly also by China.

Why is that?

Regulations. They make research, development, and marketing extremely difficult in this country. Let me give you an example: Starting in 2005, products came onto the market that allowed heart valves to be repaired catheter-based through the groin. Until then, this was only possible with major heart surgery. For the first time, heart valves could be treated without having to open the chest. A medical revolution – invented and developed by American and partially German start-ups, tested primarily in Germany. This made German companies the undisputed market leaders for these products. As innovators, we were extremely interesting for the industry. However, all further developments of this methodology, including the initial marketing of new products, have recently taken place in other countries. Due to bureaucratic hurdles from Brussels and Berlin, Germany has lost its edge.

Can this be reversed?

Yes. Especially in medical technology and biotechnology, I see future fields for German companies in the healthcare industry. We are still a country of brilliant minds. However, their ideas should also be able to come to fruition here – and not only abroad. To achieve this, radical debureaucratization is needed. The introduction of new medical products must be simplified and accelerated, and then economic performance will also be maintained. If we succeed in this, the global medical market can again be dominated by German excellence and the products of German companies.