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The ongoing lack of skilled care workers is spreading and neither the number of patients nor healthcare expenditure shows any signs of abating. Healthcare costs in Germany came to EUR 5,699 per capita in 2021, according to the German Statistical Office. However, the use of AI in healthcare and life sciences holds plenty of opportunities to cut costs, relieve the burden on staff and to improve medical care for patients.

©Mediaserver Hamburg / Geheimtipp Hamburg
©Mediaserver Hamburg / Geheimtipp Hamburg

AI as an established part of medical processes

The use of assistive AI is already widely accepted e.g., a smartwatch monitors a person’s pulse and encourages the wearer to exercise more. Machine learning algorithms analyse complex sets of medical data with astounding accuracy. Doctors can use these findings and prescribe the right treatment which frees up time for more personalised patient care. The city of Hamburg offers all those with a suitable startup idea or an AI-driven business model plenty of support.

Two persons working in a 3D Printing Lab
DESY, Angela Pfeiffer

Red carpet for life sciences and healthcare

Hamburg is considered a center of innovation for AI, life sciences and healthcare. The city is home to several research institutes, universities and medical facilities.

DESY, for instance, is a leading global research center for particle accelerators and offers startups a campus with laboratories, prototype workshops, meeting and co-working spaces. The integrated startup office recognizes the needs of startups with products or services based on complex technologies. The consulting team lends its support when building up business concepts, forges contacts with investors and networks with other potential partners and associates. By the 2040s, Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld will be a center of basic research and applied science, an incubator for innovation and technology transfer and a diverse residential location with ideal conditions including laboratories and several thousand workplaces for scientific institutions, startups and innovative companies.

The Health Innovation Port for startups offers co-working spaces, mentoring, advice and stages all kinds of events. Its partners include Asklepios Kliniken, Techniker Krankenkasse and the pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca. Life Science Nord is the industry network for medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals with around 500 companies, universities and research institutions in Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein. The Clusteragentur Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg GmbH (GWHH) sets up co-operations and forges networks between companies, universities and startups in the healthcare industry. It also manages projects on forward-looking issues such as the digitalization of the healthcare sector and networks innovative idea generators with established stakeholders. Events, consulting days and a mentoring scheme are offered as part of the Digital Health Hub Hamburg cluster brand. The Healthcare Industry Congress in late summer is now the top event for stakeholders focusing on all the latest issues in the sector.

©Mediaserver Hamburg
©Mediaserver Hamburg

The AI.STARTUP.HUB Hamburg boosts cross-industry talks and links up startups and stakeholders in AI with research and businesses. Two comprehensive funding schemes called "AI Accelerator" and "AI Ideation" address the needs of AI teams and startups in every development phase. The AI.GROUP consisting of AI.HAMBURG, AI.FUND and AI.IMPACT is a joint founder of the hub and provides targeted support for companies and startups’ AI projects. All kinds of information is provided in addition to events and opportunities to network with Silicon Valley in the United States.

Petra Vorsteher and Ragnar Kruse, Founders of the AI.Group
"Artificial intelligence has the potential, especially in the healthcare sector, to recognize diseases early, relieve the burden on medical staff and thus literally save lives."
Petra Vorsteher & Ragnar Kruse, Founders of the AI.GROUP
© Medudy: Wort-&-Bild-Verlagsgruppe-CEO Andreas Arntzen, the founders of Medudy Felix Leimer, Felix Stockmar and Lucas Amadeus Krauße  and business angel Johannes Wimmer.
© Medudy: Wort-&-Bild-Verlagsgruppe-CEO Andreas Arntzen, the founders of Medudy Felix Leimer, Felix Stockmar and Lucas Amadeus Krauße and business angel Johannes Wimmer.

Multilingual online expertise and improved diagnostics

Some impressive companies such as the Medudy startup originated in Hamburg. The company wants to give doctors in all corners of the globe access to valuable medical knowledge. To this end, the medtech has developed a CME-certified education platform that offers video courses in up to 50 languages. That removes language barriers and improves patient care worldwide. Artificial intelligence ensures cost-effectiveness by adapting and updating content at any time without producing brand new videos. Speakers become virtual avatars and the content is translated autonomously, which makes the startup independent of the experts' schedules and locations.

©Unsplash, Owen Beard
©Unsplash, Owen Beard

Startups coming up with new AI solutions for medicine

The FUSE-AI startup is developing medical AI software that analyses MRI images and provides radiologists with a second opinion on cancer diagnoses. The intelligent software can be integrated into existing diagnostic software systems via interfaces. Modern, deep learning methods, which form the core of AI-supported medical image analysis, are used for product development. Radiologists can come up with targeted diagnoses faster and more patients per unit of time can use the MRI. This approach cuts personnel costs and keeps the likelihood of misdiagnoses to a minimum.

By all intents and purposes, Hamburg's attractiveness for AI startups in the life sciences and healthcare sector is based on compelling locational advantages. Flexible ecosystems, dedicated centers and a variety of exciting business events make for an environment that fosters ground-breaking innovations with AI technology. Society becomes healthier and makes technological leaps and bounds. If your startup would like to work alongside established companies and global initiatives or you have a great business idea, then Hamburg is right for you.

Here you will find all further information on founding a company in Hamburg and news on the topic of artificial intelligence from the Hamburg startup scene. Want to get started right away? Then book a free startup consultation with the AI.Group's startup unit.


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Startup City Hamburg

At Startup City Hamburg you can find Hamburg’s inspiring startup ecosystem gathered into one space.


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