Global Business Week: Innovation in Frankfurt Rhine-Main
Mayor Petra Roth opens innovation conference at the Global Business Week 2011 / Frankfurt's economic strength and entrepreneurial intensity is the driving force for innovation / London Business School strengthens cross-industry approach
Frankfurt, 18 May 2011 – The metropolitan region of Frankfurt Rhine-Main is very well positioned for cross-industry innovation. At the Frankfurt Global Business Week experts invited by FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center discussed new trends in personal healthcare management. The resulting closer cross-industry collaboration between the fields of life sciences, IT, nutrition and fitness can, for example, create new markets, for which Frankfurt can be groundbreaking.
Mayor Petra Roth opened the innovation conference: “As the location of leading companies from different industries, Frankfurt is the starting point for innovation.” The diversity of industries, Germany's largest internet exchange and the entrepreneurial intensity in areas such as the biotechnology sector are a few of the strengths of this area: Thus, the region is also a major driver for the whole healthcare business.
“New markets resulting from the combination of approaches in various industries offer huge growth potential”, says Dr. Christian Garbe, Managing Director of FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center. “We currently see people becoming more aware, with a growing need to be informed about their own health. In addition to treatment, products for preventive healthcare, and maintenance and promotion of good health are becoming more and more important. Therefore, the focus of future cooperation will aim at determining: What skills, technologies and practical knowledge need to be combined to promote and support new marketable ideas.”
Frankfurt`s concept for personalized healthcare management
At the conference, personalized concepts were presented, which can fundamentally change the range of products in the healthcare industry. Rajesh Chandy, head of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, stressed in his presentation: "Innovation occurs both across regions as well as across sectors and technologies. It is not only about the development of new products. New production processes or business models also involve innovation potential. Networks play a crucial role in realizing this potential.”
An example was provided by the operator of the fitness club, Fitness First: "The sporting objectives of an individual can only be achieved through personalized and holistic approaches", said Dirk Kemmerling, responsible for business development at Fitness First. He added that “in future, findings from innovative diagnostics and innovative nutritional products can be an even more integral part of integrated approaches in the area of fitness.”
“Know yourself”
An innovative concept is also being developed in the area of health management by the FIZ-based company, bio.logis GmbH. Medical diagnostic professionals are working on an internet portal that makes access to personalized medical genetic knowledge possible. This service is known as personal genomics services (PGS). It enables patients and their doctors to use personal medical genetic knowledge when making treatment decisions. The founder and managing director of bio.logis, Prof. Dr. Daniela Steinberger stated: "We support people in their desire to inform themselves about their health and to make individual healthcare decisions. Knowing one`s own genetic disposition is a modern variant to the classical dictum of the past: ‘Know yourself’. With such knowledge, better decisions can be made. In the case of PGS, these are better medical decisions."
Cooperation across industry boundaries is not possible without a high-performance digital infrastructure. "Access to enormous amounts of data at high speed is therefore a prerequisite for company and cross-industry collaboration", says Peter Knapp, Managing Director of the data center operator Interxion Germany.
Among the national and international speakers were high-ranking business representatives from IBM, Interxion, Microsoft, Symrise, Fitness First and bio.logis. Contributions from the area of innovation research came from Prof. Rajesh Chandy, head of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, and Dr. Antje Stobbe, head of the Technology and Innovation team at DB Research. Dr. Jens Maier from the University of St. Gallen was facilitator at the conference.
Note to Editors:
FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center
FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center is an innovation driver for the healthcare business in Hesse and the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region. About 300 employees, mostly in research and development, work at the 16 start-up and established companies. A tailor-made research infrastructure on about 15,000 square meters of land offers ideal working conditions. In addition, FIZ has developed into a location for collaboration and interdisciplinary networking. Shareholders of FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center are the State of Hesse, the City of Frankfurt am Main and the Frankfurt am Main Chamber of Commerce and Industry. As a partner of the conceptual innovation conference at the FRANKFURT GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK, FIZ is jointly responsible for programming aspects.
FRANKFURT GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK
The annual FRANKFURT GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK includes about 20 technical conferences and evening events on topics that shape the sustainability of economic locations and major companies. It is an initiative aimed at bringing together regional and national economic sectors for international exchange and competition. Organizers of the conference are the Frankfurt am Main Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Regional Association of Frankfurt Rhine-Main, the city of Frankfurt am Main, Association for the Promotion of Location Development and Frankfurt Economic Development GmbH together with the Maleki Group.
Contact:
FIZ Frankfurter Innovationszentrum
Biotechnologie GmbH
Lilliffer Seiler
Tel.: +49 (0) 69 800 865 - 35
Fax: +49 (0) 69 800 865 - 19
E-Mail: 
lilliffer.seiler@fiz-biotech.de
Intellisource GmbH
Ulrich Siebert
Tel.: + 49 (0) 69 981 964 – 12
Fax: + 49 (0) 69 981 964 – 45
E-Mail: ulrich.siebert@intellisource.de