Medical care in the region has long enjoyed close cooperation with the Sahlgrenska Academy, Chalmers and the medical technology industry. This has contributed to successes in several areas. MedTechWest is now strengthening this cooperation with technical researchers being placed in the very heart of the medical care system. It is hoped that this arena for applied health care-related medicine technology research will lead to new know-how and new technology that emerges in the form of new products, processes and services within the health care system.

"Medical technology is important for many reasons. We have a strong medical technology industry in Sweden. The health care system is struggling with a whole raft of challenges and is becoming increasingly high-tech. Demographic developments characterised by an ageing population lead to the need for increased cost-control in the health care system. Bearing this in mind, it is necessary to implement new forms of cooperation between health care and the academic and business sectors, and it for this reason that MedTechWest was created," said Chalmers professor Mikael Persson.

"I certainly do feel the inspiration and dynamism that emerges from the meeting between health care, the research world and innovators, who are the pathfinders leading us into the future. It was in just this kind of environment that Nobel Prize laureate Arvid Carlsson worked and came up with products on which we can build further in the future. The results were revolutionary and led to the creation of Losec and Prosac. These discoveries have changed people´s lives for the better," emphasised Carl Bennet, the University of Gothenburg´s chairman of the board and medical technology company Getinge´s principal owner.

Jan Eriksson, hospital director at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, pointed out that medical technology development can help the health care system become less personnel-intensive. This is an essential move bearing in mind that the population is going to have an increasing proportion of older people in the near future.

"Health care has been able to expand thanks to growth in society. Now it´s pay-back time. Since health care reinforces coordination with research and industry, both patients and regional economic growth benefit," continued Jan Eriksson.

By: Annlouise Leikin, information department Sahlgrenska University hospital, 2009-11-02