About the Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg GmbH
The Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg GmbH (GWHH) is the cluster agency for the health economy. Founded in March 2009 by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the GWHH is primarily funded from public grants from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Additional funding is raised from the members of the private association Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg e.V. There are no earnings from sales.
The objective of the GWHH is to establish and maintain a sustainable network across all areas of the healthcare industry and to promote Hamburg as a business location. Besides the cluster management, the GWHH develops and manages projects related to health and care.
The GWHH organizes events and workshops and provides a wide range of information for start-ups as well as for the existing industry. It is also a point of contact for companies in search of partners for consortia or for the roll-out of new ideas.
The GWHH network counts more than 3.000 decision-makers from all sectors of the healthcare industry, such as health insurance companies, hospitals and care providers, medical technology companies, start-ups, business-related institutions and educational and research institutions. It also includes health related companies and institutions from IT and creative industries.
In the past 10 years of its existence, the GWHH successfully managed 7 projects.
EU-Projects managed by Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg GmbH
Project: AGQua – Aktive und gesunde Quartiere Uhlenhorst und Rübenkamp
Objective: Support elderly people to independently live in their own apartments and accustomed surroundings as long as possible. Support is provided through technical built-in assistance in the apartments and through social services and activities offered for and in the neighbourhood. The GWHH manages the co-operation of eight partners from science, housing economy, care sector, from information and electronics technology. The project is based on the results and experiences of its predecessor “networked living in the neighbourhood” (VWiQ, duration 2012 - 2014), where ambient assistant living systems were successfully probed. VWiQ was also coordinated by the Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg GmbH and likewise funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Project implementation: Neighbourhood networks promote contact and activities and improve access to assistance. The project fosters the establishment of a local offices (German: “Quartier”), including new and innovative approaches, such as a digital platform, which serves as an interface to service providers while promoting health services and offers from the area. Residents have access to the platform via smartphones, or may use fixed screens near the local office. Moreover, apartments are equipped with technical assistance systems. Finally, complementary counselling and information services promote prevention and health literacy among the elderly in the neighbourhoods. A scientific evaluation reviews potential benefits of the solutions developed in the project.
Funding: The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The project is funded from 01.05.2016 - 31.12.2020.
Project: eHealth-Netzwerk Hamburg
Objective: The eHealth-Network fosters the digitization in healthcare in Hamburg by deriving impulses for innovative technologies from other branches and markets. The project also supports knowledge transfer through network-platforms, congresses, conferences and strategic working groups for the development of new business-concepts for the healthcare industry.
Project implementation: The network connects established players in the healthcare industry - regional hospitals, doctors in private practice, start-ups in the healthcare sector - with companies from the creative industries, the IT- or the life science sector. Together with the “Digital Health Hub Hamburg”, the network supports founders and young companies in Hamburg and thus offers a place where innovative ideas can grow. The eHealth-Network Hamburg is an open network available to all who are interested in the exchange and/or implementation of new digital innovations in the healthcare industry.
Funding: The eHealth-Network is part of the Hamburg Cluster Initiative and a joint project with the Cluster of the life science sector. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The project is funded from 01.04.2016 - 31.12.2021.
Project application: Unterstützung der Bewerbung Hamburger Krankenhäuser um eine Förderung durch die Europäische Union für den Auf- und Ausbau von Referenznetzwerken (ERN) für seltene Erkrankungen
Aim of the project: The Gesundheitswirtschaft Hamburg GmbH (GWHH) was entrusted to support the application of Hamburg in order to receive funding from the European Union for the establishment and expansion of reference networks (ERN) for rare diseases.
Project implementation: This support included the exploration of the regulatory framework of the ERN tender in cooperation with the German Hospital Federation and the Ministry for Health and Consumer Protection of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (BGV), which was in constant communication with European institutions. In addition, the GWHH advised the Martin Zeitz Center for Rare Diseases of the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and other interested hospitals on the preparation of funding applications for the achievement of the excellence criteria. As a result, the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) received approval from the European Commission in 2017 to set up 6 international health networks for rare liver, kidney, vascular, metabolic and cancer diseases with the participation of UKE doctors. A total of 23 such networks were set up by the European Commission with the aim of improving the quality of care for patients with rare diseases in Europe.
Funding: The project was funded by the Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (BGV) in 2016.
