Endress+Hauser and Hahn-Schickard establish joint venture

Hahn-Schickard, a research and development service provider, has been working in close cooperation with the Institute of Microsystems Technology at the University of Freiburg for many years on rapid diagnostic methods, for example to detect the smallest amounts of infectious pathogens on site using mobile devices. The aim of the new joint venture is to transfer this technology from medical diagnostics to industrial process and laboratory automation, according to the two companies.

Innovative cluster

In the first few months, Endress+Hauser BioSense will be housed in rooms at the university and at Hahn-Schickard. Next year, the company will move to the Freiburg Innovation Center FRIZ, which is currently under construction on the campus of the Technical Faculty. The start-up will thus expand Endress+Hauser's Freiburg site, where work is already underway on new sensor technologies, biosensors and solutions for Industry 4.0.

The newly founded company will work closely with IST Innuscreen GmbH in Berlin, which is also part of the Endress+Hauser Group, in the development of equipment and methods for molecular analyses in the process and laboratory. IST Innuscreen offers a broad portfolio for nucleic acid isolation and molecular diagnostics and supplies, among other things, kits and assays for PCR diagnostics.

Experienced management team

According to the information, Endress+Hauser holds 75 percent of the shares in the new joint venture, Hahn-Schickard 25 percent. The managing director of the new company is Dr. Nicholas Krohn, who is very familiar with the field of food analysis. The founding team will be complemented by Stefan Burger and Martin Schulz, two long-standing Hahn-Schickard employees who have completed their doctorates in the field of molecular diagnostics at the Technical Faculty of the University of Fribourg, according to a final statement.

Source: Endress+Hauser