Sustainable innovation with a passion for life
Driven by a true passion for life, the medical technology company Getinge provides products and solutions for hospitals and life science institutions aiming to improve clinical results and optimize workflows. At the end of 2023, Getinge’s continuous commitment to advancing healthcare solutions and driving sustainable innovation was honored with the respected Swedish Chamber Business Award in the category Tech for Good. Learn about Getinge’s commitment to sustainable innovation and healthcare advancements, their pioneering partnerships driving ethical alternatives in the food industry, and their cutting-edge developments in connected medical devices, all featured in this special Business Award edition of Swedish Chamber Insights.
Founded in 1904 in the small Swedish town of Getinge, the company has grown into a global medical technology leader with more than 11,000 employees worldwide. Getinge’s offering includes solutions for intensive care, cardiovascular procedures, operating rooms, sterile reprocessing, and life science.
The jury of the Swedish Chamber Business Awards 2023 was especially impressed by Getinge’s case example of their partnership with Bluu Seafood in Germany, presenting their first market-ready products made from cultivated fish cells – a milestone in enabling people to eat seafood without compromising animal welfare or straining marine ecosystems.
“Developments in this area are not standing still. The bioreactors used by Bluu Seafood and manufactured at our production site in Delft, are also actively used by other customers in the life science industry, in their research on innovative, sustainable solutions to solve contemporary challenges” says Josef Hinterberger , President DACH/Benelux at Getinge.
Hinterberger continues: “We have recently entered a collaboration with NoPalm Ingredients in the Netherlands. They will use Getinge’s bioreactors in their efforts to develop local, circular, and sustainable alternatives to palm oil.”
Getinge also continuously works on developing new solutions in the healthcare field, like the recently introduced Maquet Corin – an intuitive, safe, smart and connected operating room (OR) table designed to streamline the daily routines in today’s busy surgical departments.
Smart features of this OR table are based on the same approach as the sophisticated active safety features in modern cars; preventing accidents and incidents by monitoring situations and warnings, or even acting automatically, when needed. The collision detection protects staff working near the OR table and nearby equipment, while the overload detection protects the operating table against structural damage with a warning when the load limit is reached or exceeded.
Maquet Corin is also the very first connected operating table, as it provides biomeds and service technicians with the possibility to easily access a wide range of service data and usage statistics, making sure the table is always ready to perform for a surgery.
Connected devices are becoming increasingly important, and more hospitals are opting for digital solutions to optimize workflows, increase efficiency and support medical staff in their daily work. One of the latest developments in this area is the launch of Servo TwinView in February 2024. Getinge’s renown Servo ventilators get a boost into the future with this solution, which allows medical teams to access and analyze near real-time data from the ventilators, without having to step inside the sensitive environment in the intensive care unit (ICU).
While viewing the ventilator data remotely, experts can provide a second opinion and support the people who are working inside the ICU.
“The ICU is a sensitive environment with patients that are often critically ill, recovering from major surgeries, experiencing organ failure, severe trauma, or facing other complex medical issues. Servo TwinView opens the possibility to follow therapies without disturbing these patients and their relatives”, explains Cecilia Sjöstedt , Vice President Critical Care at Getinge. “It enables hospitals to increase effectiveness of daily routines such as rounding and handover, supporting onboarding and training away from the patient room, potentially improving workflow and thereby freeing up time and costly clinical resources.”
“This virtual twin of the physical ventilator is connected via Wi-Fi and the data is handled according to the individual hospital’s policies. We have put a lot of efforts into optimizing cyber security for this solution,” says Elin Frostehav , President Acute Care Therapies at Getinge. “We hope Servo TwinView will become a great tool for many hospitals around the world, assisting them in their digital transformation journeys.”
To Getinge, sustainability – in the broadest sense of the word – is extremely important, as they strive to assist partners with innovation, digital transformation, and delivering the best care for patients.
Sustainability work is an integral part of Getinge’s passion for life, and the company is committed to conduct business that is socially, ethically and environmentally sound across the entire value chain. From an environmental perspective, Getinge believes it is important to take responsibility for it’s impact on the planet. With ambitious goals as well as near and long-term targets, approved by the validation team of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the company commits to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050 from a 2021 base year.
In addition to the environmental aspect of sustainability, business ethics also play an important role within the company. “We have developed the Responsible Leadership program #ItStartsWithMe, that every Getinge employee can participate in”, says Josef Hinterberger. “For us, responsible leadership means creating a culture where we are passionate about doing the right thing and where we are not afraid of raising concerns. Together we are taking our responsibility and thinking about the future consequences from our decisions and actions here and now.”
Michael Vallon, CFO DACH/Benelux at Getinge, who had the honor of accepting the Swedish Chamber Business Award on behalf of Getinge in December 2023, adds: “We are extremely proud to have received the Tech for Good award and see this as confirmation of our commitment to sustainable innovation and responsible business practices. We would like to thank the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for this recognition and see it as another encouragement to continue our efforts.”
Photos in this article are credited to Getinge and Hanne Hansen.
