Taking innovations from the drawing board to the hospital ward: the Fresenius Inventors' Fair 2006

From November 15th to 18th, the ninth edition of the Fresenius Inventors' Fair at MEDICA in Dusseldorf will once again give creative researchers and developers the support they need to successfully bring their inventions to the market. Two such inventors are SAP and IT professional Michael Strobel and industrial engineer Andreas Dober. After receiving third place at the Fresenius Inventors' Fair 2004, they have seen their invention go from the drawing board to the hospital ward.

"The fair offered us an attractive venue to present our idea to our already existing clients," said Strobel. "Stating that Hydix placed third at the Fresenius Inventors' Fair 2004 in our marketing material has also been very advantageous for us." Together the two designed Hydix, a mobile wash stand complete with hot and cold running water and drainage for bed-ridden patients. Today, Hydix is used in hospitals in Germany, England, Turkey, Dubai and Kuwait and negotiations are underway with hospitals in Korea, Chile and Mexico.

Johannes Hoyer, who won first prize for his ground-breaking Nestling, also says that winning the Inventors' Prize has been a significant help in taking his invention Nestling to the next level. Nestling offers an alternative to traditional incubators that "nestles" around the mother's body allowing for contact between mother and child. At the same time, it monitors vital functions and provides all the additional medical support of an incubator. "The Inventors' Prize and the Fresenius Inventors' Fair have helped me establish very valuable contacts that have led to taking Nestling to the next development stage," reported Hoyer. A leading Russian medical supplies manufacturer looking for just such an invention in the area of premature baby care initiated contact with Hoyer at the Inventors' Fair and there are also ongoing discussions underway with an Israeli company seeking to implement his invention.

Registration for the 9th Fresenius Inventors' Fair is now open. Fresenius will provide 20 selected participants with exhibition space and stands free of charge at the world's largest medical trade fair MEDICA in Dusseldorf. Applicants with inventions that are truly innovative and have reached a certain stage of development, have the best chances of being allotted an exhibition space. These 20 applicants will then be judged by a jury of industry professionals who will select the three best ideas to be awarded the Inventors' Prize worth 10,000 Euro in total. The prizes will be awarded at the inventors' stands on the opening day of the trade fair. In the past, participants have included doctors and researchers from institutes of higher education as well as engineers, students, nurses, caregivers and even patients and their families.

The Fresenius Inventors' Fair is a forum allowing inventors to present their developments to a large professional audience and to the industry as a whole. Ultimately, the aim of the competition is to help innovative ideas reach the market so that they benefit the maximum number of patients. Last year, there were more than 137,000 guests at MEDICA from Germany and abroad.

Interested developers and inventors can download application forms at www.fresenius-erfindermesse.de  or can request them from:

Fresenius AG
Daniela Hegemann
E-mail: daniela.hegemann@fresenius.de
Fax: +49-6172-608-2294

# # #

Fresenius is a health care group with international operations, providing products and services for dialysis, hospital and the ambulatory medical care of patients. In 2006, the company expects sales of around € 10.7 billion. On June 30, 2006 the Fresenius Group had 100,196 employees worldwide. For more information, please visit our website.