Healthy Living and the Healthcare Sector

The health industry is one of the most employment-intensive sectors with the greatest growth in Thuringia and is thus a significant part of the regional economy. The field of specialisation pertaining to healthy living and health economy covers the topics of medical technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, food industry and health economy.

The theme of "Healthy Living" appeals to a broad spectrum of industries. Traditional strengths in the field of optics make Thuringia an international innovation leader in the fields of microscopy, laser technology and ophthalmology. New subject areas, such as infection research and ageing research, have been established in recent years and brought to international attention. And the manufacture of pharmaceutical products is also proving to be an important specialist area for Thuringia.

Food industry actors are building competencies for topics such as "Healthy nutrition" and "Prevention of diet-related cardiovascular diseases". At the same time, they advance social issues of modern life and challenges of demographic change – such as social participation and health or occupational health management – on an interdisciplinary level and bring them to the public's attention.

The scientific expertise for this is found in six universities – including three universities and three universities of applied sciences – 15 research facilities, two technology and start-up centres and the University Hospital Jena.

The entire field is characterised by a particular strength of Thuringia's research institutions. Here it has been possible to attract further structure-building R&D initiatives to Thuringia in highly endowed and prestigious tenders in competition with the other German regions. These include the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse" (approx. 47 million euros in funding for infection research) and the "Leibniz Centre for Photonics in Infection Research (LPI)" with a funding volume of 150 million euros.

The economy in the field of specialisation in figures

8.3 Turnover in billion euros

8450 Companies

165500 Employees subject to social security contributions

Data source: own calculation based on TLS data, as of 2020 (figures rounded)

Derived from the specialisation profile, four topics currently prove to have potential for this field:

Biophotonics/Bioinstruments
Infections/Diagnostics
Digital health
Healthy diet
Healthy ageing

Vision and goals

Health innovations from Thuringia have international appeal and create closed value chains locally through interdisciplinarity:

Existing lighthouses and top positions in analytics, diagnostics and infection research, as well as medical technology that shine beyond the region are being expanded and are exemplary for the expansion of the entire field of specialisation. Promising niches are identified and occupied, taking into account the competencies of neighbouring fields of specialisation.
Through close cooperation between top research facilities and industry, we develop innovative anti-infection strategies in Thuringia to combat infectious diseases. This opens up the possibility for participating companies to develop and market effective strategies and products in the sense of linking diagnosis and therapy.

Thuringia is once again becoming an innovative pharmaceutical location.
In the food industry, Thuringia offers healthy food from the region for Germany and Europe. In doing so, we improve our innovative strength and competitiveness by developing new processes and products.
As an attractive employer, the healthcare industry in Thuringia enables people to work and live healthily and contributes to value creation through the provision of healthcare services.