Endress+Hauser and Hahn-Schickard establish joint venture

Greater safety in food production and other process engineering applications is the declared goal of a joint venture between Endress+Hauser and Hahn-Schickard. To this end, the two partners have founded Endress+Hauser BioSense GmbH in Freiburg, Germany. Its aim is to enable rapid molecular analyses on site to detect, for example, bacterial or viral contamination in water and beverages, genetic changes in food or contamination of milk.

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

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 then 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 the Endress+Hauser site in Freiburg, where work is already underway on new sensor technologies, biosensors and solutions for Industry 4.0.

In the development of devices and methods for molecular analyses in process and laboratory, Endress+Hauser BioSense will work closely with IST Innuscreen GmbH in Berlin, which is also part of the Endress+Hauser Group. 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

Endress+Hauser holds 75 percent of the shares in the new joint venture, while Hahn-Schickard holds 25 percent. Dr. Nicholas Krohn, who is very familiar with the field of food analysis, has been recruited as managing director for Endress+Hauser BioSense. The founding team is complemented by Dr. Stefan Burger and Dr. Martin Schulz, two long-time Hahn-Schickard employees who earned their doctorates in the field of molecular diagnostics at the Technical Faculty of the University of Freiburg.

Source and Photo: Endress + Hauser