- The Munich-based health tech company will increase its R&D related to surgery and radiosurgery.
- The EIB loan is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €50 million loan to co-finance the R&D programme of Brainlab AG in 2023 and 2024. The loan comes with a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), also known as the Juncker Plan. The funding will support Brainlab’s R&D activities related to surgery, radiosurgery treatment and digital health.
Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Munich, Brainlab develops, manufactures and distributes hardware and software technology for computer-assisted medical procedures and their digitalisation. Its products focus on image-guided surgery, operation room integration, and radiosurgery in hospitals. The company achieves yearly revenues of about €360 million and employs 2 200 people.
Brainlab uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create highly detailed models of the brain, spine, breast and lung, which are integrated into surgery and radiosurgery tools. The company’s technology can be integrated with certain third-party medical technology devices. As such, it helps doctors and other clinicians to perform precision operations like brain surgery, and accurately track tumours that move with breathing when treating lung cancer with radiation therapy.
Brainlab is focused on image-guided surgery, digital operating room integration, and radiation therapy technologies. One of the top priorities of digital operating rooms is to streamline, simplify and consolidate the influx of data to free up time for not only the surgeon, but the entire surgical and hospital IT team. Brainlab digital operating rooms work in many configurable ways to ensure smooth data workflows and a modern approach to surgery. Digital operating rooms have the potential to save the surgical team time and costs through the entire workflow, both inside and outside the operating room.
EIB Vice-President responsible for financing in Germany Ambroise Fayolle said: “Brainlab is a highly innovative health tech company that develops effective solutions to accelerate surgery procedures in hospitals, using AI and big data. The technology has strategic importance for the digitalisation of healthcare and makes the data collected usable for future diagnostics and medical research. We are pleased to work with Brainlab to drive medical innovation.”
Founder and CEO of Brainlab Stefan Vilsmeier said: “As we look to the future, it’s important to understand and embrace digitalisation and the technology that will usher in a new era in the healthcare industry’s transformation. Innovation that delivers data-driven, patient-specific treatment is the future and we’re already working on the next breakthrough. This new capital, earmarked for strategic R&D fields will help us continue to make an impact on the lives of physicians and patients.”
Background information
The EIB is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to further EU policy goals. The EIB’s key priorities are climate and the environment, development, innovation and skills, small and medium-sized businesses, infrastructure and cohesion. It works closely with other EU institutions to foster European integration, promote the European Union’s development and support EU policies in more than 120 countries worldwide.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. It provides first-loss guarantees that enable the EIB Group to invest in riskier projects. EFSI financing for projects and contracts has unlocked investments totalling €524.3 billion, which have benefited over 1.4 million small businesses. The Investment Plan for Europe has now been replaced by InvestEU, although it is still possible for certain previously approved transactions to be signed.
At Brainlab, we digitise medical workflows, from diagnosis to therapy, to offer clinicians and patients better treatment possibilities. Our innovative digital ecosystem forms the basis for modern healthcare technology in 6 300 hospitals in 120 countries. At the forefront of health technology for over 30 years, Munich-based Brainlab employs some 2 200 people with expertise across the entire healthcare value chain in 25 locations worldwide.