UdZ 01.21

SPECTRUM – APPLIED RESEARCH 54 / UdZ 2-2021 Regional and supra-regional Tansfer through the Aachen-Region-Zweckverband FIR IAW FOM GfPS St. Gereon Vostra Lebenshilfe Aachen Heinen Automation Modell Aachen UKA AIXTRA MedAix Health Economy Area of the Region Aachen Guiding Themes in GALA regarding Labor and the Health Economy Column 1 Human-Machine Interaction Column 2 Healthy Work Digital Collaboration Agility and Innovation Tools of work design and competence management Innovation Research Education R A L L I egion achen iving ab nitiative Regional Pilot Companies in the Health Care Industry Inpatient and outpatient Care Insurance and Management, Production of pharmaceutical, medical (technical) Products Trade Health Care & Life Science Submarket Regional Research Partners Column 3 Column 4 Figure 1: The GALA joint project at a glance W ork 4.0, automation, demographic change, the COVID 19 crisis and regional structural change - they present companies and institutions in the healthcare industry in the Aachen region in particular with the complex task of reorganizing and redesigning learning and working. Against this backdrop, they are also confronted with new issues that need to be addressed in greater detail and to which constructive solutions need to be found. Specifically, there are four central guiding themes in which the greatest challenges in the health economicscan currently be localized: Human-Machine Interaction , Healthy Working , Digital Collaboration , and Agility and Innovation . For these topics, innovative tools and concepts are being developed, tested and implemented in the two GALA fields of action Work Design and Competence Management with the help of a toolbox „Work Design" and a toolbox “Competence Management”. With the health sector as the industry of the future, the ‘GALA’ project makes an important contribution to regional development and thus actively shapes structural change in the structurally weak Aachen region. Accordingly, the project is also accompanied and supported by the institutions MedLife e. V. , digitalHUB Aachen and the City of Aachen , which are well networked and anchored in the Aachen region, as associated partners. Figure 1 provides an overview of the project. Healthcare Industry as Growth Engine For Structurally Weak Regions As a cross-sector industry, the health economics is highly relevant, not least against the backdrop of the Corona crisis and an increasingly aging society, and further growth figures can be expected in the future 1 . Nevertheless, an aging population is also leading to increasing cost pressure in the sector. Innovative solutions for the care of older people in particular are one of the key challenges currently facing the health economics. Personalized medicine and telemedicine, with the help of innovative information and communication technologies, open up opportunities to ensure good, comprehensive care. Medical products from the 3D printing process will no longer be a rarity, nor will intelligent implants and surgical robots. The development of nano- based medicines will also continue to advance. In developed societies in particular, the health economics as a driver of value creation and employment will therefore increasingly become an economic growth engine for innovations, both within the industry and beyond it in other industries or clusters 2 . With its high employment potential, the digitized healthcare industry can make a significant contribution to the creation, further development and preservation of high- 1 Brandt et al. 2017, p. 54 et seq. 2 Brandt et al. 2017, p. 56 et seq.