Franco-German IT partnership takes eHealth solutions to international markets thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network's help.
Ready for expansion
French company FOR AGE wanted to take its cloud- and smart-phone based eHealth systems for the elderly into international markets. In its early years of development, the company had turned to the Enterprise Europe Network for advice to promote and improve its technology and to safeguard its intellectual property. Now that they were ready for expansion, they turned once more to the people they could trust.
Business in Berlin
Enterprise Europe Network expert Anne-Marie Vieux, based in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Franche-Comté, invited FOR AGE to a Network business matchmaking event during the conhIT healthcare IT trade fair in Berlin.
To prepare FOR AGE's participation in the event, Vieux contacted Network colleague Anna Brejwo Lobianco in Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH for information about the German market and prospective partners.
Fully briefed with this background information Gérard Vanca of FOR AGE met with several possible partners at conhIT. They included Michael Heinlein of MD-PART, a specialised healthcare IT distributor in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
After the initial meet-and-greet and several follow-up meetings, the companies signed a formal distribution agreement in December 2013 involving commercial and technology exchanges.
Partnership for growth
The partnership provides new opportunities for laboratories to track samples from collection at home to arrival at the lab, meaning better traceability, higher quality analyses and more reliable results.
Since taking FOR AGE's technology into Germany, MD-PART has been keen to expand elsewhere in Europe including Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg.
"Thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network, I was given the perfect opportunity to find a reliable partner," says Vanca of FOR AGE.
Michael Heinlein of MD-PART adds, "MD-PART is mainly active in the German speaking countries but it aims to expand its business into other European regions. Thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network, I met French company FOR AGE during the brokerage event conhIT 2013 and created this partnership agreement."