2015 Heraeus Innovation Awards - New categories for outstanding innovative achievements

Cardiac irregularity, Parkinson’s, hearing and vision loss – medical implants are already helping to improve the quality of life for patients with chronic diseases. However, procedures that are routine for adults often bump up against the limits of what medicine can do when it comes to the tiny vessels of infants and children. This is the case with children suffering from heart conditions: The structure of the implants is simply too large for their small bodies.

CerMet, an innovative Heraeus material system made up of ceramic and platinum, makes it possible to make implants smaller than ever before. “We can now fit small children and infants with miniaturized medical implants. More circuit paths in a smaller space allow for more reliable, targeted, and efficient applications,” explains Jens Trötzschel, Heraeus Medical Components, highlighting the benefits of CerMet technology.
This innovation also makes possible entirely new applications in other areas of medical implants, such as nerve stimulation in the brain.

Heraeus customers selected this innovation as among the most important, and CerMet technology is receiving the Customer Focus Award in addition to the Konrad Ruthardt Award for the best innovation in the category of product, process, or business model.

Volatile precious metal prices and the need for constant availability for Heraeus’ industry customers were challenges faced by the team from Metal Management.
The new Flexible Forward service has been available to Heraeus customers since mid-2015, allowing them to hedge precious metals at a fixed price and obtain them flexibly as needed within an agreed upon period. This gains them planning security, along with constant availability of precious metals.

This improved service for customers won this year’s Richard Küch Award for Best Cooperation, based on outstanding internal and external cooperation.