© BMBF
Cluster „Zukunft der Pflege“
Ensuring that people receive care is one of the greatest challenges facing our society. Every day, several million people in Germany are dependent on care. And the number of people in need of care will continue to rise. This poses new challenges for the care sector. It applies equally to acute hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, inpatient and outpatient care for the elderly, as well as care at home.
Technical innovations can relieve the workload of nursing staff and caregiving relatives and improve patients’ quality of life. Care technologies have the potential to make everyday life considerably easier for people working in care homes, hospitals and in home care. In this way, intensive and palliative care can be improved.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports the development and research of new care technologies. As part of the “Zukunft der Pflege” cluster, social and technical innovations in care are brought together: research, industry and care practice work together with users on new products that are intended to make everyday care in Germany easier and better. As the first component of the care cluster, a Care Innovation Center (PIZ), the only one of its kind in Germany to date, began its work in June 2017. Here, engineers research new technologies together with care scientists. Since the beginning of 2018, there have been nursing practice centers (PPZ) in Freiburg, Nuremberg, Berlin and Hanover, where new nursing technologies are tested in everyday nursing care. The four centers test the practical suitability of various technologies in clinical, inpatient and outpatient care areas. The nursing practice centers also transfer their know-how to nursing training and further education, thus ensuring the innovative strength of the industry.