Organisation
About us
IMI Intelligent Medical Implants
IMI Intelligent Medical Implants is a medical technology company. The goal of the company is to develop and market an intelligent retinal implant system for degenerative retinal disorders such as Retinitis Pigmentosa or Macular Degeneration and thereby make a contribution to the improvement of the quality of life of blind people. Through the combination of innovative technology from the medical device, IT and micro systems fields, a new class of active medical products has been created allowing, amongst other things, blind people to regain modest visual perception. The company was founded in 2002 and has 30 employees.
The company has a process oriented quality management system in accordance with ISO 13485.
Mission & Vision
Mission Statement
To develop, manufacture and distribute innovative retinal stimulation devices.
Vision
To be the leading provider of artificial sight.
With its future-oriented products, IMI Intelligent Medical Implants plans to offer specialized solutions for patients with disorders of the nervous system for which no treatment is currently available.
Our company has both the essential know-how and a portfolio of patents which will secure the company's technology platform as well as future growth.
The same technology that has served as the basis for the development of the retinal implant also opens up prospects for various other intelligent implants in the highly attractive area of neurostimulation e.g. auditory implants, cranial implants, spinal implants and learning drug therapy systems. Essential modules of the retina implant system, in particular the encoder, could be used for various other neuroprostheses thereby bringing them to a technological level that has not been achieved before. It is expected that not only can patients expect a higher quality of life, but also it will be possible for the first time to replace lost nerve functions.
Active Implantable Medical Devices - an interdisciplinary challenge
IMI Intelligent Medical Implants is a pioneer in the future-oriented market of active implantable medical devices. To be successful in this market segment, a company must optimize - and skilfully combine - know-how in the areas of information technology, microsystems technology and medical technology. Complex teams for complex challenges.
- Information Technology: IT plays a crucial role since it is a neurocomputer (the retinal encoder) that takes over the complex signal processing of a healthy retina in people with various types of retinal degeneration. The picture taken by a camera is transformed into parallel stimulation sequences. The required algorithms not only have to guarantee fast data processing but must also comply with the requirements for safety and flexibility at the same time. This development involves experts from various fields of information technology.
- Microsystems Technology: In our active medical product, micro-contacts and various types of surface structures will be realised and components for electromagnetic or optoelectronic signal couplings have been developed.
- Medical Technology: This field deals with the technical integration of biotechnology, neurology, cell biology, immunology and surgery.
- Developmental tasks can only be carried out via interdisciplinary collaboration involving the integration and management of expert teams recruited from remotely related fields of medicine and technology.