Prisma (Source: Spectaris/Berliner Glas KGaA Herbert Kubatz GmbH & Co)

The German Medical Technology Association Spectaris expects that the producing medical technology companies in Germany will end the year 2007 with a turnover profit of up to 8% and that the total turnover of the industry will rise to approximately 17.2 bn Euro.

In the previous year 2006 the number of employees with 87 700 remained the same compared to 2005 whilst the number of companies was reduced by approximately 3%. The total turnover in the previous year rose by 8.1% to 15.9 m Euro. The inland turnover, after 2 years of decrease, grew by 3.2% to 5.7 bn Euro. The export turnover grew by 11.1% to 10.2 bn Euro. In worldwide exports, Germany is thus No 2 behind the USA. About 39% of the exports went to countries in the European Union, almost 25% to North America and almost 14% to Asia.

Laser and optical components

For German companies in the field of optical technology, a growth of turnover of up to 15% is forecast so that the 6 bn target could be clearly exceeded. The export quota for the year 2007 will be approximately 73%. The number of companies will remain the same but the number of employees will rise again quite strongly. In the year 2006, the turnover grew by 21.4% in comparison to 2005 to a new record of 5.83 bn Euro. The driving force was the growth in foreign countries which grew by 26.7% to 4.17 bn Euro. The number of employees grew by 5% to 44.800.