"What are you doing here? Aren't you a designer?" This or something similar was often how the first conversations started when the WILDDESIGN team met representatives of the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry at an industry meeting.

WILDDESIGN can now look back on 20 years of membership in various networks in this sector: from the MedTech & Pharma Forum and the Healthcare Industry Initiative to Medical Mountains Tuttlingen and Medical Valley Nuremberg/ Erlangen, which WILDDESIGN also joined following the opening of the office in Munich.

After all these years, the question only comes up occasionally: On the one hand, WILDDESIGN is better networked and better known in the industry than any other product design agency. An established and recognized partner that is indispensable in the field of medical design.

On the other hand, the work of the designer has become established in the product development process. The usability of a medical device has become an elementary component of its development - making it the central task of the designer. It is certainly also thanks to the regular exchange between the disciplines that the usability of a medical device is now taken into account at an early stage of its development.

The network as a cooperation pool

Over the years, relationships have developed between the companies, which today form a solid performance structure and some of which have resulted in cooperations that have been working together successfully for a long time. A classic win-win situation for everyone, because

• Today, high-tech products are predominantly developed in consortia of specialists
• the customer benefits from solutions from a single source and
• Cooperation with other companies opens doors to new areas of activity and customers.

For example, WILDDESIGN has had an extremely important cooperation partner for decades in BYTEC Medizintechnik, the specialist for hardware and software development in medical technology and contract manufacturing: By working together with the company from Eschweiler, WILDDESIGN can, for example, offer its customers the all-round carefree package from design to the finished medical product certified in accordance with IEC 13485. Special opportunities in the development and production of optical, medical and laboratory devices are offered by our cooperation with the Austrian company of the same name, Wild Völkermarkt. The cooperation with Canto Ing. Lüdenscheid in turn enables us to provide our customers with any type of prototype in the shortest possible time, be it a functional sample, a design model, a near-series prototype or a small series. Many other complementary companies in various service and production areas, with whom we have been working together in a spirit of trust for years, could be listed here - important components for our company's success.

Exchange of ideas and expert knowledge

In addition to the cooperation partners found in networks, there is no better place to discuss new requirements or the latest trends than in a group of interdisciplinary experts who are involved in such a process. And: nowhere does the exchange of information and impulses work better than in a network. This not only gives WILDDESIGN a 360-degree overview of the current topics in the industry, but also makes it possible to drive things forward in an uncomplicated way: For example, "the longest competence chain in medical technology" is still a topic that Markus Wild & Co. are approached about. This was initiated by Markus Wild many years ago at EuroMold in Frankfurt am Main, the world's leading trade fair for tool and mold making, design and product development, where it was impressively and obviously sustainably presented on a 30-meter-long workbench. A total of 30 renowned specialists from the medical technology sector were mobilized for this special show in the heart of Messe Frankfurt to illustrate the entire product development process - from design to prototype to series production - to trade fair visitors. Such a concentrated gathering of top players was unique at the time and could only be realized if an idea could find spontaneous supporters in the network.

Joint events not only enrich the individual company, they also weld us together. We are naturally delighted that our "exotic" expertise is increasingly in demand and that the appreciation of our contribution to the success of a product is growing. The growing interest in the topic of design is also reflected in the many requests for lectures: in late summer, Markus Wild will be speaking at the "Medtalk" series of lectures by Medical Mountains on the topic of "Industrial design and usability engineering - two trump cards in medical device development". He will get to the bottom of two questions:

1. How do I integrate industrial design and usability engineering into medical device development in the sense of user-centered design?
2. How do the two disciplines help me to develop a superior product within the framework of regulatory requirements?

And every year again... - obligatory in the WILDDESIGN calendar: Medica/Compamed

In addition to the networks of which WILDDESIGN is a member, we naturally also fly the flag at other industry meetings: for example, WILDDESIGN has been a firmly booked exhibitor at Medica/Compamed, the leading international trade fair for the medical supply industry, for 17 years now. The opportunity to meet all the experts in the sector here is an important and rewarding building block for the exchange of ideas.

These are just a few examples that show the added value networks can bring to companies: They are not only a source of inspiration or a pool of knowledge, but thanks to their pragmatic hands-on mentality, they make many things possible that would not be possible on their own.

So what at first glance does not seem to fit together - the designer in the midst of medical device developers - has proven to be extremely useful and effective over the years.

Further information on our networks:

> Industry Initiative Healthcare Industry South Westphalia e.V.

> Medical Valley EMN

> Medical Mountains