A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that Germany spends over 11% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare, with only the USA (17%) and Switzerland (12%) having a higher health expenditure as a share of GDP. Accordingly, there is an increasing need for innovation to reduce the burden of healthcare costs, especially for an aging population. Using eHealth could potentially reduce the cost of health expenditure in Germany by up to 12%. This makes eHealth an attractive market for entrepreneurs. Hence, at the end of the conference’s first day, the “Markets for eHealth: Perspectives from innovators and entrepreneurs” panel discussed innovation and digitalisation in Germany. The consensus between the panellists was that Germany is lagging behind in health sector digitisation. Or, as Janis Reinelt, chair of the panel and business developer at Aicura Medical, put it: “The German health system is still in the 80s and has a lot of homework to do”.
