MedTech Sustainability by Design

Many companies say sustainability matters, but only a few treat it as part of their strategy. One of them is Ambu , a global MedTech company and the market leader in single-use endoscopy. In this episode, Casper Venbjerg Hansen, Senior Director, Sustainability, Public Affairs, Risk and Compliance at Ambu A/S , explains how sustainability guides their decisions and why Ambu committed to it early. C...

Many organizations rely on LCAs (Life Cycle Assessments) to guide sustainability decisions, but the method is only as reliable as the data and assumptions used to build it. In this episode, Thomas Kägi, Member of the Board at Carbotech AG , explains how to structure an LCA so that the results reflect real environmental impact and not just guesses or incomplete boundaries. Thomas describes how the...

Hospitals review new devices through a process that is far more complex than most teams expect. In this episode, commercialization specialist Jim Surek explains how he evaluates medical technologies and the three-part funnel he uses to predict whether a product will find traction. Jim describes how clinical performance, economic outcomes, and strategic or operational effects shape hospital decisio...

Every MedTech company wants to innovate faster, but most are slowed down by one thing they barely realize is consuming half their development time: technical documentation . In this episode, Karl J. Larsson , co-founder of Aligned , explains how Word- and Excel-based documentation structures create massive inefficiencies, audit delays, and innovation bottlenecks, and how a lean, software-driven ap...

Marcel Kunz , Head of Packaging at Straumann Group , has spent his career making dental implant packaging safe, sterile, and sustainable. In this episode, he joins Lucas Pianegonda to share Straumann’s six “Golden Rules” for designing medical packaging that balances compliance with circularity — plus the story behind his toothbrush project that turned blister waste into a useful consumer product....

When Thomas Willemsen became CEO of GaleMed Group , he saw an opportunity to redefine medical consumables for a sustainable future. In partnership with Gradical, his team created the BioVent-Circuit — the world’s first anesthesia and ventilation circuit made from sugarcane-based bioplastic . In this conversation, Thomas and Lucas Pianegonda discuss:  • How GaleMed turned a concept into a validated...

Industrial design engineer Pablo Yániz González, who recently graduated in Integrated Product Design at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering , set out to make a single-use inflator more sustainable and ended up designing a hybrid device that can be reused up to 1,000 times. In this episode, Pablo joins Lucas Pianegonda to discuss how hospitals can reduce waste without adding bu...

Dr. Axel Boese has spent years studying how hospitals can innovate sustainably — and one of his biggest insights challenges the status quo of “single-use.” In most hospitals, medical tools are used once and then thrown away. For something like a cheap plastic syringe, that makes sense. But with a €600 stapler or a €1,300 catheter, the practice becomes both unsustainable and financially wasteful . ...

Arne Jaksch is an expert in toxicology and managing director of his own company Jaksch Life Science Consulting. He supports medical technology, pharmaceutical and chemical companies in the biological and toxicological evaluation of their products. In our discussion we dive deep on how a toxicological risk assessment is performed and what difficulties companies usually face when doing these. This e...

Maximilian Hofmann is Sustainability Manager at Raumedic a leading component supplier, CDMO and medical device manufacturer for some of its products. In the 4 years at Raumedic he established sustainability management systems, ISCC-PLUS certifications for two sites and introduced eco-design into Raumedics development process. Despite all the efforts sustainable products are struggling to take off,...

Isobel Filipova is an expert in sustainable design in medical technology and the founder of her own consultancy, where she helps medtech companies redesign medical device for sustainability. With a background in industrial design and medical devices, she has developed a unique approach that balances usability, compliance, and environmental impact. Her work focuses on transforming single-use medica...

Damian Carr is a distinguished expert in catheter innovation and globally recognized for his pioneering contributions to minimally invasive medical technologies. He is the author of “The Catheter R&D Handbook and founder of Eyedea Medtech Education where he educates medtech companies and suppliers alike on catheter technology and design. In our discussion we talked about the great clinical ben...

Monika Kriete is an expert for medical TPU and Technical Marketing Manager at Lubrizol Medical Solutions. She studied material science at the university of Berlin and then moved into the polymer industry working for Covestro before moving to Lubrizol in 2022, where she supports her customers in matters of processing and material selection of medical TPUs. In our discussion we talk about importance...

Jim Giger is an experienced leader in Innovation and product development. In his stellar career he managed development and innovation teams across multiple industries including medical device. Currently he is R&D Director at Hamilton Medical, where he aims deliver innovation in the critical care sector. In our discussion we talk about the innovation process, how to develop medical devices and...

Beat Keller is a regulatory expert and electrical engineer with deep knowledge in electric and electronic devices. He has over 15 years of experience in the medical device field and has been working in several standardization working groups for electrical and electronic devices also for IEC 60601-1. He recently founded his own consultancy swiss medical device consulting GmbH where he helps medical...

Daniel Delfosse is an expert for Regulations and Innovation. He spent his career in R&D positions at Mathys Ltd Bettlach before joining Swiss MedTech 5 years ago where he now is Vice Director and Head of Regulation and Innovation. He summarizes the past years of regulatory developments including the implications of MDR. Then we discuss upcomming regulations such as the EU Green Deal and PFAS r...

Dr. Chris DeArmitt is a world-class Plastic consultant and independent environmental expert. Chris had a stellar career in the plastics industry at firms such as BASF before starting his own consultancy Phantom Plastics . In 2020 he wrote the plastics paradox, where he tackles persistent myths about the environmental impact of plastics. He founded a non-profit called plastics research council to f...

Jenci Kurja is an expert for sustainable growth and plastics. He hold s PhD from Eindhoven University of Technology in Polymer Science and had a stellar career in the plastic industry for the last 25 years. First at Milliken & Company and then at his current employer Plastiflex where he is now Chief Growth officer and Chief Sustainability Officer. In our discussion we talk about how to incorpo...

Monir El Azzouzzi is the founder and CEO of Easy medical device, a swiss based regulatory affairs consulting firm. Monir hosts his own podcast – the easy medical device podcast – where I have had the honor of being a guest on material selection . Monir provides all kind of regulatory affairs services including clinical evaluation, the topic of todays podcast. In our discussion we shed light on the...

Julian Lotz is cofounder and CEO of BIOVOX a german start-up focused on making medical grade plastics more sustainable. He is an expert for sustainable medical grades and especially for biobased grades. In our discussion Julian elaborates on enivornmental impacts, the difference between biobased and biodegradable and on how to make the future of healthcare more sustainable.  Do you enjoy this podc...

This special episode we will have two guests Mihajlo Milenkovic and Giuseppe Fiandaca. Mihajlo is principal at The Strategists network a strategy consulting firm focused on medical technology. Giuseppe Fiandaca is Cofounder and Managing Director at Polyneers a consulting firm for medical grade plastics. Together with Gradical these two companies jointly put together a market report regarding the m...

Dr. Stefan Rössler is an expert for the massbalance approach and auditor for massbalance certifications at TÜV-SÜD. After his PhD in chemical engineering he worked a couple of years in industry as a business and technical consultant before he joined TÜV SÜD as an auditor and global product manager for ISCC certifications. We talk in detail about different chain of custody options, sustainable feed...

Vinny Sastri is an expert in quality management and medical grade plastics. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Rutgers University. After a stellar career at BASF, Honeywell and GE-Plastics he founded his own consultancy where he focuses on quality management. He is a certified Six Sigma black belt and his book plastics in medical device is without peers. He recently started as senior vice presid...

Kim Laursen is the Managing Director of Melitek A/S a medical compounder based in Denmark. With his nearly 30 year of experience he is a true expert in the field of medical compounding. In our discussion we talk about what advantages a compounder dedicated to medical end market brings, about sustainability and how to attract key talent. This episode was sponsored by Melitek Do you enjoy this podca...

Jonathan Demierre is an expert for eco-design and lead the team Sustainability Engineering at Helbling. He holds a PhD in Energy Systems from the EPFL Lausanne and worked at the Sustainable Engineering Lab of Columbia university in New York before joining Helbling. His whole career is centred around sustainability and eco-design. We talk about the sustainability and how it is embedded in the desig...