Anna Goldsworthy heads the Medical Valley EMN medical technology cluster with 250 members from business, science, healthcare and politics sectors. She kicks off our new series in which we introduce female pioneers and their stories in medical technology.
Medical technology as a career choice? "Yes," says Anna Goldsworthy firmly, and a smile adorns her face when she recalls the beginning. When she was at school, her enthusiasm was for electrical engineering. Then a friend told her about her medical technology studies at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg: "I found that extremely exciting because it's simply a technical degree programme that has so much tangible practical relevance that I knew I was really interested in it." After graduating, she then traded implants, pacemakers and X-ray machines for Python, Java and JavaScript and went on to study computer science. After that, she knew where she wanted to go.
"Computer science, preferably programming in the medical field": this came true for the then Master's student when she started at Medical Valley as a software developer in 2018. But working on just one project at a time quickly became too little for her. "I enjoy doing many different things. If I have a whole day blocked in the calendar for one topic, then that is not very fulfilling for me. I need variety, different impulses." She found this variety when she started working in start-up support shortly afterwards. An internal change that paid off.
"The personal highlight was when I then took over as managing director," she says, somewhat abashed. "I was 28 years old at the time when the talks started, so I wasn't that old. And I didn't have a huge track record of having worked at three global players or founded five companies myself." Nevertheless, the board proposed her for the executive position. The deciding factor was above all her previous work at Medical Valley. According to her colleagues and the board of directors, the young managing director is a multi-talent with social and professional competence. Anyone who talks to her notices that she can network, and anyone who works with her knows that she also implements.
Her new position demands a lot of her. Goldsworthy is leaving her comfort zone. She is now in a decision-making position for many projects instead of a single one. She describes the first months as "like being on fire". She wants to go full steam ahead in all directions, do everything right, even preferably do everything. Saying no to possibilities and opportunities was forgotten for the time being. "That was, I think, one of the hardest things, finding yourself as a person, in the role and in the collaboration at first."
"If you don't get the chance, you can't go down the path at all. I was and am very grateful for the opportunity and that the people who decided this believed in me."
Anna Goldsworthy - Managing Director Medical Valley
When she took up her new position, she set herself three major goals: Financing, digitalisation and sustainability. Anna Goldsworthy wants to improve the financing of start-ups in medical technology and make the European Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg (EMN) a model region for the best healthcare, especially with regard to the degree of digitalisation. Furthermore, the Medical Valley and its members should become as sustainable as possible. Thus, in cooperation with the Environmental Cluster and the Forum MedTech Pharma e. V., a project on the topic of "Circular Economy in Medical Technology" was developed. "This is a small but exciting project for now," Goldsworthy thinks. "The topic will become so big in the next few years that the medical technology manufacturers and clinics will need support, expertise and know-how in order to position themselves really well.”
A normal working day does not arise with the ever-changing large and small projects. "I am usually involved in new projects that are in the process of being initiated," explains the managing director, "and I am also responsible for the EDIH DigiCare project, for example. This is part of a Europe-wide network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH's) set up by the EU Commission." The aim is to shorten the time to market for products. To this end, Medical Valley and Bayern Innovativ support small and medium-sized enterprises as well as healthcare providers in their digital transformation.
"I actually draw most of my energy for the work from networking and exchange. For example, at events, either organised by ourselves or by partners, where you can discuss new ideas and solutions with many different people." At events such as the E-Health Congress or MedtecLIVE, she is eloquent and focused, never allowing herself to be thrown off track in any situation. It's as if she's been sitting on the podium next to Klaus Holetschek, the Bavarian Minister of Health, and corporate executives like Siemens Healthineers manager Bernd Ohnesorge for 30 years.
The Medical Valley European Metropolitan Region Nuremberg (EMN) is a healthcare cluster consisting of various players in medical technology. The aim is to bring together people from science, business, healthcare and politics in order to actively establish patient-centred solutions for healthcare challenges on the market. In doing so, members receive needs-based individual support ranging from start-up advice for entrepreneurs to a spin-off support programme for researchers. The decisive and biggest topic for shaping the health of tomorrow is digitalisation.