The health sector in Berlin with the segments industry, commerce, trade and private as well as public services employs 179,777 people or 11.7 percent of the city’s working population and reports sales of app. EUR 14.1 billion per annum.¹

Some 8,500 employees in the medical technology sector generate sales of EUR 1.3 billion per year.²

The following health sector facilities and corporations are among the biggest employers in the German capital:

• Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin (14,400 employees)
• Vivantes-Clinics (13,130)
• HELIOS-Clinics (3,900)
• BIOTRONIK GmbH & Co. KG as the largest company in the medical technology sector (1,420 employees at the corporate center in Berlin of 3,700 worldwide)
• German Heart Institute Berlin (1,100)
• Ev. Waldkrankenhaus Spandau (1,070)
• Sankt Gertrauden-Krankenhaus (1,050)
• Ev. Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge (960)
• Diakoniewerk Bethel (800)
• Park-Klinik Weissensee (600)
• B. Braun Melsungen AG (560 in Berlin of 35,000 worldwide)²

In addition, the number of company foundations is rising steadily, especially by scientists in universities and clinics, because universities are giving greater emphasis to practical applications of research and are supporting spin-offs. Since 2002, ten companies were established based on research projects at Charité.

Alongside 188 medical technology companies with their own products or production-associated services, Berlin is home to 210 dealers and other service providers in the field.²
According to the Berlin Chamber of Crafts, there were 866 registered medical technology craft firms in 2007, including 353 opticians, 3 surgery mechanics, 41 auditory acoustics providers, 46 orthopaedic shoemakers, 57 orthopaedic technicians and 366 dental laboratories.

With a share of around nine percent of total industrial employment, medical technology is far more important to economic development in Berlin than it is in Germany as a whole.²

That the sector with its 188 companies includes a relatively large proportion of young companies aged up to three years (13 percent) reflects the brisk founding activity during recent years, as does the high proportion (some 75 percent) of small and mid-sized companies (up to 49 employees).