Medtech made in Germany: scanners, ventilators, prosthetics and the lab bench
From imaging in Erlangen to anaesthesia in Lübeck, prosthetics in Duderstadt and lab equipment in Hamburg and Göttingen, German firms supply much of modern medicine's hardware.
Germany's health technology industry rarely gets the attention its car makers receive, yet patients and researchers around the world use its products every day. Five companies illustrate the range: imaging and diagnostics, critical care, prosthetics and two kinds of laboratory equipment. Several have histories stretching back more than a century.
Siemens Healthineers: imaging at scale
Siemens Healthineers, headquartered in Erlangen, makes imaging systems such as CT and MRI scanners, laboratory diagnostics and equipment for minimally invasive therapy. It has been listed since 2018, with Siemens as its controlling shareholder. Siemens has said it intends to reduce its holding by distributing Healthineers shares directly to its own shareholders, and plans to put the spin-off to a vote at its annual general meeting in February 2027. If approved, Healthineers would gain far greater independence from its former parent, a significant moment for one of Europe's best-known medtech groups.
Dräger: breathing technology since 1889
Dräger was founded in Lübeck on 1 January 1889 by Johann Heinrich Dräger, a trained watchmaker. His first product was the Lubeca valve, a reliable pressure-reducing valve for carbonic acid. His son Bernhard applied the same gas-control expertise to medicine and rescue. With the surgeon Otto Roth the company developed the Roth-Dräger anaesthesia apparatus, and its closed-circuit breathing apparatus for mine rescue was so widely used in North America that rescuers became known as "Draegermen". Today Dräger's products range from anaesthesia machines and ventilators to gas detection and breathing protection for firefighters and industry. The company is still headquartered in Lübeck, where it began.
Ottobock: prosthetics goes public
Ottobock was founded in Berlin in 1919, when the aftermath of the First World War created enormous demand for prosthetic limbs. It is now headquartered in Duderstadt in Lower Saxony and works across prosthetics, orthotics, neuro-orthotics and exoskeletons. Its modern products include microprocessor-controlled knees that adjust resistance in real time as the wearer walks. On 9 October 2025 Ottobock listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company's chairman, Hans Georg Näder, remains the majority owner, so the listing combined public market access with continued family control.
Eppendorf: the tools of every lab
Eppendorf was founded in Hamburg in 1945 by the physicists Heinrich Netheler and Hans Hinz, on the grounds of the Eppendorf University Hospital. In 1961 it launched the piston-stroke pipette, which replaced the hazardous practice of mouth pipetting. In 1963 came the Eppendorf tube, a small plastic reaction vessel so ubiquitous that its brand name is used generically in labs worldwide. The company has since added centrifuges, bioprocess equipment and automated liquid handling. It became Eppendorf SE in 2021.
Sartorius: from balances to bioprocessing
Sartorius traces its origins to 1870, when Florenz Sartorius founded a precision mechanics workshop in Göttingen after developing a short-beam analytical balance. Laboratory balances are still part of its business, but the larger part today supplies the biopharmaceutical industry. Through Sartorius Stedim Biotech, formed by a 2007 merger with the French company Stedim, it provides single-use bioreactors, filtration and purification systems used to manufacture biologic medicines such as antibodies and vaccines. Single-use equipment reduces cleaning and changeover time, a major advantage in flexible drug production.
From hardware to services
A common thread in the industry is the move from selling devices to selling outcomes. Imaging systems now come with software that helps radiologists prioritise scans; ventilators and anaesthesia machines connect to hospital data systems; laboratory equipment is integrated into automated workflows. For manufacturers, this creates recurring revenue from software, consumables and service contracts. For hospitals and laboratories, it raises questions about data protection, interoperability and dependence on a single vendor, issues that European regulators are watching closely.
What links them
- Precision engineering heritage: watchmaking, precision mechanics and physics underpin several of these firms.
- Long-term ownership: family or anchor shareholders remain influential at Dräger, Ottobock and Sartorius.
- Regulatory depth: medical device and pharmaceutical regulation rewards companies with long experience of certification and quality systems.
- Exposure to biotech: Eppendorf and Sartorius benefit from the growth of biologic drugs and life sciences research.
Ownership models side by side
The five companies also illustrate the range of ownership in German medtech: a former conglomerate division moving towards independence, a family-led group in Lübeck, a recently listed company with a controlling owner, and long-standing listed firms with anchor shareholders. Each structure brings a different balance between long-term research spending and short-term market pressure.
The outlook
The sector faces familiar pressures: healthcare budgets, stricter EU medical device rules, competition from lower-cost manufacturers and the need to add software and data services to hardware. Its advantage is trust. Hospitals and laboratories tend to stick with equipment that works, and these companies have spent generations earning that confidence.