Hahn-Schickard Transfers Joint Venture Shares to Endress+Hauser
Endress+Hauser becomes the sole owner of BioSense; Hahn-Schickard remains a supplier
Five years after the companies were jointly founded, the Endress+Hauser Group has acquired the shares in Endress+Hauser BioSense previously held by Hahn-Schickard. This move marks an important milestone in the successful transfer of microfluidic technologies from research to industrial applications. The technological partnership will continue.
As of October 31, 2026, the Endress+Hauser Group acquired the 25 percent stake in the joint venture previously held by Hahn-Schickard. Endress+Hauser will assume sole responsibility for the further development and commercialization of the jointly developed technology for on-site molecular analysis.
Hahn-Schickard and the Endress+Hauser Group laid the foundation for their collaboration in 2021 with the establishment of Endress+Hauser BioSense GmbH in Freiburg. The goal was to adapt a microfluidic technology developed at Hahn-Schickard for medical diagnostics to industrial process and laboratory automation. Hahn-Schickard contributed its technological expertise and the intellectual property rights developed at the Institute to the joint venture. Endress+Hauser complemented these capabilities with its experience in industrial applications and its access to customers and markets.
The PCR-based analysis platform combines a single-use microfluidic cartridge with an analyzer, enabling rapid and automated testing directly at the sample collection site. This makes it possible, for example, to detect bacterial or viral contamination in water and beverages, genetic modifications in food, or contaminants in milk. The technology thus opens up a wide range of applications in the food and beverage industry as well as in other industrial fields such as the life sciences and data centers.
“Joint ventures with established companies are a particularly effective way for us to engage in technology transfer. They combine new technologies from research at an early stage with industrial application expertise and market access. Endress+Hauser BioSense demonstrates how this can give rise to a company with long-term industrial prospects. “I would like to thank everyone involved for their trusting and successful collaboration,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roland Zengerle, Director of the Hahn-Schickard Institute.
Even after the full acquisition by Endress+Hauser, the technological partnership will continue: Hahn-Schickard will continue to supply Endress+Hauser BioSense with microfluidic cartridges manufactured at its Freiburg facility.
Hahn-Schickard promotes knowledge- and technology-based spin-offs and specifically uses the establishment of joint ventures with established companies as an additional tool for technology transfer. These ventures combine the innovative strength of applied research with a company’s industrial expertise and sales structures. This creates opportunities for the commercial use of new technologies and for highly skilled jobs in the region.
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