Our Goals

The HörTech Center of Competence dates back to the contest "Centers of Competence for Medical Technology", which was initiated by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) in 1999. A total of 56 applications were received and 14 outlines were chosen after a meticulous, two-day interview process. In the end, 8 centers were chosen and granted with a total of 7.5 million DM over a five-year period. One of these successful centers was Center of Competence for Hearing Aid System Technology in Oldenburg, HörTech gGmbH for short. HörTech gGmbH is run by a non-profit company with limited liability and it came into existence on November 15, 2001. In its legal form, HörTech gGmbH aims to create a common platform for precompetitive research and development projects sponsored by the industry while fulfilling aspects of public interest at the same time. Since April 2002, HörTech gGmbH takes care of the center's business, coordinates projects and continues to develop the ideas connected to HörTech gGmbH. The partners in this business are the University of Oldenburg with 51% and the  Hörzentrum Oldenburg with 49%. Since this is a non-profit company, all proceeds (e.g. from traing courses or equipment sales) are directly reinvested in HörTech gGmbH projects and activities which support hearing resarch.

A Research Advisory Board consults the company on new projects or alterations to current ones.

The company's aim is to support research and science, particularly when it comes to gaining new methods and knowledge. These goals are realized by developing and running a center of competence for hearing aid system technology, which fosters precompetitive cooperation among companies and institutions from the private economy as well as universities and research institutes in projects developing hearing aid system technology or associated products. Within all projects, our participating institutions are guaranteed the necessary confidence they need in order to unfold personal expertise and knowledge. Furthermore, the company develops and commercializes products which have been conceived in our projects or on the basis of project or research reults.

Click here to see the HörTech-Organigramm.