April 1, 2008, Munich, Germany--Olympus recently opened a new global Research and Development Centre for Life Science that will focus on taking in vitro diagnostics, laboratory automation, molecular biology, digital image processing, and microscopy applications to the next level.
The company plans to invest around €15m in the project, and by 2009 it is expected that 450 people will be employed there.
"We are bringing together a highly qualified team from different fields of specialization under one roof and are thus creating an interdisciplinary work environment from which all departments will benefit," said Helmut Köhler, Executive Managing Director of both Olympus Life Science Europa GmbH and Olympus Life Science Research Europa GmbH. "At the same time we will be in a position to fulfill our customers' requirements in the future by offering exceptionally reliable products and services. Olympus sees itself as a driving force for tomorrow's medicine and clinics. Our objective, in addition to early detection, is individualized disease prevention, analysis, and prevention along with follow-up treatment."
For years Olympus has been very successful in the European life sciences sector. Over the past four years, growth rates have been averaging 15.8% in microscopy and 10.4% in diagnostics, placing Olympus as one of the leading companies in both the microscopy and clinical chemistry markets.
"The life sciences sector at Olympus has experienced continuous growth in recent years and is strategically important to us," said Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, president of the Olympus Corporation. "With our new global Research and Development Centre in Munich we have created the foundation for future sustained grown in this business segment."
For more information, go to Olympus.