INSEL GRUPPE AG

Their core work

Insel Gruppe AG is the university hospital network based in Bern, Switzerland — one of the country's largest medical care providers and a major clinical research center. In H2020 projects, they contribute clinical expertise in vascular surgery, advanced medical imaging, cardiac electrophysiology, and medical device evaluation. Their role centers on providing real-world patient data, running clinical trials, and validating new therapies and technologies within an active hospital setting. They bridge the gap between laboratory research and bedside application across cardiovascular, neuroimaging, and regulatory science domains.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the earlier phase (2017–2019), Insel Gruppe contributed to surgical innovation in aortic repair and advanced multimodal imaging research combining MRS, MRI, and PET with machine learning. From 2021 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward medical device regulation, evidence-based clinical investigations, and a pioneering cardiac radioablation technique (stereotactic therapy for arrhythmias). This trajectory shows a move from contributing clinical sites for imaging and surgical trials toward shaping how new therapies and devices are evaluated and approved.

Insel Gruppe is moving toward regulatory science and validation of frontier cardiac therapies, making them increasingly relevant for projects that need clinical trial infrastructure and regulatory pathway expertise.

How they like to work

Insel Gruppe exclusively participates as a partner or third party — they have never coordinated an H2020 project themselves, which is typical of large hospital groups that contribute clinical expertise rather than drive project management. With 98 unique consortium partners across 16 countries, they operate in large, multi-site clinical consortia where their value is providing access to patient cohorts and hospital infrastructure. They are a reliable clinical partner rather than a project initiator.

Their 98 unique partners across 16 countries reflect participation in large pan-European clinical consortia. As a Swiss institution, they connect EU research networks with Switzerland's strong clinical research ecosystem.

What sets them apart

As a major Swiss university hospital group, Insel Gruppe offers something few partners can: an active, high-volume clinical environment where experimental therapies and devices can be tested on real patients under rigorous protocols. Their combination of cardiovascular surgery, advanced imaging, and medical device regulatory experience makes them a versatile clinical validation partner. For consortium builders, they provide a non-EU Associated Country clinical site with Swiss precision and access to diverse patient populations.

Highlights from their portfolio

• STOPSTORM
  Their largest funded project (EUR 185,924), validating an emerging cardiac treatment — stereotactic radiotherapy for ventricular tachycardia — running until 2027.
• PAPA-ARTIS
  A long-running randomized controlled trial (2017–2024) tackling one of vascular surgery's most feared complications: paraplegia during aortic aneurysm repair.
• CORE-MD
  Directly shapes how high-risk medical devices in cardiology, orthopaedics, and diabetes will be regulated under new EU MDR requirements.