"Know-how only grows when it is shared."

The Swiss Medtech incubator is headquartered at the SIG campus, with a view of Europe's largest natural spectacle. On the former industrial site, CTI Vascular today develops and patents pioneering vascular instruments. In the state-of-the-art laboratory with cleanroom, these prototypes are built and tested.

The finished medical products are used in hospitals and operating rooms across Europe, America, and Asia. As life-saving stents or multifunctional catheters, they provide quick solutions for circulation disorders in blood vessels – from the neck to the little toe. Atherosclerosis is the cause, affecting 20 percent of the global population, with the number of sufferers continually rising. Thanks to the instruments from CTI Vascular, blood vessels can be opened in minimally invasive procedures, preventing amputations – particularly in severe cases of diabetes.

The minds behind these medical advancements are by no means doctors or surgeons. The team at CTI Vascular consists of twenty dedicated technicians and engineers. Some of them are career changers, bringing new skills to the team, such as a steady hand for crafting delicate prototypes.

WAVE Catheter: The latest development from CTI Vascular is reminiscent of a train making its way over a Swiss Alpine pass. Smoothly, the WAVE catheter adapts to the natural contours of the arteries. This reduces stress on the artery walls and enables an optimized minimally invasive procedure to restore blood flow in the artery.

"Innovation is not a matter of education."

CEO and founder Marc Gianotti is a trained mechanical engineer. His passion for medical technology stems from a personal experience: "It all started with my father's life-changing surgery," says Marc Gianotti. "After that experience, I was convinced there must be better solutions, and I began to research." This laid the foundation for his long career and the founding of CTI Vascular.

Marc Gianotti expects the same motivation and enthusiasm from his team: "Groundbreaking ideas don't always emerge during regular office hours." Co-founder and COO Andreas Bodmer also values unique talents: "Innovation is not a matter of education, but a part of our business process. Creating unprecedented technologies is hard work. But those who are driven by curiosity and passion go home proud every evening."

"We are expected to deliver perfect work."

What unites them all is the pursuit of excellence. It takes four to five years for a new development to reach hospitals. During this time, at the Rhine Falls, the team tirelessly develops, tests, discards, and constantly asks: How can we make a technology even better? "We are expected to deliver perfect work," says Marc Gianotti. "In the end, it's about patients' lives – technologies must not fail."

Therefore, the team at CTI Vascular maintains an intensive exchange with doctors and industry thought leaders. Every procedure is analyzed together to improve processes, save materials and costs, and reduce patients' recovery time. New materials also drive the team's innovation forward. "Medical know-how only grows when it is shared – with doctors, patients, and the next generation of talent," summarizes Andreas Bodmer.

After completing development under the highest design and quality standards, the technologies, along with implementation know-how, are sold to medical technology companies. These MedTech firms then produce and distribute the Neuhausen innovations under new names. Many of CTI Vascular's patents are unique worldwide. Yet, Gianotti and Bodmer remain down-to-earth: "For us, the greatest success is not the innovation itself, but when a patient happily tells us after a successful procedure: 'Thanks to you, I can still walk.'"