With some amazing feats at the start of her career, Monique Sommer (manager engineering at Demcon Advanced Mechatronics) charged into the field of electrical engineering and hasn’t stopped since. She has crafted a niche for herself in this industry, not only with her technical expertise but also by solving organizational problems and fostering mentorship for women in tech.

During the High Tech Next at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, 25 high-tech demos were presented. So cool Demcon could be one of these demos!

At the beginning of December, Dutch company Mellon Medical received a significant grant from the Eurostars Program. The grant was awarded to support further research into the continued development of an innovative suturing instrument, the Switch suturing device. During the official ceremony held on 20 December in The Hague, the spotlight was put on all recipients of a Eurostars grant. Jan Benschop, CEO Mellon Medical was among the recipients: “Thanks to this grant we can take the first steps towards clinical trials with the Switch. We will continue development and will manufacture multiple prototypes. We can then start with the initial pre-clinical studies at Erasmus MC this year. This will become the first ‘small bites’ suturing instrument in the world that will enable surgeons to place sutures faster and more precisely. This will allow them to reduce incisional hernias in the abdominal wall after operations by 50%. That means reduced inconvenience for patients and therefore a better quality of life. Furthermore, it helps drastically reduce care costs.”