31. March 2020

Aachen-based consortium assists in the procurement of COVID-19 bottleneck items: a digital platform for ordering and delivery for hospitals and nursing stations for the treatment of coronavirus

Aachen, March 27, 2020 – Before the expected peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated challenges for the health care system in Germany, the coordinated procurement and distribution of bottleneck items such as protective clothing, disinfectants or masks is of essential importance. Currently, however, the responsible authorities are not able to cope with this task due to overload. Hospitals, for example, avoid stock reports to avoid a possible redistribution of such items. Due to the overload of the supply chains, more and more dubious suppliers are appearing who want to make a profit from the current crisis. This leads to unfair distribution because goods are not allocated according to demand and at excessive prices.

It is therefore important to ensure the central coordination of important medical goods, supported by the use of a digital platform, to establish professional procurement and logistics management and to organize stable local supply chains.

The INC Invention Center and the KEX Knowledge Exchange AG have used the RWTH Aachen Campus network on-site to launch a procurement initiative and to organize the procurement of important medical supplies such as masks and gowns from the Asian region at short notice. The logistics are handled by the partner network Smart Logistics.

The digital platform Corona.KEX.net, which digitally maps the procurement of medical supplies, has been released as of today. Hospitals and care facilities can now obtain accreditation and register their requirements at https://go.kex.net/engpassprodukte-melden.

The catalog of requirements is constantly being expanded in line with the current situation and can be found at https://corona.kex.net.

The responsible manager is Toni Drescher, CEO of KEX Knowledge Exchange AG and Managing Director, INC Invention Center from Aachen: “Fast and decisive action is required to avoid dangerous bottlenecks in the supply of our health care facilities. Therefore, we have pulled together our resources on the RWTH Aachen campus at short notice to provide fast and effective help to those affected by using our network”.

Hospitals and nursing homes can register at https://go.kex.net/engpassprodukte-melden