After three decades of pioneering work in the field of digital health, Jens Krauss is preparing to hand over the reins at CSEM. Medtech entrepreneur Matthias Peterhans has been appointed as his successor as Vice President. He will join CSEM on 1 November 2026 and take up the post in the summer of 2027. The change in leadership comes at a time when sensor technology and artificial intelligence are opening up new possibilities for medicine – from the analysis of large volumes of health data to supporting clinical decision-making. At the same time, CSEM is further expanding its medtech activities in Bern, bringing applied research, healthcare and industry closer together there. In doing so, CSEM is also strengthening the canton of Bern’s position as a leading Swiss hub for medtech innovation.
AI enables meaningful use of health data
AI opens up new possibilities for making meaningful use of the growing volumes of health data generated by medical devices and wearables. The technology goes beyond mere measurement and monitoring to interpret complex health signals, facilitate clinical decision-making and enable more personalised care.
At the same time, communicating these technologies to patients is becoming more challenging. In Europe, AI-enabled medical devices may need to meet the requirements of both existing medical device regulations and the EU AI Regulation. For Swiss medical technology innovators, this adds a further layer of complexity to the already demanding path to European and international markets.
The challenge is no longer simply about what the technology can do. Rather, it is about how innovations can be translated into trustworthy, clinically validated and market-ready medical solutions.
“For three decades, Jens Krauss has supported CSEM in anticipating and shaping successive waves of innovation in the field of digital health,” said Alexandre Pauchard, CEO of CSEM. “AI is now expanding the range of capabilities that technology offers to the healthcare sector. However, turning this potential into trustworthy solutions requires more than just an algorithm. It demands an understanding of clinical needs, structured development, responsible clinical validation and a comprehensive grasp of the regulatory framework. Furthermore, clear pathways to value creation for the industry are needed. Matthias Peterhans’ career has always been characterised by his ability to bridge these two worlds. This makes him ideally qualified to lead our medical technology activities into the next phase.”
From space travel to the wrist
Krauss’s career reflects much of the development history of modern wearable technologies in healthcare. Before joining CSEM in 1996, he worked on biomechanical software for a manned space mission organised by the European Space Agency.
At CSEM, he carried out pioneering work on continuous, unobtrusive vital signs monitoring. Some of CSEM’s early work addressed a very specific challenge: monitoring the health of astronauts remotely. The devices had to be small, reliable and highly energy-efficient, whilst also continuously recording meaningful health signals.
In the decades that followed, Krauss helped to translate wearable sensing from applied research into practical applications. In 2001, he was one of the inventors behind CSEM’s first patent for continuous pulse measurement via the wrist using optical-inertial technology. Furthermore, around 14 years before the launch of the Apple Watch, the team developed a concept for heart rate measurement. This early work later found its way into commercial wearables, including via the Nokia spin-off PulseOn.
Today, CSEM’s optical health monitoring technologies can be found in products ranging from Tissot to Festina. Signant Health, formerly ActiGraph, also uses CSEM technology in large-scale clinical trials, extending its scope from daily health monitoring to medical research.
It was precisely this drive to put applied research into practice that helped lay the foundations for Aktiia, now Hilo. Its clinically validated technology for continuous blood pressure monitoring emerged from the applied research that began at CSEM in 2007. This work later helped the company to obtain approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its optical blood pressure monitoring system.
“When we began working on wearable monitoring, one of the big questions was whether we could reliably capture physiological information outside the hospital setting,” explains Krauss. “Today, we can generate enormous amounts of continuous health data. AI opens up possibilities we could only have dreamt of 30 years ago.
But a breakthrough in applied research is only the beginning. The real achievement lies in designing technology in such a way that industry, hospital doctors and patients can use it with confidence. I believe Matthias Peterhans is taking the helm at one of the most exciting moments in the field of digital health.”
From sensor technology to holistic care
After decades of improving how wearables capture signals from the human body, the question now is what we can learn from this. The challenge lies in how we can translate these insights into solutions that reach patients.
A challenge that aligns closely with Peterhans’ experience. For more than 20 years, he has brought medical technologies from the research and clinical validation stages through to regulatory approval and onto international markets. As co-founder and CEO of CAScination AG, he guided surgical navigation technologies through the process of clinical validation, EU conformity (CE marking), FDA approval and commercialisation. He later co-founded ender diagnostics AG and, within a short space of time, helped to grow a provider of diagnostic products and services from five to over 200 employees.
Today, as COO of Xovis AG, Peterhans brings his experience to bear in managing complex international operations. He also serves as an expert for Innosuisse, where he evaluates innovation projects and funding applications for start-ups. Most recently, he complemented this experience by completing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Executive Programme on ‘AI in Healthcare’.
“CSEM has laid an outstanding foundation for technologies that have transformed the possibilities in the field of digital health,” notes Peterhans. “The opportunity now lies in combining this engineering expertise with AI and close clinical collaboration to develop leading technologies into successful solutions for the healthcare sector.”
“I look forward to working with Jens Krauss and his team over the coming months to learn from what they have built up, and to contribute my own experience in medical technology, entrepreneurship and clinical implementation to the next phase of CSEM,” said Peterhans.
Peterhans will work alongside Krauss as part of a planned handover and will take over overall management of CSEM’s medical technology activities in the summer of 2027. The handover will take place whilst clinically oriented medtech initiatives in the Canton of Bern are being expanded. Collaboration with the Insel Group and the University of Bern has resulted in 32 projects since 2023 in the fields of medical devices, continuous monitoring, diagnostics and AI.
For Krauss, the handover brings full circle three decades of innovation in the field of digital health: starting with learning how to continuously record signals from the human body, right through to researching how AI can help us understand the significance of these signals.