CSEM Appoints Matthias Peterhans to Succeed Digital Health Pioneer Jens Krauss

After three decades as a pioneer in digital health, Jens Krauss is preparing to hand over the reins at CSEM, Switzerland’s technology innovation centre. Medtech entrepreneur Matthias Peterhans has been appointed Vice President Medtech, joining CSEM on 1 November 2026 and taking up the role fully in summer 2027.

“For three decades, Jens Krauss has helped CSEM anticipate and shape the waves of innovation that have defined digital health,” said Alexandre Pauchard, CEO of CSEM. “AI is now expanding what technology can bring to healthcare, but turning that potential into reliable solutions takes far more than an algorithm. Matthias Peterhans has spent his career bridging these worlds, making him ideally placed to guide our next phase.”

Krauss’s career traces much of the evolution of wearable health technology. Before joining CSEM in 1996, he worked on biomechanical software for a European Space Agency spaceflight mission. At CSEM, he pioneered continuous, unobtrusive vital sign monitoring, rooted in tracking astronauts’ health remotely.

In 2001, he co-invented CSEM’s first patent for wrist-based pulse monitoring using opto-inertial technology, developed some 14 years before the Apple Watch. That work reached wearables via PulseOn, a Nokia spin-off, and today features in Tissot and Festina products. The same drive underpinned Aktiia, now Hilo, whose blood pressure technology began as CSEM research in 2007 and secured FDA clearance.

“AI now opens possibilities barely conceivable 30 years ago,” said Krauss. “A breakthrough in research is only the beginning: true success lies in turning technology into something people can trust.”

Matthias Peterhans brings over 20 years guiding medical technologies from research through validation to market launch. He co-founded and led CAScination AG through CE marking, FDA clearance and commercialisation, then co-founded ender diagnostics AG. He is now COO of Xovis AG and an Innosuisse funding expert.

“CSEM has built exceptional foundations,” said Peterhans. “The challenge now is combining engineering expertise with AI and clinical collaboration to turn cutting-edge technology into solutions that serve healthcare.”

Peterhans will work alongside Krauss during a planned handover before taking full charge in 2027, as CSEM expands its Bern Medtech work, where a partnership with Insel Gruppe and the University of Bern has produced 32 projects since 2023.

➡️ Source: CSEM | 📸 © Elena Ramseier – Jens Krauss et Matthias Peterhans in Bern