COVID highlighted our high industrial dependence on external countries.

During this health crisis, many companies saw their activities come to a complete halt due to a lack of raw materials, equipment or components.

This crisis highlighted in particular the fact that artificial respirators, essential equipment for the survival of a large number of patients, were unfortunately in short supply. Their shortage was felt in France, which no longer had the capacity to manufacture this equipment, since the majority of electronic equipment in the medical field is currently produced abroad.

Faced with this worrying situation, the relocation of production in France has become a major issue for the government.

Hilum Healthcare, an innovative company, is working to relocate this production to France.

Founded by two former Airbus engineers, this young company launched the project to develop a 100% French artificial respirator for hospitals almost two years ago. A first demonstrator of the artificial respirator had already been produced.

Today, the Hilum Healthcare start-up is developing an innovative, ‘intelligent’ version of this equipment.

As this is a critical piece of medical equipment, many security constraints must be considered in order to meet the requirements of the field.

• What are SERMA Ingénierie missions on the project?

SERMA Ingénierie engineers are working on the development of the electronics of the artificial respirator. All functions: power supply, control/command of the respiratory assistance module, display, interconnection harness.

SERMA Ingénierie has been supporting this start-up since the beginning of 2022. Artificial respirators should be on the market in 2025.

• What does this project bring to SERMA Ingénierie?

This project will enable SERMA Ingénierie to consolidate its skills in the medical field and to improve our mastery of all the normative aspects of this sector. Today, most of SERMA Ingénierie’s projects are in the aeronautics, energy and defence sectors.