Every year over one million people worldwide have a hip joint replaced. Yet the prognoses during the surgery preparation phase oftentimes remain inadequate. As a result, a high percentage of patients suffer from long-term consequences of this type of operation. Even the slightest deviation from the optimal form and position of the prosthesis can lead to strain on the bone, which in turn can result in inflammation or, in the long run, to bone atrophy. An interdisciplinary team of engineers, computer scientists and physicians at the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering at the Technische Universität München (TUM) has now developed a method to minimize these risks: a virtual prosthetic bone model.

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Börse AG has announced the launch of two new stock indices based on research done in Munich – at TUM, the Technische Universität München. Beginning on January 4, 2010, the DAXplus Family Index and the DAXplus Family 20 Index will become part of the DAX index family. The first index is tracking all listed German family firms, as defined by criteria developed at the university's Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS). The second one is focused on the 20 largest German “family firms.”

Around half of all listed companies in Germany are family-owned. They have less debt and therefore more equity behind them to survive times of economic hardship, and their workforces are growing at a faster rate. These are some of the findings of a comprehensive analysis of stock market-listed family businesses in Germany presented yesterday by Prof. Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Prof. Christoph Kaserer and their team at the Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies at the Technical University Munich (TUM). The study was commissioned by the Family Business Foundation in Munich.