Healthy aging. Nowhere is that theme more on the map than in the Northern Netherlands. Education, government, business, all work fraternally on it. The unique ecosystem makes that collaboration extremely powerful.
Healthy ageing
There is a cluster in Roden, in Groningen, in Drachten, in Leeuwarden. In various places in the Northern Netherlands, health is more than a noble aspiration. It is the subject of internationally recognized research, of successful entrepreneurship, of promising education and of pioneering research. This is seen internationally. Europe itself says so:
The Northern Netherlands is a leader in the field of healthy ageing.
This is very nice, and also not illogical.
This is very nice, and also not illogical. The latter has to do with the landscape in the Northern Netherlands when it comes to networking, knowledge sharing and interdisciplinary cooperation. It has to do with an extremely strong teaching hospital, the UMCG, and a university of international stature in the field of medicine. It has to do with higher education that prepares students for the medical-technical world.
It has to do with entrepreneurship in biotechnology accelerating and joining hands for years. It has to do with governments stimulating in the right places. It has to do with investors who believe in Northern Netherlands inventions and innovations. It has to do with an innovative ecosystem working on the challenges of the future: Campus Groningen. But above all, it has to do with the combination of all that.
One of the signposts of this thinking together and doing together is lifelines
Unique in the world and hard to imagine in any region other than the Northern Netherlands. Nearly 170,000 residents of the northern provinces are participating. Three generations are being followed for 30 years, all their data recorded for research. The results have already led to numerous scientific breakthroughs.
Startups and other companies in the health sector thrive in the northern Netherlands climate.
Precisely because of the ecosystem in which small-scale organization and partnership are key terms. Perhaps the embodiment of that collaboration is the Life Cooperative. Forty companies from the life sciences & medtech sector join forces in it. The result: numerous initiatives - often together with science and education - to advance the sector as a whole and make the Northern Netherlands the expert region.
Another interesting form of collaboration is titled HTRIC (Health Technology Research & Innovation Cluster). HTRIC consists of a unique combination of the strong faculties of Science & Engineering, Behavioral & Social Sciences, Economics & Business Administration and the University Medical Center Groningen and links with companies, government and other knowledge institutions.
The goal is for global innovations such as in devices, materials and coatings to make their way to first application in or to humans at Campus Groningen.
The overlap is where the difference is made.
Northern Netherlands as a testing ground
Partnership in the broadest sense of the word is what makes the Northern Netherlands a unique region. In essence, the Northern Netherlands is a large testing ground when it comes to (bio)medical developments. From all corners and industries, organizations work together to develop and market clinically relevant products and processes.
The ecosystem is powerful and fluid. Collaborations go in different directions and have every opportunity to achieve great things. A system of investment companies for both early-stage and later-stage ventures helps a lot. The niches that startups enter are special, the overlap is where the difference is made.