Growing and promising. These are characteristics that perfectly fit the Life Science & Health sector in the Northern Netherlands. Individual initiatives are doing well; advancing collaboration is the key to greater success.
Medicines that do not come from far away, but are produced close to home. And then also in a green, sustainable way.
This is not Northern air-fairy. It is an endeavor that is fast becoming a reality, thanks to great efforts across the country, initiated by the Northern Netherlands. It is not illogical. The North is developing more and more rapidly as a Life Science & Health region.
Probably the most appealing in this sector is groundbreaking technology that assists doctors and patients. From growth giant Reducept (Virtual Reality as a pain reliever) in Leeuwarden through PulmoTech (monitoring system for respiratory patients) in Leek to Detact Diagnostics (mobile bacteria monitor) in Groningen.
And so there are many more, some of which are rapidly climbing the ladder of the international medtech world. Dozens of startups are founded every year.
How is that possible? It has to do primarily with the presence of the University Medical Center Groningen, which is undeniably the biggest catalyst. But the Leeuwarden Medical Center is also increasingly proving to be a good springboard; from medical invention to business. Figures don't lie. The sector in 2020 in the Northern Netherlands grew faster than the national average.
The inventions and startups of brilliant scientists contribute significantly to this, yet it is the "big guys" that are also very important. Companies like Certe, Lode Holding, Icon (formerly PRA Health) and Innocore are a few. The collaboration between those big guys, the early-stage entrepreneurs, as well as educational institutions, hospitals and investors that write the success story. Where the term ecosystem borrowed from biology is often mentioned here, another biological reality applies: symbiosis. The network is becoming finer and finer, so that all parties benefit.
The sign of that ecosystem, is life cooperative. That name says it's more than a network, it's a cooperative.
It began six years ago as Healthy Ageing Business Cooperative, but changed the title just a year later, as it quickly became apparent that Life Sciences & Health in the Northern Netherlands is more than just healthy ageing. The club now houses more than forty companies and accounts for more than 4,000 FTEs and over 400 million euros in turnover
The close cooperation has major implications. Projects that a few parties had difficulty getting off the ground now stand a chance. ''You can start thinking bigger, and that is what we are doing,'' says Edward van der Meer. He is director of Triade, the vehicle that emerged from the UMCG to help promising companies with knowledge, talent, market, facilities and capital.
He is also CEO of the Campus Groningen, the physical place where research, education and business come together.
Van der Meer sees the potential of the Life Cooperative. ,,The mere fact that we now have a better picture of all the things we can and do in the North provides opportunities. We are connecting and cooperative thinking is not foreign to us here. We also give each other something.
The companies share knowledge, talent, materials and locations among themselves. This leads to great initiatives, for the industrious members themselves, but also for the whole. Move2Innovate, for example, is a living lab in which entrepreneurs and researchers work together to serve the market of responsible exercise. Pharma Portal is another initiative from within the cooperative. The facility helps researchers and developers working on drugs make their project market-ready.
Everyone benefits from cooperation.
The life cooperative not only helps companies in its own sector move forward
There is an explicit intention to connect other branches of the sport as well: the Northern SMEs, the IT sector, industry, they can all benefit by joining hands with the companies moving in the field of Life Science & Health.
Ton Vries sees that cohesion taking shape more and more, and the benefits coming to the surface. Vries (Symeres, Bio BTX) spearheaded the Cooperative as a director. ,,The club has developed considerably. It started as a fairly loose partnership, but professionalization has gone fast. We now profile ourselves as a region. At trade shows, for example, our companies work together. Together they have a broader offer for customers.''
The northern partnership is still developing. Vries: ,,We are not standing still. There is rejuvenation in the board, we are getting specialized branches such as human capital and training.
We are also doing really well compared to other associations elsewhere in the country. Our advantage is that we don't have the giant companies. Most of our members are not direct competitors. Everyone benefits from working together.''
The sector's strong growth received another push as a result of Covid. ''Globally, funding in the sector doubled last year. We in the North benefit from that. Almost all companies operate internationally, the startups benefit from the extra opportunities they have.''
The cooperative's members have a clear goal in mind: global impact. Yet the Northern Netherlands should go for nothing less than that, Van der Meer believes. ,,If you look through your eyelashes, you see a large ecosystem emerging that behaves like an international company. With production facilities, unprecedented research capabilities, lots of knowledge and expertise and a great will to do it together. This is not just wishful thinking. We notice nationally and even internationally that we as the Northern Netherlands are increasingly seen as the region to be in if you want something to do with Life Science & Health. Companies are interested, students are specifically looking for Groningen.''
Currently, "Northern Netherlands" is working on a special project in this regard
It wants - in cooperation with other national regions - to produce more medicine. This is a thought that has been around for some time, born precisely after looking through the eyelashes that Van der Meer already mentioned. Drug production is increasingly concentrated in Asia, and that dependence occasionally has negative consequences, such as faltering supplies and rising costs.
Van der Meer: ,,We are good at chemistry, we are good at early-stage research. We are already producing drugs on a small scale. We have knowledge and we have the will.
An application is now pending with the National Growth Fund (also known as the Wopke-Wiebes Fund) to make that wish a reality. This is being done with great effort by Campus Groningen and the Life Cooperative, including with the "Groningen" Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa as a pioneer. Van der Meer: ,,This northern profiling in this is new. This can really become very big, for the whole of the Netherlands, but certainly also for the North.''
Added to this is a very interesting facet: The Northern Netherlands is also a leader in biochemistry. Connect all that and we are able to produce medicines in a much more sustainable, greener way.''
Source: NorthZ , 16-9-2021 (Daily News of the North)