Dutch medical technology gets €102.5m public boost
The cabinet and the sector aim to build Europe's strongest medical technology sector by 2035, backed by €102.5m in public money and €150m in private financing.
The Netherlands wants the strongest medical technology sector in Europe by 2035. Business, research institutions, investors and healthcare, together with ministers Heleen Herbert (Economic Affairs and Climate) and Sophie Hermans (Health, Welfare and Sport), set out the ambition in a policy agenda called MedTech 2035. The cabinet has set aside €102.5m for it.
Invest-NL, together with institutional investors such as pension funds, announced another €150m in private financing. Philips said last July that it would invest €50m. The money was announced at a working conference of the cabinet's Taskforce Toekomstige Welvaart en Vestigingsklimaat (TTWV).
Specific investments go to two initiatives: a new generation of image-guided therapies using AI and robotics, and technology for the care of tomorrow. The government is also investing in the "Ziekenhuis van de toekomst" (hospital of the future) project in Twente, to get innovations approved and scaled up faster.
The agenda has six priorities: national cooperation between ecosystems, data and AI infrastructure, putting technology into healthcare, market approval, financing, and talent and entrepreneurship.
Herbert said: "Improving healthcare further is perhaps our most important societal challenge." She called the Dutch MedTech sector a promising growth market.
Hermans said: "With smart solutions, such as using AI or robotics, we can provide more care with the same number of care providers."
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TTWV (Taskforce Toekomstige Welvaart en Vestigingsklimaat)
The Task Force for Future Prosperity and Investment Climate is a taskforce set up by the Dutch cabinet to examine how the Netherlands can keep its economy strong and remain attractive as a place for businesses to locate and invest. It works on policy ideas and measures that affect the country's business and investment conditions, and it holds working conferences where government and sector partners discuss them.