A glance of the sector

2015: a great year for Dutch Biotech

The Dutch biotech industry is an important part of the Life Sciences & Health sector and Tops Sector LSH is thrilled to see it flourish. In 2015 many deals involving Dutch biotech companies were closed. These are worth billions of euros. A few of these are:

Dutch biotech companies Merus and Kiadis took advantage of the open IPO window in 2015 and obtained a listing on Nasdaq and EuroNext Amsterdam respectively. The attractiveness of the Dutch biotech climate drew an increasing number of international biotech companies to list their company at Euronext Amsterdam.


The string of successes is driving further growth of the Dutch biotech cluster. This is generating employment, attracting considerable foreign investments, boosting development, and stimulating the market introduction of valuable biotech products.


Hans Schikan (former CEO Prosensa), member of the Top Team: "The recent flow of significant acquisitions and licensing agreements with Dutch life sciences companies is a clear validation of the enormous innovation strength in our Top Sector."

Benno van Dongen (Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants), advisor to board: "A perfect example of cooperation is the investment of tens of millions of euros by local, regional and national governments in the Pivot Park in Oss about four years ago, which has supported the building of new businesses together worth about 10 billion euro at the end of 2015. That is how public-private partnership should work."  

International highlights for Dovideq Medical from Deventer

In 2011 the established medtech company Dovideq was challenged by the St. Jansdal hospital in Harderwijk, the Netherlands to develop a machine that could quickly and easy test the quality of rigid endoscopes. This machine should prevent delays in the operating theatre and therefore increase patient safety and reduce costs. This challenge resulted in the development of the ScopeControl, an endoscope tester. It is the world's first and only dedicated endoscope measurement device to verify the quality of rigid endoscopes. The ScopeControl increases patient safety and total quality control, while improving operational excellence and reducing costs.


The close cooperation with the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) and the bridge builder Pontes Medical led to a highly accepted product in the Netherlands, but also many countries worldwide.

Exhibiting at the Medica Trade Fair 2012 in Düsseldorf at the Holland pavilion was the first step into the international market. Since then Dovideq has had its own stand at the fair. At the Medica 2015 Dovideq was visited by the Dutch Ambassador, Monique van Daalen, as well as the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, Edith Schippers, and the chairman of Top Sector LSH, Jan Raaijmakers. In addition, Dovideq showed their ScopeControl to many different countries. For example, Dovideq is currently exploring the Taiwanese market.


The success of Dovideq has not remained unnoticed, since the Zeeuws Investment Fund recently chose to invest in the medtech company. This seed funding will be used for international growth and for realising new product developments.    


Bert Dommerholt CEO says: ‘We made huge steps last year in selling the ScopeControl worldwide and introducing additional products. We expect a major breakthrough in areas where we have good contacts like the US, Japan, Australia and the Middle East region.’

(Health)care Innovation (ZorgInnovatie) is a community that supports co-creation of innovation in (health)care and wellbeing. Anyone with a good idea that can improve (health)care can share and contribute to the innovation development. This platform consist of a national network of regional initiatives. 

Amsterdam Economic Board 

Dinst is the number one website for reliable and affordable services in your home. Short films, independent information and assessments from selected service providers only. Easy to use and no membership needed. Accessible through the website, your smartphone or tablet. Where do you find that reliable handyman? Who can help you to live at home happily for a long time? The answer is Dinst!


Economic Board Utrecht

PAZIO offers an eHealth-platform through which care users can easily gain access to all of their online care and welfare services via a single digital entry point. Thanks to the integration of several services and portals, the care is easier to oversee and more accessible for both the care user and care provider.


Health Valley

With FaceTalk you can video call safely online with your patients and consult online with other care professionals. During the video call you can share medical and other information such as documents, photos and videos. You can also invite several people to join in a conversation. A maximum of 12 people can simultaneously participate in a FaceTalk conversation. Security is safeguarded during FaceTalk calls.


Medical Delta 

WOLK is an airbag that recognises a falling movement and inflates before impact. The airbag is worn on the hip and reduces the risk of hip fractures. 


OMFL (Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Flevoland)

Pregnant women with a medical risk and their unborn babies can be remotely monitored from the hospital at home via wireless Internet, with the help of highly advanced lightweight equipment: Sense4Baby. This prevents the need for a long-term hospital admission.


VitaValley

Quite happy to help somebody occasionally? Because doing something for somebody else makes you feel good! At wehelpen.nl you can find requests for help and people offering help. You can also care for somebody else together with acquaintances. WeHelpen is a free service for everybody. With this tool we want to make helping others normal again and motivate people to help.


Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands 

VitalinQ is the Personal Health Assistant that allows you to be the digital manager of your own health. By combining social media, Quantified Self and a personal health record, the responsibility for a healthy lifestyle is placed where it belongs: in the hands of the individual concerned.

In November 2015 the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport officially launched  the ‘Health Deals’. A Health Deal is a new form of collaboration between public and private parties that enables innovative and cost-saving healthcare innovations to be realised and made broadly applicable. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport actively participates in the LSH Top Team and Executive Office. 

To qualify as a Health Deal, the intended innovation – whether it is a technological or a social innovation or combination – must have a clear benefit for the patient and save costs. For patients, this means a health benefit or an improvement in their quality of life. It is also vital that the innovation results in the elimination of current, existing, and outdated applications. After all, innovations are only cost effective once they fully replace something and are not merely added to existing options.

Another condition is that users and patients are clearly involved in the development, in collaboration with the industry. The government can subsequently encourage the development, for example by solving bottlenecks in legislation and by reducing the administrative burden.

The concept of Health Deals has been developed especially for healthcare innovations that are currently struggling to get beyond the pilot or start-up phases, or that are only used locally (in a single region, hospital or institution). Bringing together users, patients and experts from different disciplines (such as lawyers, economists, privacy experts, system experts) in a Health Deal allows issues to be tackled quickly, and that can lead to a broader application within the Netherlands.

 "A good Health Deal is attractive to everybody: patients, care providers and companies, but also to those paying healthcare insurance premiums," said Minister Schippers. "With this innovative approach, we are improving healthcare while keeping it affordable."

For further information, please contact the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.