Focus area of Top Sector LSH

The East of Africa is appointed as one of the three focus areas of Top Sector LSH. This includes the countries Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, which are making extreme progress in healthcare. It is expected that this trend will continue in the near future, which provides changes for the interested Dutch companies, knowledge institutes and organisations. The opportunities for the Dutch LSH sector in these East African countries will mainly be in the field of hospital build, medical devices, public health, and eHealth.

Interested in the East Africa? In April 2017 the Task Force Health Care organizes a Life Sciences & Health Mission to Kenya.

Healthcare Mission to India and Partner Country NATHEALTH Event

From 16 to 18 March, the Task Force Health Care (TFHC) organised a healthcaremission to India (New Delhi) with a strong focus on the larger private healthcare groups in India. These private hospital groups are going to double their capacity in the coming five years. The highlight of the first few days was a unique event, a roundtable lunch hosted by the Dutch Ambassador attended by all CEOs of hospitals like Fortis, Max Hospitals, Reliance’s and AIIMS. On the last day the TFHC delegation was a special guest during the annual NATHEALTH Event 2016, the healthcare federation of India. In the presence of dignitaries from the Indian healthcare sector Dutch companies had an excellent opportunity to network and show their collective accomplishments.

From 21 to 24 November 2016, Task Force Health Care together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta organised an economic mission to the Republic of Indonesia with a dedicated health sector programme.

Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world. Achieving Universal Health Coverage is one of the national priorities. In parallel, the private health sector is expanding rapidly. A total of 27 Dutch healthcare companies and organisations visited Indonesia. During workshops and site visits they met with Indonesian counterparts in the public and private healthcare domain. The Dutch delegation was warmly welcomed by RSCM Cipto Mangunkusumo, Siloam Hospitals Group, Hermina Hospitals Group.

Next, the health conference on ‘Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Indonesia by Strengthening Primary Health Care’ was attended by over 60 Indonesian invitees and was closed by Puan Maharani (Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture), Nila Farid Moeloek (Minister of Health Indonesia), and Mark Rutte (Prime Minister of the Netherlands).

The Dutch healthcare delegation experienced a considerable interest in their expertise and solutions. INCISION Academy and Handicare Stairlifts signed contracts during the mission. Erasmus MC signed a Memorandum of Understanding for partnering in Research Education with Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan / LPDP) and six Indonesian partner universities. The economic mission helped the participants to meet with high-level Indonesian counterparts and multiple follow-up appointments were already scheduled during the mission.

Moreover, TFHC provides a platform the Dutch healthcare organisations active or interested in Indonesia. For more information about the platform and upcoming activities visit the TFHC website. Or contact Erik Pentinga.

Focus area of Top Sector LSH

CMEF Trade Fair 17-20 April 2016

From 17 to 20 April Task Force Health Care China in cooperation with Top Sector LSH organised the Holland Pavilion at the China Medical Equipment Fair in Shanghai. Seven Dutch companies exhibited under the Dutch flag. The exhibition broadly covered tens of thousands of products (such as medical imaging, in vitro diagnosis, electronics, optics, first aid, rehabilitation nursing, medical information technology and outsourcing services) as well as services to the entire medical industry chain from the source to the end of the medical equipment industry.​ 

New collaboration with China on elderly care

From the 23 to 28 October, a group of 20 knowledge institutes, companies and organisations, all dedicated to themes related to elderly care, vitality & mobility, travelled to China. The business delegation was headed by State Secretary Martin van Rijn (VWS) and accompanied by Director General of Long term care Kees van der Burg. The Business programme was organised by Task Force Health Care together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing, as well as the consulates of Shanghai and Guangzhou. Len de Jong, the newly appointed chairman of TFHC and member of Top Team of Top Sector LSH, headed the Business delegation.

During the mission, the State Secretary signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on elderly care with his Chinese counterpart. Besides more cooperation on policymaking, the MoU you offers a platform for Dutch and Chinese parties in the elderly care sector to exchange expertise, innovation and technology in the field. The participating parties met with Chinese counterparts during Matchmaking, trade dinners & networking receptions and three Sino Dutch seminars on elderly care attracting around 200 Chinese participants. Some met with existing business partners and signed bilateral MoU’s within official government presence. Others benefited the large Dutch presence to meet high-level Chinese parties and discuss future collaborations. The mission, described by all participants as highly successful, was concluded with a barbecue on the 15th floor balcony hosted by the Consul General of the Netherlands in Shanghai, overlooking the Huangpu Jiang river.​

Focus area of Top Sector LSH

The United States (US) undoubtedly has one of the largest, most innovative, competitive and promising healthcare markets in the world. This explains why the Top Sector LSH has designated the US as one of the three focus countries.

From 2016 Top Sector LSH actively incorporates the US in their international mission and vision. Which includes that Top Sector LSH will provide support for Dutch companies trying to conquer the American market. In the field of export, acquisition and international collaboration assistance can be given. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Top Sector LSH have commissioned the Task Force Health Care (TFHC) to inquire the wishes and needs of Dutch companies, knowledge institutes and hospitals which are (or want to be) active in the US. So if you are interested in the US and want to get updates on the activities please contact Mieke Flierhuis of TFHC.

Interested in the US? Every year a large Dutch delegation visits the Health~Holland Pavilion at BIO International Convention which can be found on the 2017 Preview page.

A warm welcome by the Colombian Ministry of Health

From 26 June to 2 July 2016, the Ministry of Health Welfare & Sport in cooperation with the Task Force Health Care (TFHC) organised a trade mission to Colombia: Holland House Bogota. In total 16 Dutch organisations participated in the programme.

With a special visit by the Colombian Minister of Health the mission kicked off with a Holland Pavilion at the MediTech trade fair. Following a successful presence at the MediTech four joint visits were completed. The delegation was welcomed by the Colombian Ministry of Health, one public- and two private hospitals. The participating organisations received a clear overview of the Colombian healthcare system and overall sector. Meetings between the Dutch delegation, the Colombian Ministry of Health and interested Colombian hospitals took place as a direct result of this.