This November the Netherlands hosted a small but crowdy Health~Holland Pavilion at the BIO-Europe in Berlin. This leading partnering event turned Berlin into a global biotech hotspot for a week. Thanks to the striking Health~Holland Pavilion and more than 100 Dutch participants who wore eye-catching orange key-cords, the Dutch presence did not go unnoticed. At the Pavilion, the Netherlands presented itself as an attractive country for establishing a biotech company, as an innovative business partner, and as a successful location for R&D.

At the “Biotech in the Spotlight Corner” divers Dutch companies got the chance to present themselves to the diverse audience. On Tuesday the Top Sector LSH and HollandBIO organised a well visited reception at the pavilion. And as always, the pavilion served as a living room away from home for all Dutch delegates. Next stop: BIO-Europe Spring 2018 in Amsterdam!

The target group for this mission were Dutch medtech SMEs with products or services already on the market who are looking for ways to expand internationally with a focus on North America. They were primarily scale-ups rather than startups. Fifteen delegates had signed up including the following ten medtech companies: Encapson, Stroke2Prevent, DOVIDEQ medical, HCM-medical, PulseCath, OsteoPharma, Factory CRO, Axon Lawyers, Unitron and Gannet.

The entrepreneurs all actively engaged in the MedTechConnect one-on-on partnering programme, resulting in a series of 30-minute speed dates with potential business partners. In order to support the delegation and to generate exposure for the medical ecosystem in the Netherlands, a Health~Holland booth was set up at a prime location at the exhibition. The booth was also used to inform foreign companies who are considering setting up a business in the Netherlands (InvestinHolland). In addition, all Dutch delegates were invited to pitch their product and services at the international lounge. At a networking dinner sponsored by the Netherlands Embassy, guest speaker Dave Hood of DH3 & Associates informed the delegation about working with the US government on specific medical opportunities and how to access associated non-dilutive funding programmes.

An evaluation survey revealed that all of the participants were all very pleased with the organisation, the contacts and the overall outcome of the mission. Several participants have already indicated that they are interested in joining the mission next year.

Please contact nico.arfman@oostnl.nl if you are interested in finding out more about this event, or next year’s The MedTech Conference in Philadelphia, 24-26 September 2018.

The second edition of World of Health Care (WoHC) marked important developments in the international success of the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (LSH). In the former Fokker Terminal in The Hague, numerous healthcare professionals from large and small companies, care providers, NGOs, knowledge institutes, and government from all over the world visited the event to discuss challenges in accomplishing international business.
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Opening speaker Frans van Houten, CEO at Royal Philips NV, shared his view on global healthcare trends and the importance of innovation and partnerships. The programme for the rest of the day consisted of sessions about community care, global health, and care in an ageing society. In addition, parallel sessions provided information about doing business in specific countries like China, Kenya and United States, with SMEs sharing their own experiences.

The Dutch Queen visited the congresstival, where she received the new Health~Holland Guide from the Executive Director of the Top Sector LSH, Nico van Meeteren. The Health~Holland Guide (HHG) represents a wide range of innovative Dutch life sciences and health organisations, which are active worldwide. After this official moment, the Queen took the time to speak to various entrepreneurs about their innovative products and international ambitions.
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Before the informal drinks all attendees were inspired by an impressive show from Victor Mids, illusionist and doctor, who is known for his programme MINDF*CK. Through this combination he brings illusion and science together in a unique way. Several visitors were literally tricked by his neuropsychological experiments on stage. Mids provided a fun ending to the WoHC programme.
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WoHC visitors voted Usono as the winner of the Smart Solutions Award from a total of 49 exhibitors. On the mainstage Usono received a voucher to join a Task Force Health Care international trade mission of their choice. Usono is situated at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven and is developing two smart innovations: the Probefix which is a non-invasive tool providing lengthy and stable fixation of an ultrasound probe to the body and the Probefix Dynamic which supports high quality ultrasound measurements of muscles during dynamic exercise.

Overall, the second WoHC was an international success. Almost 700 key stakeholders were connected to high-level decision makers in international health from Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, Kenya, Ukraine, Poland, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America. Please note: next year the conference will be held on 27 September!

During the summer months, NRC Live organised a series of events on the Future of Healthcare. During these events questions like ‘What does the future of healthcare look like?’ or ‘How can we adapt to the increasing pressure of a sustainable healthcare system?’ were addressed during five informative and interactive evenings in the Jaarbeurs Utrecht. The themes of the first four events were: behaviour and health, technology as motor of innovation, organising in a smarter and better way, and new business models and finance. The fifth and final evening concluded these sessions with a large healthcare debate. 
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Get an impression on the final evening in the video below or visit the NRC Live website.

The NRC Live series on the Future of Healthcare was powered by Health~Holland.