“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb

To our deepest sadness, our chairman of the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health, passed away on October 14, 2017. Jan was proud on what has been achieved in ‘his’ Top Sector so far. To his honor and in his spirit, we will continue building partnerships to deliver innovative solutions improving health and care. His philosophy, his character, his perseverance and passion will remain a lasting source of inspiration to all of us.

Jan would have been even more proud, if he had known that only a few weeks after his passing away, it was decided that the European Medicines Agency will move its headquarters to The Netherlands, with Amsterdam having the privilege to host this prestigious agency. The arrival of EMA to our capital will provide a further boost to an already blooming sector, where working together is high on the agenda. Working together between knowledge institutes, government and companies, between national organisations and regional bodies, between academia, patient organisations, health foundations and entrepreneurs. Collaboration is part of our lowlands’ DNA. Going together will lead to growing together which will take us further. The numerous examples of multi-stakeholder cooperation, also in this latest update from Health~Holland, illustrate that we are on the right track. Thanks to this core competency in combination with technological, cultural and societal innovation, we are in pole position to successfully meet the grand challenges on health and care.

A new cabinet has been established. As Top Sector Life Sciences & Health we will pro-actively reach out to our newly chosen government members to showcase Health~Holland and how we work together to realise our overarching objective of vital citizens in a healthy economy. To you, as the recipients of this Health~Holland Update, I wish a lot of inspiration when you read about the multiple activities and initiatives within the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health.