If it were up to Roy Jakobs, CEO of Philips and figurehead of the MedTech sector in the Wennink report, the Dutch MedTech sector would be at the top of its game in Europe and the world by 2035. With a national growth plan presented on December 18, the sector shows how medical technology can not only relieve pressure on healthcare and improve the quality of care, but also contribute structurally to economic growth. The plan was presented to State Secretary Judith Tielen (State Secretary for Health, Welfare, and Sport) and Tjerk Opmeer (Economic Affairs) and is in line with the Wennink report on a future-proof Netherlands, which was published last week.
The ‘MedTech Growth Plan – A contribution to the future earning capacity of the Netherlands’ sets out an ambitious agenda for the next ten years. According to the initiators of the plan, if the right conditions are created, the sector can expect around 11,000 additional jobs in high-quality engineering, research, and production, annual export growth of approximately €5 billion, and the arrival of around 75 new start-ups and scale-ups.
According to Roy Jakobs, CEO of Philips and figurehead of the MedTech sector within the Wennink report, investing in medical technology addresses two strategic interests at once. “It's about a future-proof healthcare system and a resilient, innovative economy,” he says. With stable policy and clear choices, he believes the Netherlands can grow into one of the strongest MedTech ecosystems in Europe and beyond. “If we pass up this opportunity, we will miss the chance to provide better care for more people and further develop our economy.”
The growth plan was developed with contributions from across the entire chain: from academic and top clinical hospitals to universities, knowledge institutions, government, and the business community. Jakobs emphasizes that this collaboration is crucial. Technology itself is not the goal: “It's about what technology can mean for people. You can only achieve that together, as an ecosystem.”
Patient-centered
Carina Hilders, chair of the Executive Board of UMC Utrecht, wholeheartedly agrees. Good care must remain accessible in the future, she says, especially now that demand for care is growing and the number of healthcare providers is lagging behind. Medical technology can support healthcare providers and make treatments more precise and effective. MedTech has multiple benefits: it improves quality and outcomes, allows healthcare professionals to do what they do best, and has economic value: healthcare solutions in the Netherlands have direct market value worldwide.
UMC Utrecht already provides very high-quality care and is among the best internationally. This is something Hilders is certainly proud of. "The added value of MedTech lies in making good care and the healthcare system future-proof, and thus also the resilience of society. Without healthcare, there is no economy. MedTech helps to keep healthcare accessible by speeding up processes, shortening waiting lists, and organizing care outside the hospital more often because we work together on this," says Hilders.
Recognition
The growth plan presented today is a first step in recognizing that cooperation between healthcare, business, and government must improve in order to remain at the top. “This will also enable UMCs to increase their social impact. However, this requires the government to help with better data exchange, less restrictive legislation and regulations, and consistent policy, so that the quality and accessibility of healthcare is maintained for everyone,” says Hilders.
Hilders also emphasizes the importance of innovation close to clinical practice. As an academic hospital, UMC Utrecht works with public and private partners to bring new technology from healthcare to concrete applications for patients as quickly as possible. "Such a process goes in phases, with each phase having its own financing. But those phases must follow each other more quickly. So, once an idea has been conceived, the first step is translation. Then comes valorization, followed by scaling up. And that is very important: how are we going to work together to ensure that we can embed good discoveries in daily practice more quickly," says Hilders.
Creating social value.
In order to realize the ambitions in the growth plan, it is also important that researchers and students are included in this. According to Hilders, UMC Utrecht therefore ensures that students and researchers develop the right skills and knowledge for the MedTech sector. “They will provide much more targeted training with an eye for the ecosystem and will actively guide them in innovation. Within UMC Utrecht, talented individuals receive support throughout the entire innovation process: from the initial idea or discovery to its application in practice,” explains Hilders.
The emphasis is on teaching knowledge about how medical innovations actually find their way into society and create social value. Although this guidance already exists, UMC Utrecht is working to further strengthen it. One example of this is the Eureka megachallenge. And there is more attention for the different phases of innovation, so that research and ideas can be translated more quickly and effectively into concrete MedTech applications.
Data issues
The Dutch MedTech sector has a strong international position and is considered one of the drivers of innovation in the European economy, with approximately 15,700 patents (in Europe) annually. At the same time, the growth plan warns that acceleration is necessary. Without better access to data, robust AI and interoperability infrastructure, sufficient clinical testing capacity, and more clarity on European regulations, the Netherlands risks missing out on strategic opportunities.
Data issues play a key role in this. Jakobs points out that artificial intelligence is only as strong as the data it is fed. Small datasets lead to limited validated algorithms; large, well-organized data pools make the difference. “Before you talk about AI, you have to talk about data,” he says. According to him, European initiatives such as the European Health Data Space offer a workable model, whereby data remains with the owner but is made temporarily available for development and innovation.
In addition to data and regulation, the ecosystem requires further strengthening: from talent development and venture financing to harmonized data governance and expansion of production capacity. These preconditions will determine whether the Netherlands can capitalize on its strong starting position or lose ground to fast-growing MedTech hubs in Europe, the United States, and Asia.
The line set out in the MedTech Growth Plan is in line with a broader movement in which healthcare transformation, medical technology, data, policy, and economic resilience are becoming increasingly interlinked. This interconnection has been central to the ICT&health platform for years, where these themes are structurally interpreted from the perspective of healthcare professionals, policymakers, and technology developers, and translated into collaboration and upscaling.
By innovation partner
