Look back at the SMB meeting: the role of keeping our healthcare system healthy

This SMB meeting was about the role of keeping our healthcare system healthy, in all aspects.

Remco Hoogendijk of the Sint Maartenskliniek started the first presentation and talked about their MaaS project and the online environment that has been created for patients to follow and plan their own care and treatments. Remco expects that care will become increasingly virtual, including appointments.

Angelique Moonen of VIGO Group focused on the ‘Wicked problems in healthcare’; Long waiting lists, long waits for surgery and the shortage of professionals. At the same time, patients only expect more from professionals. In order to actually implement digital innovations, things need to change! Vigo Group is happy to start a change and has created a new Platform Ecosystem, where people work on their mental health and mental resilience themselves and can get a better match with the professionals.

E-Health specialist Ruben de Neef from Luscii talked about unlocking the power of patients. With Florence Nightingale as an inspiration to approach the condition of a patient from a different point of view. Luscii can be a virtual member in your care team, an extra team member. Luscii notices things in the home of the patient and sees different things than the doctor in the hospital sees. There is already a large library in this tool with 40 pathways to follow, developed by doctors and nurses for the patient. And the possibilities are endless for further digital development in the future.

Gert-Jan de Brok, co-founder of InMotion VR is very fond of games and technology. So their motto is: Let’s play to heal. They use Corpus VR for the rehabilitation of a patient. As many people already use wearables with sensors, they can reach a large audience and it’s very cost & time efficient. Gamification is fun, which is why it works better than traditional methods of physiotherapy.

Finally, we were updated on the Digital Health Hub by Tom van de Belt and Floor van de Watering. Tom started the presentation with a digital health ecosystem analysis of our region. Floor van de Watering adds: Healthcare professionals encounter problems that they do not communicate efficiently to innovative organisations. And on the other hand companies develop innovations that the healthcare sector does not need or see as a problem. And for some problems the solution might already be available in a completely different market (e.g. planning tools for distribution).

The digital health Hub will fill this gap and bring the right parties together, so that relevant innovations can be made and the pressure on healthcare can be relieved with the help of digital innovations. It will be a great, but rewarding challenge for the future to work on this together!

We thank all the speakers for their interesting contributions to this SMB meeting about digital health!

Health Valley and Health Innovation Park join forces

Health Valley in Nijmegen and Health Innovation Park in Zwolle are both network organisations focusing on innovation in healthcare. As of 1 January 2022, the organisations have merged and will work together under the name Health Valley to achieve their shared ambition: to take initiatives, set up projects, bring parties together and accelerate healthcare innovations in the east of the Netherlands.

Director Chris Doomernik: “We had similar objectives and working methods. Actually, it was a very natural process to start talking to each other and then to join forces. That is clearer for governments, commissioning parties and subsidy providers and more powerful and efficient for our own partners in the networks.” The networks and competences of both merger partners are very complementary.

So 1 and 1 really is 3, says chairman Harry van Dorenmalen: “Health Valley has a great reputation and a large network. They are very good at matchmaking and have many contacts. They are known nationally and internationally for organising the annual Health Valley event for everyone involved in innovation, science and business in Life Sciences and Health. Last year’s edition attracted more than 1,200 visitors from business, healthcare and government. The other merger partner, Health Innovation Park, adds to this knowledge and experience by providing hands-on guidance to partners in the development of an innovation.”

Three roles
Now more than ever, Health Valley is the healthcare innovation network of the East Netherlands. With healthcare institutions, knowledge institutes, businesses and governments as partners, the organisation focuses on the health and care of tomorrow. With more than 200 regional, national and international partners, Health Valley is building an ecosystem in which new connections are created every day. Continuously looking for opportunities to share knowledge, product innovation and market introduction. The new club sees three roles for itself:

  • Connect: with an overview of the entire sector and knowledge of all developments, identify opportunities, bring parties together and offer perspective.
  • Challenge: actively take stock of the issues that the healthcare sector is facing. Then set concrete, practical goals and challenge institutions and companies to come up with solutions.
  • Grow: support partners to grow. Use national and international contacts to find sales markets. Show the way in Europe.

Realisation
The organisation is in place. The goals have been formulated. Now it is a matter of fulfilling the promises. Chris Doomernik: “We are eager to get to work and prove our added value to our partners. Together, we want to tackle and solve social issues this year. With the new organisation, we are even better equipped to play a significant role in the East Netherlands.” Harry van Dorenmalen: “All our efforts must lead to concrete and demonstrable progress. That may be hospitals, or patients and professionals in healthcare organisations. It could be in the first, second or third line. But ultimately it is about individual citizens, clients and patients.”

Press release of Health Valley.

Recording How to grow your business internationally

Yesterday we organised the workshop ‘How to grow your business internationally’. Lizanne Jakobs of Brilliant Work taught us a number of key points that you need to consider if you want to expand your business abroad. She listed some common mistakes and stressed the importance of setting goals and having a good preparation & planning.
Besides the fact that you have to speak the language of the country where you want to do business, it is important that your presentation, brochures and website are professional. And don’t forget the culture of the country where you want to do business! It is also important to do market research first (Is there a market for your product, or maybe a different version of your product?) And what help can you get from the government?
This very practical & valuable workshop laid a good foundation for crossing the border. Thank you Lizanne!

Predica Diagnostics and TenWise announce collaboration on development of MicroBioDx

A novel microbiome-host profiling tool for health and disease.

TenWise BV and Predica Diagnostics BV have received financial support from the Dutch RVO (MIT-R&D-samenwerkingsproject) for the joint development of the high-throughput MicroBioDX platform for the characterization of microbiome-host interactions and their role in inflammatory bowel disease and cancer development and treatment.

Compared to existing state-of-the-art sequencing-based technologies, the MicroBioDX platform is more cost-effective, faster and more versatile: it maps host-microbiome interactions by yielding quantitative information on expression levels of hundreds of human genes of interest, while at the same time detecting pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses that are part of a diseased gut microbiome.

MicroBioDx uses ciRNAseq, Predica’s disruptive, high throughput targeted RNA sequencing technology in combination with TenWise’s expertise on literature mining, artificial intelligence and algorithm development, to detect biological pathways associated with health and disease. This combination will help researchers and medical doctors to better predict patient prognosis and guide treatment with precision medicines. Also, MicroBioDx will reduce costs of analyses for large datasets and reduce throughput time from a matter of weeks to a matter of days. It will therefore be very relevant for the evaluation of results of large clinical trials and of individual patients for whom a rapid diagnosis is essential.

“TenWise collaborates with Predica as ciRNAseq allows to measure both DNA/RNA from the human host as well as the microbiome from one and the same human sample. This means that human gene expression data and microbiome data are generated faster and interactions between the microbiome and host are determined more accurately. Within this project Predica also provides access to large data sets that we will use to validate our text mining based predictions”, comments Dr. Wynand Alkema, CSO of TenWise.

“Predica welcomes TenWise as a partner with expertise that is highly complementary to that of Predica”, says Dr. William Leenders, CSO of Predica Diagnostics. “As an expert in text mining and machine learning, TenWise will design knowledge maps of biological pathways that link relevant micro-organisms to expression of human genes that are part of the host response in health and disease. These knowledge maps are essential elements of the data interpretation software we will develop for researchers and for medical doctors who will be supported in rapid and accurate treatment of their patients.”

Predica Diagnostics B.V is a spinoff from the Radboudumc, active in the field of diagnostics, prognostics and prediction of treatment response in oncology. Predica Diagnostics aims to bring its ciRNAseq technology to patients in 1 to 2 years with a first focus on developing the CervicaDX test. This test allows non-invasive detection of cervical abnormalities in women who are at risk of developing cervical cancer, with unprecedented specificity. This, and other diagnostic tests for host-microbiome interactions will improve diagnosis, prognosis prediction and produce a list of potentially successful precision medicines, thus aiding in development of personalized treatment plans for cancer patients.

TenWise B.V. offers text mining solutions that help researchers and medical professionals to extract knowledge from literature in a fast and effective way. Also, it collaborates within consortia of industry and academia in life sciences on artificial intelligence solutions that assist in drug discovery with a special focus on interventions in the microbiome. The company is based at Leiden Bio Science Park, the Netherlands and works for clients around the world.

Can you help us with your innovation?

At the start of this year, Achterhoek Gezond took up the challenge of organising, financing and monitoring care differently; with a greater focus on health. To keep healthcare accessible and affordable, also in the future. We have taken the first steps, such as developing a scenario model and an analysis of ‘hot spots’ (where things are ready for improvement in Achterhoek Gezond).

We know that wonderful things are already happening and developing in the field of health. To make it easier for residents to live happy and healthy lives. We are looking for those initiatives. Perhaps such an initiative can become a development site for Healthy Region.

How to respond

All information about Achterhoek Healthy, development spots and what we are looking for can be found here.

Do you think that your initiative, idea, project, programme or collaboration could qualify as a development spot? Let us know about it!

You can do so by filling in the online reaction form. Please do so before 17 January 2022.

Digital Health companies in the Nijmegen region

Health Valley has published a Digital Health Guide together with the Radboudumc, the Novio Tech Campus, the Municipality of Nijmegen and Briskr. The aim: to connect Digital Health players in the Nijmegen region and beyond! This will benefit the development and scaling up of Digital Health innovations and economic growth in the Nijmegen region.

Focus region Nijmegen
Digital Health is an important focus for the Nijmegen region, given its large healthcare sector. Over a quarter of the inhabitants have a job in healthcare. In addition, the region is home to many knowledge partners, healthcare organisations and innovative entrepreneurs who are working every day to improve healthcare with digital solutions. Digital Health ambassador for the Nijmegen region Tom van de Belt is therefore pleased with the guide’s arrival.

“The challenges facing healthcare are considerable and innovations can help us keep healthcare affordable and of good quality, now and in the future. Looking at the guide, it strikes me how much we as a region already have to offer in the area of digital health. The innovative power stands out, not only in companies but also in healthcare institutions and knowledge institutes.”

Global problem, local approach
Although the players in the field of digital health often operate internationally, there is also a need for local and regional cooperation. Van de Belt: “Developments in the field of Digital Health are rapid and you need to follow developments on a global scale, but certainly also locally. I see this guide as a calling card for the region, so that parties from here and abroad can see at a glance what we have to offer”.

Players know how to find each other
If you want to make an impact in the field of Digital Health, you need the right partners. Chris Doomernik, director of Health Valley states: “You can map out your problem and wish list for healthcare as well as you can validate your innovation, if you want to scale up you simply cannot do it alone. It is therefore important that partners from the triple helix find each other more easily. That will benefit the development and scaling up of digital health innovations and economic growth.

Click here for the guide.

Catalyze and Briskr announce strategic partnership to accelerate new Life Sciences, Health and High-Tech innovations

Briskr and Catalyze have announced a new partnership whereby Catalyze will provide support to Briskr start-ups and SMEs towards successful growth. Briskr is a consortium in the Nijmegen area with the aim of helping start-ups and SMEs to grow faster and make more impact on the Life Sciences & Health and High-Tech sectors. Briskr believes that interaction between knowledge-intensive companies and knowledge institutes, such as universities and government institutions, is essential to realize innovation. Operating in three areas – business support, project and program development for innovation activities, and acquisition of innovation companies, Briskr brings together innovative entrepreneurs in its incubation program (start-ups), acceleration program (scale-ups), and activation program (established SMEs).

Briskr Partnership

Briskr Programme Manager, Martijn Kriens, together with Catalyze Founder & Director, Jalal Es-Sbai.

Catalyze is an innovation consultancy delivering expertise, ranging from strategic consultancy to funding applications, to project management, for clients working in the fields of life sciences & health, and green & sustainable innovations. Driven by a belief that the most meaningful innovations deserve the best chance to succeed, Catalyze has established itself as a key player in the innovation ecosystem, headquartered in Amsterdam and operating worldwide. To date, Catalyze has raised €750 million in funding for its clients, built a network ecosystem of more than 2500 partners, and grown to over 120 employees.

Catalyze joins the Briskr ecosystem as a supporting partner that will deliver comprehensive strategic support, including contribution to Briskr’s general programming, provision of training activities, business coaching and general strategic advice to the entrepreneurs. Activities provided will cover strategic funding advice, tips and tricks for grant writing, and the opportunity for Briskr start-ups and SMEs to gain further strategic support. Together, Catalyze and Briskr will work to accelerate the success of Briskr members operating in Life Sciences & Health and High Tech.

Jalal Es-Sbai, Founder & Director of Catalyze comments on the new partnership:

“The life sciences & health business community in the Nijmegen region contains a mix of exciting new start-ups, fast-growing scale-ups, SME’s and pharmaceutical companies. It is great to be part of Briskr network together with partners such as the municipality of Nijmegen, Oost NL, Rabobank, the Economic Board, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and the Radboud Universities. We are looking forward to beginning our role as partner, wherein we will make impact for its members by providing strategic support, focussed squarely on accelerating new innovations. Through this new partnership, we also further strengthen our position as innovation consultants.”

Martijn Kriens, Programme Manager of Briskr:

“Working together with companies in supporting knowledge intensive start-ups is important to create an impact driven ecosystem in Nijmegen. This support around different dimensions is important. As supporting partners we now have Aeternus (company valuation), BDO (accounting), EP&C (patent attorneys), Janssen Pharmaceuticals JLABS (acceleration), Rabobank (financials), Poelmann van den Broek (lawyers) and now Catalyze. The addition of the knowledge of Catalyze around strategic fundraising and project management will further help start-ups in our ecosystem to grow.”

Go to the website of Catalyze Group.

Vacature: Senior Programmamanager Briskr

In het kort

De programmamanager is de spin in het web in het Nijmeegse innovatie ecosysteem en zorgt samen met het Briskr team en de samenwerkende partners voor de totstandkoming van het Briskr programma, dat tot doel heeft om ondernemingen in de Health & High-Tech sector te helpen in hun (door)ontwikkeling en hier de juiste randvoorwaarden voor te scheppen, onder meer via het stimuleren van (publiek-private) samenwerkingen.

 

 

Over Briskr

 

Briskr is een consortium dat is gericht op de ontwikkeling en ondersteuning van ondernemerschap en innovatie van de Health en Hightech clusters in de regio Nijmegen. Focus ligt daarbij op inhoudelijke vijf speerpunten waarin de regio zich onderscheidt en die ze verder wil versterken, namelijk Drug Discovery & Development, Neuroscience, Digital Health, RF Technology en Chip Integration.

 

De programmamanager is verantwoordelijk voor de totstandkoming van het Briskr programma. Hierbij wordt intensief samengewerkt met verschillende consortiumpartners, waaronder The Economic Board, OostNL, de gemeente Nijmegen, kennisinstellingen (HAN, Radboud Universiteit en Radboudumc) en Health Valley. Vanuit deze organisaties is een consortiumraad en een dagelijks bestuur samengesteld die de strategie en programmering vaststellen, mede op voorstel van de programmamanager. De programmamanager legt tevens verantwoording af aan deze gremia. Operationeel wordt samengewerkt met vertegenwoordigers van de partners in werkgroepen rondom drie thema’s: business support, acquisitie en programma- en projectontwikkeling.

 

Resultaatgebieden

 

De programmamanager werkt aan de realisatie van de werkpakketten. Hierbij worden de consortiumpartners geënthousiasmeerd en in hun kracht gezet. Tegelijkertijd is hij/zij in staat om kansen te signaleren en met nieuwe voorstellen te komen. De kandidaat kan dus goed schakelen tussen verschillende niveaus: van operationeel naar strategisch en van praktisch uitvoerend naar meer programmatisch.

 

Een deel van de activiteiten van Briskr wordt uitgevoerd door een klein, toegewijd team. De programma manager geeft (functioneel) leiding aan dit team.

 

De consortiumpartners hebben de ambitie om te participeren in nationale en Europese programma’s vanuit de potentie in de regio Nijmegen in de domeinen Health en High Tech die bijdragen aan de clusterontwikkeling. De programmamanager kan relevante kansen detecteren en verbinden met regionale initiatieven.

 

Uitdagingen en ontwikkelingen

 

De kandidaat is in staat om meerwaarde uit de bestaande samenwerking te halen, een synergie die verder gaat dan de som der delen. Tevens is er de wens om het bedrijfsleven en ondernemers beter te betrekken bij de activiteiten van Briskr en zo meer een “voor en door” programma te realiseren.

 

Taken

  • Opstellen en rapporteren over jaarplan, doelstellingen en begroting
  • Zorg dragen voor uitvoering van het jaarplan
  • In afstemming met consortiumpartners over inzet ten behoeve van Briskr doelstellingen
  • Aansturen van het projectteam
  • Voorbereiden diverse werkgroepen en opvolgen acties
  • Afspraken maken met (nieuwe) partners en onderhouden relaties
  • Relatie naar beoordelingscommissie Startup Fonds Gelderland en soortgelijke vroege fase financieringsfondsen
  • Signaleren van kansen op de domeinen Health en High Tech en initiëren van voorstellen voor nieuwe programma’s en projecten.
  • Thuis zijn in subsidieland (subsidies aanvragen & rapporteren).

 

Competenties

  • Organisatie sensitiviteit, gericht op samenwerking met een grote diversiteit aan partners
  • Resultaatgericht en ondernemend
  • Energiek en verbindend, motiveren en aansturen van projectmedewerkers

 

Vereisten

  • Wetenschappelijk werk- en denkniveau met minimaal 10 jaar relevante ervaring.
  • Gesprekspartner voor professionals en bestuurders in health en technologie.
  • Achtergrond in het (high-tech) innovatieve bedrijfsleven, ervaring met overheid en/of kennisinstellingen is een pré.
  • Aantoonbare, ruime ervaring in het opzetten en begeleiden van complexe publiek private samenwerkingsverbanden.
  • Ervaring in het bouwen van consortia en het werven van middelen.

 

Voorwaarden

Het betreft hier een functie voor minimaal 32 uur per week.

 

Procedure

  • De sluitingstermijn van deze vacature is 7 februari 2022. Heb je vragen over de vacature neem dan contact op met Joram Sjoerts via joram.sjoerts@radboudumc.nl. Begin februari worden de sollicitatiegesprekken gepland. De gesprekken worden gevoerd door een diverse afvaardiging uit het consortium.
  • Een assessment en referentiecheck kan onderdeel uitmaken van de procedure
  • Je kunt je sollicitatie verzenden naar Rina Bruintjes, rina.bruintjes@radboudumc.nl of via het platform waar je deze vacature tegenkomt. We ontvangen graag een gedegen motivatiebrief bij jouw sollicitatie.

Schrijf je in voor de Health Valley Bridge prijs 2022

Health Valley nodigt zorgaanbieders die actief zijn in cure en/of care, uit om vóór 4 februari 2022 projecten in de zorg in te dienen waarbij door middel van technologie, zorg dichterbij de eigen leefomgeving wordt gebracht, met als doel om langer zelfstandig te kunnen blijven functioneren. Een multidisciplinaire jury beoordeelt alle inschrijvingen. Het meest veelbelovende project ontvangt de prestigieuze Health Valley Bridge prijs en het bedrag van € 15.000 euro dat eraan verbonden is. De uitreiking vindt plaats op 16 maart 2022 tijdens het Health Valley Event.

Brug tussen zorginstelling en ondernemer
De naam van de prijs verwijst naar de brug die het slaat tussen een zorginstelling en een ondernemer om samen innovaties mogelijk te maken. Harry van Dorenmalen, voorzitter bestuur Health Valley en voorzitter vakjury: “Goede zorg die toegankelijk en beschikbaar is voor iedereen, daar streven wij naar. Bouwend op de betrokkenheid van de professionals en gebruikmakend van relevante innovaties. De Health Valley Bridge prijs ondersteunt de brug tussen de werelden van zorg en technologie en draagt daarmee bij aan een voortdurend krachtiger zorgsysteem. We waarderen hiermee die mensen in de zorg die anders durven doen!”

Lef en leiderschap in de zorg belonen
Nicole Pijnenburg, Directeur Informatievoorziening bij Menzis en tevens sponsor van de prijs: “De zorg is continu in ontwikkeling en we staan voor grote uitdagingen om de zorg toekomstbestendig te maken. Doelmatige innovaties kunnen hier aan bijdragen en daar is lef en leiderschap voor nodig. Met de Health Valley Bridge Prijs willen wij als Menzis het lef en leiderschap in de zorg een podium geven en belonen.”

De vakjury
De jurering zal plaatsvinden door een panel van 5 personen dat is samengesteld uit het Health Valley partnernetwerk, waaronder De Groeiversneller van Oost NL. Alexander Schippers, teammanager Life Science & Health bij Oost NL: “Zorg dichterbij brengen, is essentieel om aan de stijgende zorgvraag te voldoen. Met nieuwe businessmodellen en slim gebruik van technologie zijn mensen in staat langer zelfstandig te functioneren. Hiervoor zijn innovatieve oplossingen en slimme ideeën noodzakelijk. De Groeiversneller van de provincie Gelderland helpt ondernemers in het midden- en kleinbedrijf verder te groeien. Op weg naar de volgende doorbraak op het gebied van medische technologie. De Health Valley Bridge prijs is een erkenning van het belang van goede samenwerking tussen ondernemers, zorgprofessionals en -gebruikers en is bovendien een steuntje in de rug voor innovatieve projecten voor een toegankelijke en betaalbare zorg.”

Schrijf je in vóór 4 februari 2022
De inschrijving voor Health Valley Bridge Prijs 2022 is vanaf vandaag geopend en loopt tot 4 februari 2022. Vul hier formulier in om jouw project in te dienen. Bekijk hier het wedstrijdreglement. Deze prijs en daarmee het steuntje in de rug, wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt door de sponsorbijdragen van Menzis en de Groeiversneller.

Kijk voor meer informatie op: https://www.healthvalley.nl/nl/health-valley-bridge-prijs-2022/

Pitch to Win: a winning pitch

In David Beckett’s workshop Pitch to Win on Thursday December 14th we worked very practically on formulating our own winning pitch. It was his 997th workshop about Pitching he told us.

One exercise was to write down in a maximum of 4 (short) sentences your handshake pitch. We learned how to leave a first impression that is not about you, but about what you do.

In practical steps we learned how to make a winning pitch using the ‘power of three’, why you need the rational and non-rational aspect in a pitch (and a bit of humor). And use all the feedback you can get!

Using a strict timer, we had to try and think concisely. We tested this in short pitches to each other in breakout rooms. David is an exciting and well-known speaker who motivates all participants. We look back on a fun workshop where we learned a lot.

TOP TIP; This workshop will be repeated in May / June.