Healthcare and businesses strengthen health innovation in northern Netherlands

Cooperation between DHENN and EDIH NN should bring AI and robotization faster and more decisively into healthcare practice.

The Northern Netherlands is joining forces to make healthcare future-proof. Healthcare institutions, knowledge partners, governments and technology companies are now working together structurally within the Digital Health Ecosystem North Netherlands (DHENN) and the European Digital Innovation Hub North Netherlands (EDIH NN). The collaboration accelerates the deployment of AI, robotization and other digital innovations to keep healthcare affordable and workable.

"Healthcare is facing a huge task," says Martin Smit, director of the UMCG Innovation Center and representative from DHENN. "The demand for care is growing, but the number of professionals is not. Only by using technology intelligently can we maintain the quality and affordability of care. For this we need the business community."

This is exactly what the collaboration is focusing on. DHENN represents the ecosystem around digital health, EDIH NN brings together business and technological solutions. "We don't just look at supply or demand, but at the entire market," explains Robin Brouwer, program manager at DHENN. "This creates a direct line between what healthcare needs and what the market can offer."

"That linkage is essential," adds Paul Mulder, innovation broker Life Science & Health at EDIH NN. "Nine out of ten healthcare innovations fail in the pilot phase. By better aligning healthcare demand and business supply, we increase the chances of innovations succeeding."

The cooperation gives healthcare institutions faster access to relevant technology and companies better insight into what healthcare really needs. This delivers tangible benefits. "The biggest challenge is that technology in healthcare is actually applied," says Smit. "That requires a sharp picture of what innovations healthcare needs so that companies can develop the right solutions accordingly."

All innovations are in the service of healthcare, emphasizes Leo van der Burg, business developer at FME, a consortium partner of EDIH NN. "We focus on autonomous applications in which AI, robotization and digitalization come together. Such systems take over routine tasks and support professionals in complex decisions, while the control remains with humans."

Shared standards reduce the need for IT departments to interface and make it easier for entrepreneurs to scale up their technology. At the same time, healthcare professionals are encouraged to actively share their needs with industry.

"Innovation does not happen at a distance, but between people who know each other and want to learn together," says Van der Burg, who is committed to regional cooperation and visibility from FME. "That's what makes this such a promising development for the Northern Netherlands."

The approach also ensures focus and continuity, Mulder adds. "Knowledge, care and business now work together in one development process. This increases the chance that innovations really succeed, and everyone benefits from this: from healthcare institution to entrepreneur, and the patients, for whom we do it."

Thus, innovation touches directly on the most important goal: a healthier Northern Netherlands. "We feel responsible not only for the patients in our hospital," Smit concludes. "Throughout the Northern Netherlands, we want to keep people healthy."