BIOTECH & LIFE SCIENCE

The Life Sciences and Biotech (LSB) sector in the Northern Netherlands is concentrated in and around Groningen, although several companies and research institutes are located in Drenthe and Friesland. The Life Sciences sector contains all LSB related technologies: drug discovery & development, drug targeting, translational medicine, clinical trials, food and nutrition, care and cure, medical technology, agrobusiness, medical devices, genomics, nanotechnology, imaging…. You name it.

Recently, health-related acitivities have been clustered around a theme: Healthy Ageing. This cluster is of the triple-helix type (as you might suspect): research & development, education, companies and local authorities join their forces:

"The Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands (HANNN) functions as an umbrella that unites business, knowledge institutions, governance and intermediaries. The focus is on growing old in a healthy way; this addresses drug development and drug targeting, food & nutrition, medical technology, lifestyle, care & cure, wellness & fitness, leisure & motion. The strategy is to use our strongholds on technology, innovation, research & development in order to build a North European-wide cluster network. "

Groningen Institute for Healthy Ageing research (GIHAr): www.healthyaging.umcg.nl

The new European Research Institute on the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA), a research infrastructure to investigate the fundamental biological processes that determine ageing and the origin and course of (age-related) diseases. By the physical clustering of world-class researchers at one location, critical mass will be created to solve the underlying questions. http://www.umcg.nl/Research/healthyaging/eriba/Pages/eriba.aspx

A population-based biobank and cohort study with a unique three-generation design in a large, representative, sample of the population (165.000) of the three Northern provinces of the Netherlands that will be followed for at least 30 years. (www.lifelines.net)

The UMCG Center for Geriatric Medicine (UCO) is a center for diagnostics, treatment and care specifically geared toward elderly people with complex care need. As disease processes in the elderly follow a different course than they do in younger people, UCO is developing new care paths together with its partners active in primary care, independent-living care, assisted-living care and nursing-home. http://www.umcg.nl/Research/healthyaging/uco/Pages/UCO.aspx

Other initiatives are currently being developed, such as: Mental Health (with a neurological and a psychological dimension) and Technologies for the elderly (Biomaterials).

CEBR is a European network of biotechnology support professionals that support their local biocommunity through direct services including networking, incubation, partnering and cluster promotion.
It is the first network of its kind to bring together such organisations and Members will develop and implement new biotech support activities across Europe.