Introducing the Life Sciences & Health innovation program
Launched by Minister Van der Hoeven of Economic Affairs on April 9, 2008, the Life Sciences & Health (LSH) innovation program aims to realize benefit for both society (health) and economy (wealth). The next step in joining forces is to position the
First High Profile Group Cahier published
The HPG was formed in the summer of 2008 and consists of representatives from stakeholders in the Dutch health-related life science sector; insurance companies, the financial sector , large and small life science industries, academia and technology institutes. The HPG meets twice a year. Their primary task is to develop an overall vision for the sector to ensure consistency and continuity. The HPG will communicate via ‘Cahiers’, which will be published after each meeting. The first Cahier is currently being distributed and can also be downloaded
Three action lines
To achieve its goals, LSH, empowered by the ministry of Economic Affairs, builds upon three action lines: 1) credit loans for innovation projects, 2) collaboration (both national and international), and 3) improving the innovation and investment climate in the
1. Innovation credit
The ‘innovation credit’ is open as of July 9,2008 for proposals from the LSH sector. The first proposals have already been received. More information can be found at the (preliminary) LSH website: http://lsh.cmail1.com/t/y/l/dlmji/illkidhrj/i. To apply for an innovation credit, please go directly to http://lsh.cmail1.com/t/y/l/dlmji/illkidhrj/d
2. International collaboration and facility sharing
In 2009, 3 million euro will be available to finance Dutch projects through the European subsidy ‘EuroTransBio,’ which stimulates collaboration between SMEs on an international scale. The ETB call will open on 7 January 2009 and the deadline for proposals is 27 April 2009. For more information see www.eurotransbio.nl. The financing for international collaboration and facility sharing for the coming years is currently being decided upon
3. Improving the Dutch innovation and investment climate
The third action line is a set of dedicated measures to improve the life sciences innovation and investment climate with the goal of making the
a) Investigate the success factors crucial to capitalizing on knowledge and identify hurdles.
b) Facilitate, in order to meet these success factors and remove the hurdles to ensure growth of startups and investments by foreign companies. Two main areas are identified: business climate and human capital.
c) Educate, to raise the overall knowledge and competence level further, especially in entrepreneurial and business skills. Together with
d) Communicate to the LSH sector in the
These actions will be run by the LSH program office. This office was established in the fall of 2008 and consists temporarily of Willem de Laat, Jorg Janssen and Hélène Engelkamp
For more information: http://www.lifescienceshealth.com/