Healthcare that is more accessible and more affordable. New sources of energy that reduce CO2 emissions in the province. In two new Centres for Research and Innovation, the Province of Overijssel is collaborating with the University of Twente to find solutions to current social issues. Solutions which also generate business and employment.
High-tech solutions on the scale of a farm. This is the common
thread running through the plans for bioenergy and healthcare
technology. They introduce new technology on a small scale to
ensure the best possible integration in society. For instance, the
'high-tech health farm' brings new healthcare technology to the
patient without the need for hospital admission. And bioenergy
provides new opportunities for the agricultural sector. Is it
possible, for example, to build a farm that is self-sufficient in
generating its own heat and electricity?
Plant waste and algae
The link between farms and bioenergy is a fairly obvious one.
With pyrolysis technology developed at the University of Twente, it
is possible to make oil from plant waste which can then be used for
a number of purposes, including additional fuel for power plants.
The IMPACT institute decided to investigate ways of organizing this
close to the source and drew up a proposal together with the
Province of Overijssel. With this purpose in mind, the institute is
looking to cooperate with spin-off companies which have brought
pyrolysis technology onto the market. One such company is the
Biomass Technology Group (BTG), which is currently building a
pyrolysis reactor in Hengelo. In this context, biomass is not in
competition with food production: all types of plant waste can be
used to make oil. The cultivation of algae is another interesting
new agricultural activity: algae could well become an important
natural resource for fuels and high-grade chemicals. IMPACT is
working on this with a number of parties including Wageningen
University and Research Centre. As for the self-sufficient farm, it
could harness a combination of technologies and become a kind of
demonstration facility. The key is to make the technology as
user-friendly as possible so that there is no need for a specially
trained operator to keep the company running. But the
organizational and administrative context also requires attention.
To this end, IMPACT is working closely with the Twente Centre for
Studies in Technology and Sustainable Development (CSTM).
High-tech health farm
The aim of the 'high-tech health farm' is to improve access to
high quality healthcare. In the future, healthcare provision will
take place more frequently outside of the hospital environment,
preferably in the patient's own surroundings. This is why the test
environment for the 'high-tech health farm' proposed by the MIRA
institute is close to the primary healthcare sector. There, new
technology will be able to ensure a strongly personalised form of
healthcare. Whether the case in hand involves monitoring pain,
improving breast-cancer diagnosis or determining cardiovascular
problems relating to diabetes, many of these areas involve
technology which has already been developed to a highly advanced
level within the University of Twente. One such example is the
"lab-on-a-chip" technology developed by the MESA+ Institute for
Nanotechnology, which brings the laboratory to the patient instead
of the other way round. In order to ensure a successful launch,
another market party and a test environment are often needed. The
plans for the 'high-tech health farm' therefore represent a boost
to employment in the SME sector in the field of biomedical
technology. In addition, the University of Twente will cooperate
closely with hospitals in the province of Overijssel, including
Medisch Spectrum Twente in Enschede and the Isala Klinieken in
Zwolle.
This video is only available in Dutch.
For each of the Overijssel Centres for Research and Innovation
(OCRIs), the Province of Overijssel is making €2.5 million
available for a period of two years.
