The TechMed ecosystem

As a knowledge institute, the University of Twente has a pivotal role in the Ecosystem of the region Twente and Eastern-NL (Gelderland + Overijssel). As an innovation hub, the TechMed Centre stimulates collaboration and connectivity between multiple innovation ecosystems. Collaboration with external partners is key to boosting innovation in healthcare. These partners vary from SMEs to MedTech corporates, from regional hospitals and other healthcare providers to University Medical Centres and international University Hospitals, from local to national governments, advisory boards and topsectors LSH &HTSM and from funding organisations and scientific societies to patient and societal organisations, and (groups of) citizens. These partners are our best ambassadors, and they state that we always deliver what we have promised, and we are therefore known as a pleasant and very reliable collaborator.

The TechMed Centre has established relationships with all University Medical Centres and with several large hospitals and other healthcare organisations in the Netherlands and beyond. Collaboration within this clinical network is strongly supported by the numerous clinical internships of the Technical Medicine program. All internship projects are supervised by clinicians and scientific staff from the University of Twente. In addition to this internship network, we have more than 40 dual scientific staff positions (including 17 clinical professors) with healthcare institutions. Next to that, there are (formalised) collaborations with more specialised hospitals, like centres for rehabilitation and the Dutch Cancer Institute and mental health organisations such as Dimence Groep. To stimulate new strategic collaborations and partnerships and to attract future funding for collaborative projects, the University of Twente initiated several seed funds/voucher programs, such as Pioneers in Healthcare (with MST, ZGT, Deventer Ziekenhuis, Saxion and Reggeborgh) and the TURBO program (with Radboudumc). Particularly, the strong collaboration with our partners in the region will enable us to have a significant impact on health. 

Furthermore, we are involved in consortia, such as:

Besides the collaboration with clinical sites, partnerships with medtech companies are crucial for bringing real solutions to the international healthcare market and for growing our impact. The list of industrial partners is impressive and includes large to very large companies (e.g. Siemens Healthineers, Medtronic, GE, Philips, Terumo, Teledyne, Sonion) as well as many regional companies (e.g. Demcon, Baat, Hankamp, Panton, Holland Innovative, Movella, Unitron, UNeedle). As there is a strong focus on early-stage medtech innovations, there is a strong network of numerous start-ups and SMEs, many of which originate from the University of Twente.

With some of the industry partners, broader collaboration agreements are in place, for example, with Siemens Healthineers (education & research partnership). With others, letters of intent have been signed about setting up broader strategic collaborations (e.g. Medtronic, Ancora Health). In many other cases, collaborations are based on specific R&D projects or the usage of shared facilities. 

Furthermore, we are involved in consortia, such as:

The TechMed Innovation Hub is a recognised European Digital Innovation Hub (DIH). A DIH is a coordinated group of organisations with complementary expertise and a not-for-profit objective, offering a set of services to companies – especially Small and Medium Enterprises (incl. Start-ups) and mid-caps as well as to public sector organisations – to support their digital transformation. The TechMed Innovation Hub is a DIH with expertise in a broad range of (digital) technologies applied to healthcare (e.g., robotics, AI, Imaging, Sensing, eHealth). The DIH activities focus on: Raising awareness of digital transformation; Digital maturity assessment; Knowledge and technology transfer; Experimentation and testing. See for examples of our services that are recognised in the official Catalogue of EU DIHs.

Furthermore, we are involved in consortia, such as:

The regional ecosystem in Twente is recognised for its mindset and culture of collaboration. Although the region has 650.000 citizens, the number of organisations can be overseen, and most of them have a strong focus on collaboration. Good examples are the strong interaction of the University of Twente with the Saxion University of Applied Sciences and ROC van Twente, and the regional network of healthcare organisations and regional governments. As we are living in a growing internationally oriented environment, the TechMed Centre is proud of its international partnerships with renowned institutes such as the UKM Münster, Waterloo University, IRCAD/IHU in Strasbourg, the Wyss institute and the MGH hospital in Boston, and a wide range of strong research connection with top research groups at MIT, Yale, Sunnybrook, Kings College, ETH Zürich, Tampere University, etc. We aim to further build on our Euregional position near Germany and the already ongoing collaborations with, among others, the Munster region. In addition, there are long-term collaborations with patient organisations and with healthcare funds such as Reuma Nederland, which recognised the bioengineering groups of the TechMed Centre as ‘Research Centre of Excellence’.

Furthermore, we are involved in multiple consortia, such as: