MedTech in the Netherlands

Find out how the Brainport Eindhoven region is finding answers to the global challenges around health care

Dutch MedTech is Brainport MedTech

For this MedTech dossier, we focus on the broader Brainport Eindhoven region. This is the area with a leading position in the Netherlands when it comes to companies active in medical technology, or MedTech. One in five Dutch MedTech companies is located in the province of Brabant, and more than half of these are in Brainport Eindhoven. Brabant’s MedTech sector is a serious growth engine for the province and the country.

This MedTech dossier is sponsored by Rabobank, Brainport Development and Brabant Development Agency (BOM)

5 Focus Points for the Near Future


  • Clustering of medical imaging and diagnostics:
  • More impact for the MedTech start-up ecosystem
  • Collaboration between SMEs and medical centers
  • Connecting Brainport with Pivot Park
  • Stronger international positioning of the MedTech sector

Read more about these 5 focus points

Featured


Hotspot in Life Sciences & Health


In Brabant, 910 branches of Life Sciences & Health companies can be found, accounting for 18,160 jobs. This is respectively 15.6% and 23.5% of the total Dutch Life Sciences & Health sector.

Calendar


17 juni, 17:00 uur:
TAISIG Talks – Artificial intelligence for Diagnostic Imaging. With
Sharon Ong, Assistant Professor at the Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence. Tilburg University.

Robot SARA

SARA (Social & Autonomous Robotic health Assistant) aims to create a better work balance for professional caregivers and to provide extra care for clients for whom the staff does not always have time.

Three characteristics for Brainport

The MedTech companies in Brainport Eindhoven are active in very diverse medical domains and markets. They distinguish themselves by these 3 characteristics:

1. The domain ‘diagnostics and medical imaging techniques‘ is remarkably strongly represented. An important stimulus in this respect comes from Philips Healthcare, the world’s number 3 in this domain. The domain is also a research focal point of TU Eindhoven.
2. The large number of medical technology start-ups resulting from the strong start-up climate in Brainport Eindhoven.
3. Over a third of the companies (more than 100) are active in the chain of complex mechanical engineering. This medical technology manufacturing industry is partly a supplier to Philips Healthcare, but also serves other medical technology OEM customers.

What is MedTech?

By medical technology – MedTech for short – we mean “the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve the quality of life.” (WHO)

It, therefore, refers to the use of instruments, devices or appliances, software, implants, materials, or other articles intended by manufacturers to be used in humans for a variety of specific purposes including diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, prediction, prognosis, treatment, or alleviation of disease.

MedTech companies in the province of North Brabant

On the map you will find all MedTech companies in the province of Noord-Brabant with more han ten employees.

The bigger the sphere, the higher the number of employees

MedTech Highlights

Each week, we present a different MedTech Highlight, concisely summarized in an explanatory video. This week: the regenerative medicine at Xeltis.

Recent other MedTech news

Get an impression of the size, diversity and impact of MedTech in Brainport Eindhoven

Dutch MedTech Mission to Minnesota

From Sunday, April 16 to Thursday, April 20, a MedTech delegation led by Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), LIOF, Oost NL and the Nederlands Consulaat Generaal (CG) will go on an entrepreneurial trip to Med Tech Minnesota. The intensive program should give a good impression of the U.S. Med Tech Ecosystem. The program will provide insight into “Doing Business in Med Tech Minnesota”…

Chinese Grand Pharma supports Xeltis with a €15M investment as part of a new financing round

As many Western organizations are increasingly hesitant in their relations with Chinese partners, Eindhoven-based Xeltis is striking a big deal. For 15 million euros, the Grand Pharmaceutical Group receives not only shares, but also commercial and development rights. For Xeltis, it is the first commercial deal in its existence. Xeltis, a medtech company developing polymer-based…

A good MedTech robot is more than just a technical feat      

In recent decades, Patrick Geerts has seen innovative tech start-ups pop up like mushrooms. However, he also saw that relatively few of these have managed to grow enough to become leading global players. “In Brainport, there is an incredible amount of talent, knowledge and experience, but there are very few real success stories of world…

Tailor-made medicine: a solution for anyone who is not a six-foot-tall man

Medicines roll off the production line in their millions – usually in two or three standard dosages. But a five-year-old child needs very different quantities of an active ingredient than an adult man who stands six feet tall. “Let’s say a pill has a dosage of 500 milligrams of the active ingredient, while a doctor…

Steinbuch: ‘Brainport can make the very best medical robots in the world’

Twenty years ago, Maarten Steinbuch, professor of Systems and Control at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), saw a surgical robot from the United States at work for the first time. Just a small tap caused the robotic arm to wobble. “We can do better,” was the scientist’s first thought. The seed was planted: the Brainport…

Pivot Park and Brainport have to get off their islands, but how?

The Dutch province of Brabant occupies a leading position when it comes to medical technology: one in five Dutch MedTech companies is based there. The life sciences and pharmaceutical sector in North Brabant is at least as robust. The sector has an annual production value of five billion euros – half of the total Dutch…

Bar is too high for medtech start-ups to reach hospitals

Four years ago, Chantal Linders, founder and CEO of the start-up GreenHabit, was still being politely shown the way out when she knocked on the door of hospitals and health insurance companies. Last year, she participated in an Innovation meets Hospital session hosted by Brainport and sat down with innovation managers from four major hospitals…

New heart valves and blood vessels made from your own tissue

‘Self-healing’ heart valves and blood vessels are not science fiction, but a reality. Using a technology based on ‘natural recovery’, medtech start-up Xeltis offers an alternative for people with clogged veins or cardiovascular problems. Located on the campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands and with employees in America, Germany, Belgium…

The innovative power of a 75-year-old techie with assertive rebelliousness

His mother always called him “a slugger.” At thirteen, he was urged to change schools, and he sees himself as a street fighter rather than a bookworm. “What is written is from yesterday or even older,” he says. So how is it that Jos van Esch, now 75 years old, has filed six important high-tech…

The healing qualities of a lightning bolt

Wounds that have remained open for an average of more than a year can be healed with a kind of mini lightning bolt. Plasmacure has shown that this can be done. Since the end of 2020, podiatrists and other medical practitioners have been treating wounds with this innovative plaster. “Sixty percent of the wounds healed…

How doctors and scientists can share healthcare data quickly and securely

The first regionally scalable version of the e/MTIC Health Data Portal is planned for next year in the Netherlands. This is being built by and for the Eindhoven Medtech Innovation Center (e/MTIC), and is intended to speed up development processes, thereby improving treatments, practices and outcomes in healthcare. Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Catharina Hospital,…

Premature babies have improved odds in artificial uterus

“An artificial uterus – the incubator 2.0 – will become a reality within 10 years,” says Jasmijn Kok, one of the founders of the spin-off Juno. Together with four researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, including her twin sister Lyla Kok, she wants to bring a technology that increases the chances of survival…

Flying start for RiboPro with production of mRNA

Scientists and biotech companies are lining up for the messenger RNA (mRNA) products that the Dutch start-up RiboPro makes. The company is therefore growing rapidly. Global demand for mRNA exceeds supply: the number of producers can be counted on about two hands. By now, we know Messenger RNA as the active ingredient in Pfizer and…

Onward Medical to join the Amsterdam and Brussels Stock Exchange

Onward Medical has announced plans to get listed in Amsterdam and Brussels. The company is developing a device that stimulates the spinal cord after injuries. The exact date of the operation, the price range, and the targeted amounts for the IPO are not yet known. Founded in 2014, Onward Medical is a spin-off from the…

For further expansion in MedTech, IGS GeboJagema looks to the US and to robotization

If there is one market that is guaranteed to grow in the coming years, it is the healthcare market. The world’s population is aging, medical devices are becoming available in more and more countries, and technology is providing a rapid succession of innovations. The Eindhoven-based IGS GeboJagema was well aware of this at the beginning…

Robot Sara: the ever-patient extra hand in long-term care

That Robot Sara is a welcome addition for institutions in long-term care, no one doubts anymore. But that does not mean that there is a ready-made product by now. The phase of co-creation and co-innovation between the inventors and users will therefore continue for some time. We took a look at both sides, with conversations…