HI-NL receives EUR 1.5M grant to expand its innovation services

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has recognized the important societal role HI-NL plays in medical technology innovation by awarding it a EUR 1.5 million grant to expand its innovation services. Following complimentary remarks and recommendations made in a recent letter to parliament ‘Status of medical technology policy in healthcare', the grant decision letter stated:

“The activities carried out by HI-NL, partly set up with a previous grant, are in line with the vision of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on medical technology. […] The HI-NL round table expert sessions promote early dialogue between, among others, patients, innovators and healthcare providers. This promotes a better connection between innovations and societal and medical needs. […] Expansion of the HI-NL service by offering generic evaluation frameworks contributes to strengthening the Dutch innovation climate.”

The financial support provided by the ministry will allow HI-NL to further accelerate the innovation process for valuable new innovations, contributing to a health(care) ecosystem with safer and more cost-effective, affordable and sustainable innovations that benefit society as a whole. More specifically, HI-NL will further standardize and professionalize its existing activities. This will include building a learning organization, and sharing its knowledge and experience through the development and dissemination of evaluation ‘frameworks’ tailored to different types of medtech innovations, including diagnostics and artificial intelligence.

Since its foundation in 2020, HI-NL’s main activities have focused on providing guidance to innovators through its Round Table service. This service delivers tailor-made multi-stakeholder advice as early as possible in the innovation process, followed by hands-on guidance in all the subsequent steps needed to bring a medtech innovation to patients. By standardizing and further professionalizing its activities, HI-NL will be able to increase the impact and scope of its Round Table service and its services in general.

HI-NL’s extensive partner network and comprehensive infrastructure provide it with important insights into the challenges that stakeholders in the medtech domain experience. The constructive feedback, insights and suggestions that stakeholders in the HI-NL network provide are collated and used as valuable learnings that HI-NL shares with a broader audience to improve the Netherlands’ innovation ecosystem. It includes setting up evaluation frameworks to help guide next-step decisions at every stage in the innovation process. 

Reactions

HI-NL co-founders Maroeska Rovers and Carl Moons express their pleasure at the news.

Maroeska: "This follow-up grant from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport gives us the opportunity to further professionalize and expand our HI-NL activities to realize innovations that solve an unmet need as quickly as possible.”

Carl: “We want to share the HI-NL lessons learned in an accessible way for all stakeholders in the ecosystem, so that everyone can learn from them. HI-NL can become a living organization with continuously updating online guidance and answers to recurring questions, acknowledging the diversity of medical technology, eHealth and AI innovations."

Nico van Meeteren, Executive Director and Secretary General of Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (Health~Holland) & Professor of Perioperative Health, Dept. Anesthesiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, welcomed the news and looks forward to further cooperation with HI-NL.

“The Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (Health~Holland) commends the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport for further investment in HI-NL […] and we encourage HI-NL to provide their services to the many private entities that have joined LSH-related public-private projects and partnerships, as well as those propositions honoured in the National Growth Fund. HI-NL will for sure bring these organizations’ health innovations to the next level, closer to the market, improving the lives of so many.”

Michael Heesemans (Philips), an innovator who has direct experience of HI-NL's Round Table service, adds his approval.

“Congratulations HI-NL! Thank you for expanding your good work for innovators. Your advice regarding our innovation has helped us a lot […] especially because your 'round-table approach' allows healthcare professionals to provide feedback from different practical and clinical perspectives. Keep up the good work and good luck!”

Kevin Jenniskens (UMCU), who has been actively involved as a case team member in delivering the Round Table service, highlights that it is a two-way process.

“The renewed grant is great news, allowing continuation of HI-NL’s mission to provide health innovators with input from key stakeholders relevant to their product. The Round Table sessions have also provided me with the insight to look beyond scientific evidence into what truly matters to individual stakeholders, including the barriers and facilitators that determine the chance of success.”

The positive reactions received from HI-NL’s stakeholders strengthen its vision that working together and learning from each other are key to improving and accelerating MedTech innovation and implementation. It not only benefits innovators and stakeholders, it also benefits society as a whole. With its renewed grant from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, HI-NL will further address key bottlenecks in the medtech ecosystem and ‘bring Health Innovation to the next level’.