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Nederland heeft de wereld veel te bieden als een toonaangevend Life Sciences and Health-hub, waarbij Noord-Nederland een essentiële schakel vormt. De LIFE Cooperative, het noordelijk samenwerkingsverband in de life sciences, zet de lifesciences ontwikkelingen met wereldwijde impact in de spotlight tijdens de derde editie van de LIFE Sciences Conference op dinsdag 24 september 2024 in het Forum Groningen. Marcel Levi, toonaangevende arts, hoogleraar en bestuurder zal optreden als keynote spreker. Tijdens het evenement wordt ook voor de derde keer de Innovation Award van de LIFE Cooperative uitgereikt aan de innovatie met de meeste impact in Noord-Nederland.

In the magazine BiotechNEWS & Life Sciences, the following article recently appeared about the anniversary and the upcoming LIFE Science Conference in September 2024. Board members Ton Vries and Johannes Wolters reflect on a decade of collaboration and growth, during which the number of members grew from 20 to over 60 companies. The LIFE Cooperative has helped local companies achieve international success, with the annual conference as a highlight that promotes innovation and collaboration. Read on to learn more about their achievements and future plans!

From the partnership with Hamburg, the Municipality of Groningen has been asked to participate in a “Life Science Learning Expedition” from 3 to 6 June to Occitania (South of France) together with our regional companies. The Occitian region has developed into a progressive player in the field of Life Science.

After an evening full of inspiration, insights and networking opportunities, "Founder Talks " looks back on an extremely successful event in the Forum Groningen. Led by Renee van der Sluis, the 100 enthusiastic participants were inspired by the stories of founders and entrepreneurs Rutger Flink (PulmoTech) and Gunnar Flik (Ardena). For the 21st edition of this event, Founded in Groningen , Founded in Friesland and the LIFE Cooperative have joined forces to share the successes and challenges of entrepreneurs and to network during this event. In connection with the LIFE Cooperative's 10th anniversary, the theme of this edition was life sciences. Promising startup Rutger Flink, founder of PulmoTech, is also part of the LIFE Cooperative with his promising startup. Flink shared his inspiring entrepreneurial journey and the launch of PulmoTech. During the conversation, the phrase "taking a long breath" often came up. PulmoTech is developing a special catheter to better adjust ventilation in intensive care patients. His personal story about the challenges, his motivation, and the journey of starting a business in this sector impressed the audience. Peter Ketelaar, director LIFE Cooperative: "As a cooperative from and for life sciences, health and medtech companies in the Northern Netherlands, we are incredibly proud that this event took place. The power of collaboration has been incredibly important to us for ten years and it is therefore very valuable that entrepreneurs like Gunnar Flik and Rutger Flink want to share their insights with us in the field of entrepreneurship and as founders. In addition, Founded promotes entrepreneurship in the Northern Netherlands, and we thank Founded for the excellent cooperation and the opportunity to put these two respected entrepreneurs in the spotlight in an appropriate way so that we can all learn from them." Photo: Douwe de Boer

LIFE Cooperative, Hanze University of Applied Sciences and the UMCG received national recognition for the need for a constructive Human Capital approach for the life sciences sector. This Monday, 19th of February, they were informed that their submitted Groningen Human Capital for Life Sciences project had been honored by PharmaNL with €747,000 euros. This subsidy has been awarded in the context of the PharmaNL Human Capital Growth program, a subsidy program to support specific investments in education focused on the pharmaceutical value chain. This program is implemented by ZonMw.

Deze week bruiste het van activiteit in de Energy Barn tijdens de Meet & Greet Life Sciences, een dynamisch evenement georganiseerd door de Hanzehogeschool Groningen / Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen in samenwerking met een scala aan partners. Het is dé hotspot waar studenten en professionals uit de Life Sciences-sector elkaar ontmoetten. Met ruim 200 enthousiaste studenten van opleidingen als Chemie, Chemische Technologie, Bio-informatica, Biologie & Medisch Laboratoriumonderzoek Research en Medische Diagnostiek, was de energie voelbaar!

Heb je als ondernemer een innovatief idee voor de toekomst van jouw bedrijf én voor een mooier en sterker Noord-Nederland? Dan kan het verstandig zijn om eerst de haalbaarheid van jouw idee te toetsen. Met de subsidie Mkb haalbaarheidsvoucher uit het EFRO-programma (Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling) voor Groningse, Drentse en Friese ondernemers is dit mogelijk. Het Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland voert deze subsidie uit. Je kunt je aanvraag nog indienen tot en met 30 november 2024 via SNN. Grijp dus je kans!

Sabiad, een start-up in Heerenveen, lid van de LIFE Cooperative en onderdeel van het Open Diagnostics Ecosystem, ontving onlangs een aanzienlijke investeringssteun van Pharma Connect Capital (PCC). Deze financiering zal de lancering van hun grensverleggende initiatief ondersteunen. Het project, in samenwerking met het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (UMCG), is gericht op het ontwikkelen van een antilichaam dat de detectie en beeldvorming van Staphylococcus aureus-infecties - een aanzienlijke uitdaging, vooral na orthopedische implantaties zoals heup- en knieprotheses mogelijk maakt.

The goal behind the establishment of the Open Diagnostics Ecosystem (ODE) was crystal clear in the spring of 2020: to bolster and market the position of North Netherlands as a global player in the field of (medical) diagnostics. As the project draws to a close in December 2023, the initiators reflect upon an exceedingly successful journey. Ton Vries, Chairman of the LIFE Cooperative and initiator of ODE, states, "In a relatively short period, we've successfully shepherded nine projects from eight different companies within ODE. The results of these companies speak volumes: the network infrastructure and substantive financial support have led to tremendous achievements in diagnostics. We take exceptional pride in this."