Kick-off Biotech Booster programme in Amsterdam: Thematic Cluster 4 ‘Diagnostics/Services’

The Biotech Booster programme has been awarded a grant of € 250M from the National Growth Fund, with the aim for better conversion of biotechnological knowledge into business. In order to carry out the programme, various knowledge institutes from all over the Netherland will work together within the structure of so-called ‘thematic clusters’ or TCs.

Organisation structure of Biotech Booster

Five TCs will be set up in the Netherlands. These TCs have their own theme and collectively cover the entire scope of biotechnology. Within each TC, diverse research teams, consisting of scientists and/or entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to explore whether a ‘wildly promising idea’ can lead to a product that has an actual, socially relevant, business case.

The 5 TCs have the following themes and are allocated to various cities:

• TC1: Industrial/Production (Delft)
• TC2: Agri/Food (Wageningen)
• TC3: Medical/Therapeutical (Maastricht)
• TC4: Diagnostics/Services (Amsterdam)
• TC5: Platform/Discovery & Development (Leiden)

Amsterdam based Thematic Cluster 4: ‘Diagnostics/Services’.

For Amsterdam, Rachel van Beem has started on 1 February as project manager of thematic cluster 4: ‘Diagnostics/Services’. Let’s hear from Rachel herself about the first steps in setting up the cluster:

“I am the project manager of TC 4 and I am based at the VU/IXA-GO office; our key partners are the KTO’s (Knowledge Transfer Offices) from the Universities of Groningen, Enschede, Nijmegen and Maastricht, plus the Netherlands Cancer Institute. In addition to these partners, there is an important role for the Universities of Applied Sciences. In our case, so-called Impact Developers of the Fontys Hogeschool and the Hogeschool van Amsterdam will join the TC4 team.

Together with these parties, we will start developing the cluster. This means, among other things, that there will have to be a clear description of the theme. The question then is: what do we understand the concept of Diagnostics/Services to be? And what is it not? There should be consistency with the five TCs and we need to cover all subjects in the field Biotech: health, climate, energy, agriculture and food.

We then move on to flesh out the substantive processes, such as the agreement between various partners, the process on identifying promising ideas, and under what conditions they can be admitted into the ‘incubator’ of the Biotech Booster.

In short, the coming period will be about getting to know our various partners, making plans and setting up the TC, so that we can get started with the promising ideas, after the summer of 2023. I have no doubt that those ideas are already out there!”

More information

Would you like more information about the Biotech Booster programme? Please contact the Biotech Booster Management Team: info@biotechbooster.nl

If you would you like more information about the activities in TC4 – Diagnostics/Services, or if you know/have a potential biotech project in the field of diagnostics/services, please contact Rachel via r.t.van.beem@vu.nl

Credits: Image by DCStudio on Freepik