Techleap’s Dutch Healthtech 2021 Report
In their Dutch Healthtech 2021 Report, which was released last week, Techleap analysed the Dutch healthtech sector from the perspectives of founders and investors. Techleap has found that innovative healthtech startups have difficulties to grow and become global leaders due to several challenges. This means products and services do not reach patients and consumers. HollandBIO agrees with the findings of Techleap and thinks these challenges do not only relate to healthtech, but to the whole biotech sector. It is time to unlock the scaling paradox and unleash the innovational potential of the complete life sciences ecosystem.
Key challenges
Amongst others, Techleap identifies four key challenges for Dutch biotech companies. HollandBIO agrees and we think that, to reap the full benefits of biotech in the Netherlands, we have to overcome the following hurdles:
- Low startup to scaleup conversion. It is difficult for startups to scale-up. Of a relatively large population of healthtech startups, only 29% become scaleups. This finding was earlier mentioned in the AWTI report ‘Beter van start’.
- Small ticket sizes: Ticket sizes of investments are smaller compared to other international leading ecosystems. This proves, combined with dependency on public funds in the earlier stage, a slowing factor to move from startup to scale-up.
- Suboptimal IP-transfer: Many academic founders in healthtech struggle in the process of negotiating the IP transfer out of universities. This struggle takes a lot of time and energy which could also have been put in developing the company.
- Commercial focus: Many Dutch healthtech founders focus on technology and product instead of developing their business or expanding abroad.
The solution of Biotech Booster
These hurdles are addressed in HollandBIO’s Groeifonds proposal ‘Biotech Booster’. The proposal focuses on the improvement of valorization of knowledge towards products and services that reach the patients and consumers. Biotech booster does this by longer coaching startups to foster their growth towards a more robust, investor-ready, scale-up.
Challenge the status quo together
An important recommendation in the report is focused on collaboration. HollandBIO is proud to see that one of Techleap’s recommends to ‘intensify collaboration in the Dutch healthtech ecosystem by enabling closer cooperation between selected stakeholders in the healthtech sector who are willing and able to change the status quo and are willing to make the difference, including Topsector LSH, HollandBIO, NLHealth, Health Valley and HealthInc.’
HollandBIO strives to unleash the full potential of biotech and we would be honored to challenge the status quo together with Techleap and other organizations to improve the life sciences ecosystem in the Netherlands.
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