Medical technology is an important value chain for the Dutch High-tech industry, with a focus on sustainable earning power and societal impact. The HTSM-MedTech programme promotes the development and early testing and validation of key enabling technologies such as imaging, sensors and actuators, through public-private partnerships.

It focuses on three areas:

1. Imaging and image-guided intervention systems
2. Sensors and digital technology
3. Medical devices and surveillance systems

Through collaboration between large companies, SMEs, knowledge institutions and healthcare parties, this programme strengthens the MedTech ecosystem, with the aim of making healthcare more sustainable, accessible and efficient.

Programme duration: 4 years | 2024 - 2027

Problem statement

The programme recognizes two key problems of a technological nature that hamper healthcare innovation:

1. Creating new technological options for important clinical problems. Basic research is required to demonstrate a Proof of Principle of a new improved imaging or sensor & actuator technology.
2. The difficult and often expensive validation of new medical technology. Industrial and sometimes experimental research is needed to realize a Proof of Concept and to test and validate it by means of, among others, in silico trials and advanced phantoms in the relevant (clinical) context, focusing on clinically relevant results, impact on care costs and industrial scalability.

Objective

The strategic programme HTSM MedTech aims to boost the development, integration and cost-effective early testing, evaluation and validation of new (key) enabling technology for the medical market (falling under the MDR or IVDR).  This will strengthen the economic earning capacity of the Dutch MedTech Sector and contribute to sustainable, affordable, staffable and accessible healthcare.

Approach

The MedTech playing field is highly multidisciplinary, and successful MedTech solutions and products require integration of diverse knowledge and skills, which often poses challenges for a company (and especially SMEs). The HTSM MedTech programme offers the opportunity to close these gaps by specifically stimulating public-private cooperation and efficiently achieving integrated solutions that meet the relevant requirements (technical, economic and suitable for implementation in healthcare).

To achieve this, public-private cooperation is encouraged through PPP funding for breakthroughs in accuracy, speed and manageability of imaging and sensor & actuator technologies in the following three MedTech focus areas:

1. Imaging and image-guided intervention systems for (personalised) diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment.
2. Sensors and digital technology for (personalised) diagnosis and treatment, from the hospital to the home environment.
3. (Personalised) Medical devices and monitoring systems for chronic conditions.

Relation with urgent transitions, KIAs and technologies

The strategic programme HTSM-MedTech focuses primarily on the transition key enabling technologies. The development of new key enabling technologies, in particular imaging and sensor & actuator technology, and their integration into new products and services is essential for the challenges facing healthcare nationally and internationally in the coming decades.

The programme also focuses on the application of new technologies in products and services for the benefit of the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda focused on Health and Care. Investing in the key enabling technologies important for MedTech, and their early testing and validation, will contribute to new innovations and a positive impact on health and care. It is also closely aligned with HTSM's Healthcare Roadmap and the National Technology Strategy and, more specifically, the Imaging Technology agenda. In addition, other Roadmaps (such as Photonics) also have a lot of focus on medical instruments based on the underlying technologies.