Radboudumc Investment Day 2025: A celebration of innovation and collaboration

On October 8, the fifth edition of the Radboudumc Investment Day took place at the Experience Center. Scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors from the life sciences & health sector gathered to exchange knowledge, network, and explore new collaborations.

The event was jointly organized by Briskr, Oost NL, Radboudumc, and Radboud University. With over 241 attendees, the turnout once again surpassed the previous year.

Mayor Bruls and Invest-NL

The day was opened by Mayor Bruls of Nijmegen, who attended the event in honor of its lustrum. The mayor emphasized the importance of forging new connections to successfully bring innovations to market and urged all attendees to actively pursue this goal. He also highlighted Nijmegen’s strengths as a breeding ground for innovation—a city with a rich history and a young, highly educated, and creative population.

The keynote speaker was Rinke Zonneveld, CEO of Invest-NL. In a conversation with Wieteke Numan from Oost NL, he discussed current developments in Dutch health companies. Zonneveld pointed out a growing challenge for early-stage companies: securing enough funding to make the leap from start-up to scale-up. He called on the attending investors to join Invest-NL in putting more energy—and courage—into taking risks.

As in previous years, the day’s program focused on fostering new connections. In addition to informative sessions, there was ample opportunity for one-on-one meetings, which could be scheduled in advance or during the event via a matching tool. Others met spontaneously during breaks, networking drinks, and the dinner afterward.

Radboudumc team wins Venture Challenge Drug Repurposing

This year, Investment Day hosted the final round of the Venture Challenge, a national initiative that helps early-stage entrepreneurs refine their ideas. This edition focused on drug repurposing: applying existing medications to new uses.

The Radboudumc team SAVE emerged as the winner. SAVE aims to repurpose the drug Sirolimus for rare congenital vascular anomalies, where it has shown high effectiveness. The team consists of Maroeska te Loo, Veroniek Harbers, Edith Klappe, and Carine van der Vleuten. They received a €20,000 incentive prize to further develop their initiative.

Angela Soares wins Martijn Kriens Best Poster Award

PhD candidate Angela Soares won the event’s poster competition (see photo). Her research explores the use of integrated sensing cell-signatures (ISS) to detect infected joint prostheses. This method has the potential to identify infections much faster and more patient-friendly than current diagnostic techniques.

Angela received the Martijn Kriens Best Poster Award: a €2,500 encouragement prize for her idea. Entries were judged not only on scientific merit but also on their potential to evolve into successful products.