Within Health Tech Nexus, the strategic partnership between Radboudumc and the University of Twente, both organizations aim to structurally strengthen the development, validation and implementation of medical technology innovations. Radboudumc is now developing a dedicated MedTech agenda to further shape this ambition.
Medical technology, or MedTech, is playing an increasingly important role in healthcare. From medical imaging, sensors and robotics to AI, digital health and organ-on-chip technology, technological developments can help address challenges in research and care.
Radboudumc and the University of Twente already work closely together in this field through Health Tech Nexus. The partnership connects the clinical and biomedical expertise of Radboudumc with the technological expertise and infrastructure of the University of Twente. Joint initiatives such as the TURBO programme, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, show the potential of bringing these worlds together.
Developing a Radboudumc MedTech agenda
To further strengthen this collaboration, Radboudumc will develop a MedTech agenda. The aim is to create a clearer overview of existing expertise and activities, identify opportunities for further development and collaboration, and make it easier to connect clinical and research questions with technological expertise.
Maroeska Rovers will lead this assignment. She has been appointed for one day a week at the Radboudumc Research Institute for Medical Innovation (RIMI) in the role of MedTech Advisor.
Her task is to help shape the MedTech agenda and further activate the collaboration with the University of Twente. This includes connecting people and expertise, identifying opportunities for joint initiatives and funding, and helping promising ideas move from research towards validation and implementation.
Growing momentum for MedTech innovation
The new MedTech agenda comes at a time of growing national momentum for medical technology in the Netherlands.
In October, the Dutch government presented its MedTech 2035 policy agenda, with the ambition of creating the strongest MedTech ecosystem in Europe by 2035. The government is making €102.5 million available between 2027 and 2036 to strengthen the development, implementation and scaling of medical technology. The agenda focuses on areas including national collaboration between ecosystems, data and AI infrastructure, implementation in healthcare, market access, financing, and talent and entrepreneurship.
The programme also includes targeted investments in next-generation image-guided therapies using AI and robotics and in technology for tomorrow’s healthcare, including an initial investment in the regional Hospital of the Future initiative in Twente.
This follows another recent development: the launch of the national TTT MedTech programme and Magnolia MedTech Fund, designed to help promising medical technologies bridge the difficult early phase between scientific discovery and application.
Radboudumc is part of this national consortium, which brings together universities, university medical centers, investors, healthcare organizations and industry.
As Jan Smit, Dean and Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of Radboudumc, said at the launch: “TTT and the Magnolia MedTech Fund bring researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and healthcare organizations together.”
Together with Health Tech Nexus and TURBO, these national developments underline a broader movement towards stronger connections between research, technology, healthcare and investment, creating more opportunities for promising MedTech innovations to move towards validation, implementation and ultimately value for patients.
Building stronger connections
There are researchers and clinicians at Radboudumc with questions that could benefit from technological expertise, while researchers at the University of Twente may have technologies that could address relevant challenges in healthcare. Bringing these groups together at the right moment can provide the starting point for new collaborations, research projects and innovations.
Strengthening these connections requires more than individual projects. It also means developing a shared direction, building networks and creating the conditions in which new collaborations can emerge more easily.
The MedTech agenda will therefore help determine where Radboudumc can further strengthen its position in medical technology and how the collaboration within Health Tech Nexus can contribute to this.
New MedTech traineeship
In support of this ambition, RIMI is also recruiting a Junior Policy Advisor Research – MedTech.
The position is structured as a traineeship in which a research-driven professional develops into a policy advisor over a period of up to three years. The trainee will contribute to the MedTech agenda and work on questions at the intersection of healthcare, research, innovation and technology.
An important part of the role will be to help further activate the collaboration with the University of Twente: identifying opportunities, connecting researchers and clinicians with relevant expertise, supporting joint initiatives and helping strengthen the wider MedTech network.
At the same time, the traineeship offers room to develop skills in policy, strategy, project management and stakeholder collaboration through mentoring, coaching, training and learning on the job.
Interested in contributing to the next phase of MedTech collaboration at Radboudumc?
Read more about the Junior Policy Advisor Research – MedTech traineeship and apply by 01 December 2026.
