National MedTech ambition takes concrete shape in Twente
The Dutch government today presented its ambition to make the Netherlands home to Europe’s strongest MedTech sector by 2035 in a letter to the House of Representatives. Twente is specifically mentioned, with the Hospital of the Future forming a concrete part of the national effort to bring medical technology into healthcare practice more quickly and scale up its use. For Twente, this represents important recognition of the collaboration that has already been established in the region around medical technology. Central to this is the ambition to achieve a tenfold increase in healthcare productivity by 2050 through the use of medical technology. This will help meet the growing demand for care despite the expected shortage of healthcare professionals, while maintaining high-quality and accessible healthcare.
Date of Publication: 26 October 2026
Read time +/- 4.9 minutes
Within the Hospital of the Future programme, healthcare, science, technology, education and business work together to bring medical technology into practice more quickly. New solutions are directly linked to healthcare practice, making it clear what works, what is scalable and where further development is needed. This approach aligns with the national ambition to ensure that innovations find their way into Dutch healthcare more quickly. “With our expertise in medical technology, we are bringing innovations to healthcare practice faster together with regional partners,” says Remke Burie, Managing Director of the TechMed Centre of the University of Twente. “The combination of research, education, healthcare and business makes it possible to develop and apply solutions.”
From Twente to nationwide application
The challenge facing healthcare is considerable. Demand for care is increasing, while healthcare professionals are becoming increasingly scarce. Medical technology must therefore not only contribute to better care, but also help to substantially increase healthcare productivity. The Hospital of the Future programme aims to achieve strong productivity growth, enabling many more patients to continue receiving high-quality care despite the declining availability of healthcare professionals. Close collaboration with healthcare institutions in Twente, including MST, is essential. Together with healthcare professionals, innovations can be developed, tested and validated in practice. This provides insight into what genuinely works and what is suitable for wider application.
Solutions that prove effective in Twente should subsequently become available more quickly to patients and healthcare professionals in other regions. In this way, Twente contributes to the nationwide upscaling of medical technology and to future-proof healthcare. The Hospital of the Future builds on Twente’s strong MedTech ecosystem, in which healthcare institutions, knowledge institutions, educational institutions, businesses and public authorities work together. In the short term, the programme focuses on the application and upscaling of existing technologies. Over the longer term, the focus will also shift towards the development of new medical technologies and the way in which they are integrated into healthcare practice.
Healthcare innovation also strengthens economic growth
These developments also offer economic opportunities for Twente. The region provides an environment in which companies can bring new applications closer to healthcare practice and grow from there. The Hospital of the Future therefore contributes both to future-proof healthcare and to the economic development of the region. For Twente Board, this combination presents an important opportunity: addressing societal challenges while simultaneously strengthening the region’s economy. By connecting knowledge, healthcare and technology-driven entrepreneurship, Twente contributes to the national MedTech ambition and strengthens its position in medical technology. Together with partners such as FME, the region’s innovative strength is linked to the nationwide application and upscaling of medical technology. This will allow solutions developed and proven in practice in Twente to find their way to the rest of the Netherlands more quickly.
About the Hospital of the Future
The Hospital of the Future programme is an initiative of Twente Board, Medisch Spectrum Twente (MST), the University of Twente’s TechMed Centre and FME. Together with regional partners including ROC van Twente, Saxion, ZGT, Demcon and Teledyne, they are working on the application and upscaling of medical technology.
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Wendy van Til
Pressrelease Twente Board
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