Penny-wise!
The authors argue in their executive summary that the "position of the sector is promising however the road ahead challenging". And that “the quality of health care issue in the Netherlands and elsewhere is facing an immense sense of urgency in the near future that calls for urgent investments in Life Sciences & Health research”. In other words, arguments that still count in a right-wing political climate.
However then comes the surprise. The expert panel argues that innovation funding and pre-seed capital remains necessary in coming years, but at the same time does not ask for firm financial measures. NWO, KNAW, TNO budgets should remain unchanged and on a yearly basis so-called innovation and public-private investment capital of around 50-100 M€ should become available (which is less than was available in recent years).
Pound-foolish
This while there is such an immense gap between what is currently invested and what in fact is necessary in upcoming years. As Alexander Rinnooy Kan of the SER already pointed out in 2009, up to 4 million people in the Netherlands will need health care because of aging, with yearly budgets ranging from 25 billion€ at present to > 40 billion€ around 2040. And while in a European setting this problem is becoming priority nr 1 on the agenda, the topsector team Life Sciences & Health comes with old school solutions and penny-wise but pound-foolish advice.
My advice?
Keep investing in graduate training! Because educating the upcoming generations of scientists is the best investment one can ever make. If a 'tsunami' of health care problems related to for instance aging or an infectious disease overwhelms the West European setting, in the metaphor of thunderstorms, we will need educated and skilled professionals that can take action when necessary.
Keep investing in scientific excellence! Because our national team-leaders in the academic setting that are currently outperforming the international competition for instance in the fields of Neurosciences, Genomics and Clinical Neurology are excellent role-models and the most productive professionals around. Their production is immense since these are the experts that train the new generations of professionals, also those that end up in other parts of the sector such as industry and/or TTO related organizations.
Let’s start open innovation and long-term collaborative research programs between scientists and industrial partners. Let’s start thinking about TTO offices as industry alliance offices where the professionals assist the academic faculty by providing leads and connections to people in industry and to facilitate the industrial acquisition of intellectual property. The industry alliance officers of the future should contact "industry volunteers as endurable partners" who will work directly with the academic faculty to facilitate the transfer of research results to the marketplace so that the public can benefit from these discoveries. Let’s bring the industrials to the academic campus instead of the other way around, and lets start finding real solutions to real problems soon!
Arjen Brussaard
Professor of Neuro sciences
Head of Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research
Director Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center
Coordinating director European Neuroscience Campus Network
Cofounder Synaptologics
Managing director NeuroBasic PharmaPhenomics