Philips offers a boost to the Brainport MedTech ecosystem by placing their redundant employees at HealthTechXL

HealthTechXL is a new venture-building program for start-ups in the healthcare and MedTech sectors.

As part of the Social Plan, Philips is releasing employees affected by the reorganization to participate in the HealthTechXL program. Thus, the initiative fits into the technology company's work-to-work initiatives to retain technical talent for Brainport Eindhoven. At the same time, in cooperation with partners, innovation in the medical field is further stimulated in the region.

"By releasing employees affected by the reorganization from work and letting them participate in this program, we offer them the opportunity to take the next step in their career," said Sylvia van Es, President of Philips Netherlands. "For example, by becoming a co-founder of a start-up. It can also give an important boost to Brainport in general and the MedTech ecosystem in particular, because in this way we can retain technical talent for the region and because we also make existing intellectual property rights available."
 

New program

HealthTechXL is a new venture-building program for start-ups in the healthcare and MedTech sector. The partners involved are Philips, HighTechXL, the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), DeepTechXL and Invest-NL. With the new program, they want to give an extra impulse to the creation, construction and development of start-ups in advanced medical technology in the Brainport Eindhoven region.

HealthTechXL officially launched in early September with 50 participants. In the first half of 2024, the teams will present their proposal to investors, potential partners and the broader Brainport startup community.

"Global societal challenges, such as affordable and accessible healthcare, can only be solved by combining breakthrough technologies with entrepreneurship," said John Bell, CEO of HighTechXL. "Venture building is a structured approach that allows entrepreneurs to turn technology into impact. Venture builders have a much higher success rate than independent ventures. Over the past decade, HighTechXL has emerged as a leading deep-tech venture builder. We look forward to the start-ups this new program will produce."Yvonne Greeuw, Investment Associate bij het Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund: “Er zit een enorm potentieel in de innovaties die nu nog onbenut blijven, evenals in het technisch talent dat beschikbaar komt om ze verder te ontwikkelen. Deze projecten kunnen een belangrijke rol spelen bij het realiseren van betere, betaalbare en toegankelijke gezondheidszorg. Ze vereisen echter geduld en zijn vaak risicovoller dan wat reguliere investeerders doorgaans zoeken. We zijn daarom blij dat we binnen dit programma met het Deep Tech Fund financieel perspectief kunnen bieden.”

Improving healthcare

During HealthTechXL, participants develop ideas to further improve healthcare or medical technology. Successful participation in HealthTechXL can lead to a possible investment by BOM and follow-up investment from DeepTechXL and Invest-NL's Deep Tech Fund. Up to 15 startups are expected to be funded over the next three years, ultimately leading to more companies contributing to better, financially accessible healthcare.

"Brabant, and in particular the Brainport Eindhoven region, breathes medical technology, but a specific venture-building program to help more entrepreneurs grow successfully faster was still lacking," said Brigit van Dijk-van de Reijt, general director of the BOM.
 

"The enormous interest from start-up entrepreneurs demonstrates the need for this program."

Yvonne Greeuw, Investment Associate at the Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund says: "There is enormous potential in the innovations that are currently untapped, as well as in the technical talent that becomes available to develop them further. These projects can play an important role in achieving better, affordable and accessible healthcare. However, they require patience and are often riskier than what mainstream investors typically seek. We are therefore pleased to be able to offer financial perspective within this program with the Deep Tech Fund."

Guidance from DeepTechXL

Guus Frericks, Managing Partner of DeepTechXL, expects the program to generate many new healthtech companies. "We will support the program with our knowledge of medical technology. We expect promising new medical companies to start up thanks to this initiative, to which we can contribute through early-stage funding and guidance."