MaRS forms new international partnerships to advance entrepreneurship and health innovation
TORONTO, May 29, 2015 – MaRS Discovery District in Toronto is pleased to announce memoranda of understanding with StartupDelta, supported by Utrecht University and the University of Twente, and the REshape Center of Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) in the Netherlands. The agreements were established as part of an official visit to MaRS by their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
These international collaborations are aimed at strengthening talent development, business networks and joint programs across both jurisdictions. The partnership will also connect the innovation hubs to serve shared objectives, including bringing innovative solutions to market, mobilizing and increasing access to investment capital, and driving job creation.
The agreement signed between StartupDelta and MaRS will help identify technologies created by ventures in each innovation hub that have potential for development in their respective jurisdictions, as well as more broadly in both Europe and North America. It will also identify new business acceleration opportunities for entrepreneurs in both jurisdictions.
“We’re delighted to announce these collaborations following the visit to MaRS of their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima,” said Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS Discovery District. “Partnering with StartupDelta and Radboudumc’s REshape Center will enable us to share expertise and provide opportunities for innovative technology companies in Canada and the Netherlands to collaborate and grow globally.”
“Connecting MaRS and StartupDelta is a major opportunity for startups to accelerate from both sides of the ocean and combine the best our hubs can offer,” said Sigrid Johannisse, Director StartupDelta.
The agreement signed between the REshape Center and MaRS Health will strengthen work across several joint programs to advance innovation in health and healthcare globally.
“Healthcare is becoming more globalized and digital, enabling us to empower people to take more and better control of their lives,” said Lucien Engelen, Director of the REshape Center at Radboud University Medical Center. “This is not just a technological endeavour, it is behavioural change supported by tech. To achieve this requires creating a global collaborative ecosystem with partners like MaRS. I am looking forward to the benefits this collaboration will bring to both citizens and patients. I am proud to sign this MoU together with the Rector Magnificus of Radboud University.”
Highlights of the partnership with the REshape Center at Radboud University Medical Center include:
- Health Startups: Providing promising health startups supported by each organization with access to each others’ markets for testing, validating and piloting their new technologies.
- Health Data: Providing citizens access to their health data via REshape’s “HereisMyData™” and MaRS Data Catalyst’s “MyHealth” data initiatives.
- Entrepreneurship Training: Sharing toolkits and training materials for teaching entrepreneurship to clinicians, life scientists and other budding entrepreneurs and “intra-preneurs” in the Canadian and Netherlands health ecosystems.
- Health Technology Adoption: Research and knowledge exchange as MaRS expands its EXCITE pre-market technology evaluation program internationally; the Radboudumc’s MedValue program in the Netherlands explore partnership models.
- Events collaboration: Jointly hosting and participating in global innovation events, such as HackingHealth, Singularity University Exponential Med and the Innovation Learning Network’s semi-annual in-person event, hosted by MaRS and Saint Elizabeth in the fall of 2015.
Further announcements regarding these partnerships are expected at industry events in Toronto and the Netherlands in late 2015.
About MaRS Discovery District
MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) in Toronto is one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs. MaRS cultivates high-impact ventures and equips innovators to drive economic and societal prosperity. MaRS provides expert advice and market research, and makes connections to talent, customers and capital. MaRS startup clients have created 6,500 jobs and, in the last three years alone, they have raised $1 billion in capital and generated $500 million in revenue.
About StartupDelta
StartupDelta is Europe’s largest startup ecosystem. Here, startups grow fast. Imagine an entire country working together to achieve a single goal — to create the space where entrepreneurs stand up, start up and scale up. We are linking up the 10+ tech clusters in the Netherlands, changing the system for startups by making sure talent, venture capital and global corporate networks are connected and find their way to The Netherlands.
About the Radboudumc REshape Center
The REshape Center is based at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Our aim is to grow a movement of people who believe that the next decade belongs to self-empowered patients, an era in which we embrace the patient and their family, and introduce the concept of informal care to the healthcare team. ‘Patient as Partner’ is our core value. We nurture the movement by setting up conferences to exchange thoughts and visions, and listen to each other, and by changing the way we deliver care, research and education. Using technology as a vehicle to improve healthcare, we are seeking, inventing and sharing innovations both nationally and internationally.
For more information, contact:
Lara Torvi
MaRS Discovery District
416.673.8100
ltorvi@marsdd.com
StartupDelta
Rick Janse Kok
+31610831295
rick@startupdelta.org
Radboud University Medical Center
Twitter Lucien Engelen: @lucienengelen
Press officer: +316 51 29 14 46