Why migraine and financial stress are economic issues for BOM

At the ELIS Innovation Summit in Eindhoven, BOM CEO Brigit van Dijk - van de Reijt linked the growth of Brabant businesses to a second challenge: helping more people stay healthy and keep working. She urged companies to step up as first customers for new technology.

What do an ultra-thin migraine implant and digital tools for tackling money worries have in common? For Brigit van Dijk - van de Reijt, both raise the same question: why do people have to take time off work, and what can entrepreneurs develop to help prevent it? Speaking on Wednesday at the ELIS Innovation Summit in Eindhoven, the CEO of the Brabant Development Agency (BOM) put medical technology and debt counselling side by side. Both, she said, can improve quality of life and help people stay in work.

Van Dijk began with a glimpse of life at BOM. Her colleagues play padel and football, go running or take to the water to sail. “Fit for life, fit for the job,” she said. She then shifted the discussion from the sports field to the economy. The population is ageing, chronic conditions are becoming more common, and sick leave weighs on labour productivity, she said. That sets a twofold challenge for new treatments and preventive measures. They need to work, and they need to be affordable and accessible enough to reach large numbers of people.

Philips’ legacy in Brabant

Eindhoven was a fitting place to make that case. Philips started out making light bulbs in the city and set up its Physics Laboratory there, bringing research and engineering together. It attracted engineers and built expertise in fields including systems integration and medical technology. That knowledge spread through employees and spin-offs. Van Dijk asked how many people in the room had worked for Philips or one of its spin-offs. Quite a few, she observed.

BOM is working to build on that legacy for a new generation of companies. Van Dijk described three ways the agency does this. It brings businesses and research partners together, invests venture capital and helps Brabant companies expand abroad. It also attracts foreign companies that bring expertise or skills to the region. Its focus on medical technology aligns with the national MedTech 2035 policy agenda, which sets out the Netherlands’ ambition to have Europe’s strongest medtech sector by 2035.

Three examples from Brabant

Eindhoven-based Salvia BioElectronics is one of BOM’s portfolio companies. It is developing a therapy for people with hard-to-treat migraine. Two thin implants beneath the scalp deliver electrical pulses to nerves involved in migraine, aiming to make attacks less frequent and less severe. Salvia launched a clinical trial in the United States in October. For Van Dijk, the example shows how the potential benefits extend beyond the clinic. People who experience fewer severe attacks may also miss fewer days of work.

Touchwaves works on wearable electronics. The Eindhoven-based TNO spin-off develops textiles with sensors that track body signals and provide feedback through vibrations. The company started with healthcare applications and is now developing uses in sport as well. Van Dijk cited it as an example of technology that can find users in several sectors.

With Plinkr, she looked beyond medical technology. The Eindhoven social enterprise develops digital tools for debt counsellors to help people regain control of their finances. Its inclusion shows how broadly Van Dijk sees the issue. Financial stress starts outside the clinic and can follow people into the workplace.

Who is willing to be the first customer?

Those three examples led Van Dijk to ask how a young company finds its first market. Brabant trains people with technical skills, she said. “We need more entrepreneurs, people with courage who would like to start a business.” Scaling up also requires venture capital and access to affordable labs and testing facilities. Medical technology faces a further hurdle. European and US regulations differ, which she said can delay market entry. Whether health insurers will cover a new treatment also shapes the business model.

On one hurdle, she addressed the audience directly. Government is often mentioned as a potential launching customer, the first buyer to purchase a new technology. Van Dijk wants large companies and SMEs to take on that role too, making the purchase of new technology part of their innovation strategies. She described it as a responsibility for businesses themselves.

Van Dijk also sees opportunities abroad for companies looking to grow. She pointed to recent medtech trade missions to Texas, Minnesota and Singapore, which are also open to companies from outside Brabant. In Singapore, she sees opportunities to develop technology together and find investors.

For a startup, that first order can be the step from a promising demonstration to everyday use. That is where the two goals of Van Dijk’s talk come together. A product can make a difference in people’s daily lives and at work once it reaches those it was designed for.