Our first study visit was held in Maastricht on 12-13 March 2019 to exchange ideas about smart specialization strategy and innovation policies implemented for medtech sector.
Our hosting partner was Province of Limburg. The meeting started with an interesting study visit to the Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus where we were taken on a tour through the amazing world of public-private triple helix partnerships which is typical of Limburg open innovation model. Other Campus residents such as Scannexus proudly showed off the state-of-the-art Tesla scanners, and Clinical Trials Center Maastricht employees answered questions about the importance of clinical trials in the Brightlands campus environment.
After the 3D tour, we physically visited the laboratories and clean rooms at the MERLN research institute and Medtronic. The work visit prompted many responses, including a topic that the afternoon workshop also addressed: how can you build an ecosystem in medtech sector? Who should act as a trigger in such an ecosystem, and what roles do the other partners play? How can you build trust and how do you work together as public-private parties in this ecosystem? We were impressed by what we saw. It was very inspiring how Limburg tackles in terms of its policies.
On the second day, we started our day at Limburg Government Building and visited to the Treaty of Maastricht. Finally, we finished our day with the Steering Committee meeting to discuss our implemented and ahead of us activities.
