Case Study: A Man-Made Blue Zone in the Netherlands

This case analysis shows how inter-organizational collaborations can lead to improvements in policymaking and real-world outcomes. It looks at how the Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands (HANNN) was created as a 'triple-helix' network organization with partners in research institutes, government bodies, and businesses. 

How can more collaborations like this lead to sustainable innovation for societies?

A Man-Made Blue Zone in the Netherlands

The key factors in this case study are vision, innovative concept, mission and strategy, planning, operational output, and leadership.

Since 2006 the mission and vision of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) have been dedicated to the topic of Healthy Aging. This includes a focus on the specific demographics of the Northern Netherlands and more broadly on the projections of a globally aging population with enormous consequences for many societies. Because these consequences go beyond healthcare and medicine alone, the University of Groningen – a university with a strong research record – has adopted Healthy Aging as one of its three societal themes. The Healthy Aging Network Northern Netherlands (HANNN) has been formed as a 'triple-helix' network organization, with partners in research institutes, government bodies, and business. Together we are building the 75-acre Healthy Aging Campus as the locus of our core activities. 

International networks have been developed to carry out research and educational activities within the framework of the Alliance of Healthy Ageing. This chapter focuses on our values, objectives, and challenges, and our ambitions to achieve a maximal societal impact by building the Future of Health, with the realization of a manmade Blue Zone in the three Northern provinces of the Netherlands as the ultimate goal.

Source: Folkert Kuipers, https://archive.org/details/Breakthrough2180910/page/n131/mode/2up
Public Domain Mark This work is in the Public Domain.