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?
The University Medical Center Groningen
The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) was established in 2005 as a joint project by the University of Groningen and the Academic Hospital Groningen. At present, the UMCG is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands and by far the largest employer in the Northern Netherlands. More than 10,000 employees provide patient care, are involved in medical education, and perform cutting-edge scientific research. Research and education at the UMCG are funded through the University of Groningen, while the Faculty of Medical Sciences functions as an integral part of the university.
More than 3,400 students of the University of Groningen study Medicine, Dentistry, or Human Movement Sciences, while more than 340 physicians are doing their specialty training at the state-of-the-art facilities of the UMCG. In addition, in collaboration with the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, UMCG is strongly involved in bachelor education in Life Sciences and Technology, while the Graduate School of Medical Sciences runs a highly selective Top Master programme on Innovative Medicine with dedicated tracks, including, amongst others, Food and Health, Biology of Ageing, Oncology, and Neurosciences.
With its curricula, the UMCG is a leading academic education center the Netherlands. Groningen is not only renowned for its successful modernisation of academic education, as exemplified by the new medical curriculum based on four Learning Communities (G2020), but also for its innovative approach to nursing studies and in-service training, courses, and training programmes for (para)medics and nursing staff. The fact that we are front-runners in the development of education and training is further exemplified by the presence of the modern Wenckebach Skills center.
Groningen is not only renowned for its successful modernization of academic education, but also for its innovative approach to nursing studies and in-service training.
Patients attend the UMCG for basic care but also for specialist diagnoses, examinations or treatments. All patients from the Northern Netherlands with complicated or unusual disorders are eventually referred to the UMCG. Good-quality care is always based on the latest information and is provided by the best doctors and nurses. Together with the support staff, they work every day on achieving the vision of a single common goal: Building the Future of Health.
At the UMCG, the patient is always central. This is reflected not only in the provision of care and treatment itself, but also in the way in which care provision is organized. Patients receive efficient and excellent quality care, rapidly and efficiently. The UMCG is also able to arrange any necessary home care. Increasingly, UMCG combines the various forms of care in specialist centers such as the Comprehensive Cancer center or the Alzheimer center. In these centers, physicians work in close collaboration, in focused treatment and care programmes. As a result, patients are not required to visit different parts of the hospital but receive treatment at a single location.
Research at the UMCG is coordinated within the Graduate School of Medical Sciences and is characterized by a combination of fundamental and patient-oriented clinical research. The interaction between these two stimulates the development of new clinical and research opportunities. Problems that occur in clinical practice act as a catalyst which sets new fundamental research in motion, whereas fundamental research can come up with new clinical possibilities.