BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

The UMCG's organization-wide, dedicated and sustained focus on healthy aging represents a gradual and long-term innovation and breakthrough process to address the grand societal challenges associated with aging populations. The merger that formed the UMCG in 2005 and the vision articulated by the University of Groningen in its research priorities have resulted in a new concept for the UMCG. This applies to the organization as a whole, in its infrastructure, core research activities, and partnership networks, as well as in branding, corporate identity, and the UMCG's international position.

It also applies internally by creating awareness for staff active in all the key areas of care, education and research. This concept turned out to be very fruitful within UMCG, as well as for the University of Groningen as a whole, in terms of research funding and scientific output.

One clear result is the significant rise of the University of Groningen in the ARWU global rankings to 59 in 017. In the years 2005-2012 Groningen was in the 100-150 range, but the 2010 strategy started paying off when in 2013 Groningen jumped to 92, in 2014 to 82, in 2015 to 75, and in 2016 to 72 and in 2017 to 59th in the world.

The process has also been fruitful for the region of the Northern Netherlands, which, through the activities of HANNN and the Healthy aging Campus Netherlands, has seen a wave of innovations and economic development. There is continuity of leadership, and clarity of vision is key: the UMCG Mission and Vision document 2015-2020, entitled Building the Future of Health 2020, reiterates the continuous focus on Healthy aging. And for good reasons: proven success is the most effective stimulus to continue implementing these policies.

Ten years after the establishment of the UMCG in 2016 an evaluation of outcome parameters reveals that for UMCG and for the region of the Northern Netherlands their decisions and their dedication have been fruitful.

For instance, external research funding, particularly from the EU, has more than doubled; there is a 90 per cent increase in the number of published theses; and recruitment of staff and students has improved. These are tangible results of a focused research policy.

Dedicated educational programmes have been developed, apart from the innovations in regular curricula, such as dedicated summer schools (aging Brain; Healthy aging: from Cell to Society) with international partners (Newcastle, Coimbra, Copenhagen) and EU-funded PhD Student International Training Networks focusing on aging and age-related diseases.

Equally important, in July 2016 the European Commission presented a ranking of European Reference Regions in the field of Active and Healthy aging. It appears that the Northern Netherlands region leads the pack in Europe when it comes to Healthy aging. No fewer than 78 regions from 22 member states were evaluated. The Northern Netherlands, under the leadership of HANNN, achieved the highest possible score of four stars, an honor bestowed upon only a very select group of reference sites.

This recognition of excellence in Healthy aging in the Northern Netherlands creates exposure and collaboration opportunities for its knowledge institutes and companies, making it easier to export innovations in the area of healthy and active aging. The Northern Netherlands is the only Dutch region to receive this coveted four-star status.

This will, in the years to come, be translated into additional activities in the Northern knowledge institutes but also in EU-supported economic initiatives, e.g., those embedded in the Knowledge and Innovation Consortium (KIC) Health, a multibillion euro programme under the umbrella of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.