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 Blueprint For The Future

It is evident that during the last decade a lot of work has been done to promote Healthy aging activities in the Northern Netherlands, leading to enhanced scientific, educational, and economic activities.

Yet this does not fulfill our ambitions: the North also aims to become the first man-made Blue Zone in the world.


The term Blue Zone comes from National Geographic. In 2004 research was carried out into areas where people live extremely long lives. These areas include Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), and a few others which have been named Blue Zones. The Northern Netherlands is currently far from being a Blue Zone. People living in the north die – on average – a few years younger than people in the urban centers of the western and central Netherlands ("Randstad"). In the north, there is a relatively large number of people who smoke and drink too much. In addition, the population in the Northern Netherlands is relatively old. aging became a priority for the north and this contributed to the need to establish HANNN several years ago.

Figure 1: schematic representation of the life-course approach that is characteristic for the healthy aging programmes of the umcg/university of groningen. A relatively small enhancement of the overall healthspan will already have tremendously large societal benefits. 


The food industries, partners in HANNN, intend to make healthier products, and local employers have launched sports and exercise programmes. However, it is a serious problem that 'especially fit and slim people want to participate'. It is a real art to develop programmes in which everyone participates: therefore we have high expectations for the programme on Health Literacy. According to HANNN there is a lack of knowledge about health in general. It is the ambition of HANNN to address the following challenges:

  1. Life expectancy in the Northern Netherlands is below the national average due to an unhealthy lifestyle (increase in diseases like obesity, cancer, COPD, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes).
  2. The population of the Northern Netherlands is aging rapidly, while population growth is at a virtual standstill.
  3. Age-related (chronic) illnesses are rising.
  4. Because of demographic change, there will be a shortage of healthcare professionals.
  5. But these challenges offer excellent societal and economic opportunities in the field of Healthy aging.

How to realize HANNN's ambition to actually make these opportunities happen? There are several aspects that need to be fulfilled to be able to adapt to a Blue Zone, including: innovative housing (houses of the future for multiple generations), ICT-driven excellent care, innovative concepts of care in the region, E-health, M-health, Telecare 5G and Big Data; improving a healthy lifestyle (health literacy, healthy diets with regional food industry, lifestyle adaptations through quantified self-technology); and the creation of healthy societal networks (involving initiatives such as "Grip & Glans", an interactive programme aimed at encouraging self-management in groups of elderly people, and their evaluation via LifeLines, the world's largest and deepest population study).

More work needs to be done. We believe that national and international cooperation, within the new initiative of the Noaber Foundation, the Healthy Life Alliance, provides a platform to initiate and execute these existing novel and future developments.