ROMs help entrepreneurs with innovation, investments and internationalization so they can accelerate the growth of their companies. The ROMs invest in innovative fast growing companies from their own funds and funds under their management. They do this by providing subordinated loans and/or share capital. 

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) provides with the MIT instrument ‘Knowledge voucher’ a voucher for SMEs who want a knowledge-based institution to answer knowledge questions about their product, production process or service.

With this voucher, a part of the bill of the research organisation (usually a University or Academic Hospital) can be paid. The national yearly budget is €2 million and there are two types of vouchers: 

• Small vouchers of €7.500 
• Large vouchers of €22.500 

RVO provides the Innovation Credit to companies that have innovative ideas and see opportunities for new products in the market. Promising projects with high risks that banks and other investors will not invest in. Innovation Credit will help companies become more innovative and help the Dutch economy become more sustainable. 

The maximum credit per company depends on the size of the company. For clinical development projects, there is a maximum of €5 million and for technical projects, this is €10 million. 

Startups and SMEs can use a loan from the Proof-of-concept funding scheme to examine whether their idea is potentially feasible in the market. The loan plus interest have to be repaid. The interest rate is 4,51% (as of 1 January 2022). In 2022 a budget of €6 million has been set aside for the POC funding. 

Horizon Europe is a programme of the European Commission for research and innovation. It will run until 2027 and the total budget is 95.5 billion euros. The programmme consists of 3 pillars, of which pillar 2 and 3 are most applicable for innovative LSH-SMEs.

Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness

Pillar two is mission driven innovation. Applicants for this pillar are international consortia of public and private parties. These could include researchers from universities and companies, manufacturers, end-users, and so on. All parties involved bring together practical and technological knowledge through multidisciplinary collaboration.

Pillar 3: Innovative Europe

The European Innovation Council (EIC) mainly focuses on promoting disruptive innovation and supporting SMEs with the ambition to scale up internationally. They offer three financial support instruments through several open as well as challenge-driven calls: 

• EIC Pathfinder: for radical new ideas. To develop scientific bases to support breakthrough technologies.
• EIC Transition: to validate potential breakthrough innovations and develop business plans for specific applications. 
• EIC Accelerator: to support companies in bringing their groundbreaking innovations to the market and scaling up. 

An R&D cooperation project consists of a partnership of at least two SMEs which participate at joint costs and risk. The maximum amount of subsidy that can be applied for is 35% of the eligible costs in the project. Eligible costs are project costs which are directly related to R&D activities. 

For: start- and scaleups in the health sector with international ambitions.

The Task Force Health Care network consists of partners from industry, knowledge institutes, NGO’s, healthcare providers and the government. These partners provide innovative and sustainable solutions to global (and local) healthcare challenges and are active all over the world. In the last decade TFHC visited and maintained relationships with more than 30 countries and created a sustainable & special focus on: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. 

To realize the ambitions of their partner, TFHC offers support, services and activities in all four steps of their international journey. 

• Select: Expand your knowledge of international health sectors and set your focus. 
• Prepare: Improve your international business skills to increase your success rate. 
• Connect: Expand your network of relevant Dutch and international stakeholders to create opportunities. 
• Develop:  Receive support to enhance your capability and capitalise on opportunities.