News February 20, 2024 In the coming months, the first two projects will commence within the Human Capital Growth program line of PharmaNL. These projects are the ‘Early Drug Discovery Education Track’ and ‘Groningen Human Capital for Life Sciences’. These two new projects focus specifically on developing flexible post-HBO and post-academic ‘lifelong learning’ education that aligns with developments in the pharmaceutical sector.
Ton Vries, board member at PharmaNL: “The PharmaNL board is delighted with the first subsidy awards in the Human Capital Growth program line. With these subsidies, the approved applications can take concrete steps to develop new and improved educational formats in the life sciences & health sector. This is also much needed by the sector: without qualified employees, the undeniable growth of the sector cannot be realized. On behalf of the board, we congratulate the applications ‘Early Drug Discovery Education Track’ from the Nijmegen/Oss region and ‘Groningen Human Capital for Life Sciences’ and wish them success in these promising projects.”
Purpose of the subsidy call
The PharmaNL Human Capital subsidy round 2023-1 is the first round within the PharmaNL Human Capital Growth (HCG) program line. This program line aims to further strengthen the pharmaceutical value chain. Implementing a coherent program that enriches the current pharmaceutical education offerings and, where possible, provides them with international appeal and attractiveness is central to this goal. The aim of the round was therefore to create additional training or education opportunities that complement the existing education programs.
The projects will, among other things, contribute to the development of a suitable offering of lifelong learning, encouraging professionals in the pharmaceutical sector to further develop themselves and remain active in the sector.
Ready to launch
Representatives of both honored projects are very pleased with the awards. “We are eager to start the project Groningen Human Capital for Life Sciences and develop the modules that professionals and companies will directly benefit from to maintain and expand their competitive position,” says Sven Stielstra (Business Developer at the LIFE Cooperative).
Project Program Manager courses HAN, Adinda Diekstra: “We are looking forward to setting up a nice set of post-HBO and post-graduate courses within the Early Drug Discovery Education Track’, with input from the regional field!”
In the coming months, the projects will be initiated and subsequently made visible on the ZonMw website. Keep an eye on the website for this.
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About the project Groningen Human Capital for Life Sciences
The project Groningen Human Capital for Life Sciences – a subsidy application from LIFE Cooperative, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, and UMCG – improves the competitive position of the Netherlands in the field of pharmaceutical products and production technologies. This is achieved by facilitating the life science industry in the Northern Netherlands in further developing their core competencies within this Dutch Pharmaceutical value chain: Gene technology, Bioinformatics & Bioanalysis. For this purpose, ten educational modules are developed and tested, providing both students and professionals with the opportunity to continue developing in the directions that the business community needs now and in the future. This enables these companies to maintain and strengthen their position in the regional, national, and international value chain. These activities are developed and executed within the LIFE Academy where companies and knowledge institutions collaborate to effectively connect supply and demand regarding Human Capital on a regional and national scale.
About the project Early Drug Discovery Education Track
The aim is to develop an early drug discovery education track (EDD-track) consisting of eight post-HBO/WO courses (lifelong learning) that fit within the EDD process and meet the wishes and needs of the business community. Through this EDD-track, we intend to train sufficient and appropriately qualified talent for the Dutch Life Sciences sector. The courses are mainly aimed at further education and training, can have a full theoretical or practical content (or a combination thereof), are largely set up in English (for international appeal), and are developed within a consortium consisting of: two educational institutions (HAN and RU), a company trainer (Elevate), and a science park (Pivot Park). The approach is to develop sustainable courses that will train about 10-20 people per course per year, which will result in a total of 300-500 skilled individuals over the duration of PharmaNL (eight years).