Why This Vision Should Matter to Anyone Building Biotech in the Netherlands
In April 2025, the Dutch government released its long-term vision for biotechnology. It is not a research agenda or a subsidy pitch. It is a coordinated strategy to guide how the Netherlands supports, applies, and regulates biotech from now through 2040.
If you are leading, building, investing in, or advising a biotech company in the Netherlands, this document is worth your attention. It touches on nearly every element that shapes the business environment. That includes regulation, scale-up funding, talent development, infrastructure, and the ethical and societal boundaries that will define what is acceptable—and what is not.
The vision sets clear goals. By 2040, biotech should help people live longer in good health. It should power a circular economy. It should secure the food system. It should reduce strategic dependencies in areas like medicine production and biological data. And it should drive economic growth through local innovation and international positioning.
The broader context matters too. The EU has launched its Biotech and Biomanufacturing Initiative. The US continues to outpace Europe in translating biotech research into commercial platforms. China is investing heavily in genomics, agtech, and biomanufacturing through state-led programs. The Netherlands cannot compete at that scale, but it does have the research base, infrastructure, and political will to lead in agility and coherence.
This article walks through the key elements of the Dutch vision. It reflects on the opportunities and gaps. And it places the strategy in the wider European and global picture that biotech leaders now operate in every day.
Key Takeaways from the Dutch Biotech Vision (2025–2040)
The Dutch biotech vision is broad in scope but structured around a few clear priorities. These are the elements that matter most for companies and institutions operating in or alongside the sector.
Health: Longer Lives, Smarter Systems
By 2040, biotech should support people living longer in good health. The vision focuses on prevention, early diagnostics, and cost-effective therapies. It encourages local development and production capacity to reduce reliance on other countries for critical medical supplies and technologies. There is also attention for faster adoption of biotech innovations in healthcare, provided they are safe, affordable, and socially acceptable.
Economy: From Science to Scale-Up
Biotech is expected to become a stronger driver of the Dutch economy. That includes more startups, more growth-stage funding, and a better system for turning research into real-world applications. The vision acknowledges that the Netherlands often excels in science but falls short in commercialization. Programs like Biotech Booster and existing Growth Fund investments—already totaling over €1.2 billion—are meant to close that gap.
Sustainability: Enabling a Circular Economy
Industrial biotech plays a key role in the Dutch climate ambitions. The government sees potential in biobased materials, enzymatic recycling, and the use of microbial or cellular systems to reduce environmental impact. However, it also recognizes that many of these solutions still face weak business cases. EU-level action is needed to help create markets for sustainable biotech.
Food and Agriculture: Technology in the Soil
The strategy supports the use of new genomic techniques, such as targeted gene editing, to make crops more resilient and reduce pesticide use. It also backs the development of alternative proteins and cellular agriculture as ways to improve animal welfare and reduce the environmental impact of food systems. The government commits to giving consumers freedom of choice, which includes clear labeling of genetically modified products.
Ethics and Society: Trust is a Prerequisite
Seven principles guide decision-making: broad welfare, safety, health (human, animal, and environmental), naturalness, freedom of choice, justice, and legitimacy. The government wants biotech to serve the public interest, not just market outcomes. Public dialogue and transparency are recurring themes. Without societal trust, the strategy says, there is no future for biotechnology.
Risk and Regulation: Flexibility Without Losing Control
The vision calls for smarter, faster, and more adaptive regulation. It highlights the need for legal clarity around genetically modified organisms, pharmaceuticals, and food technologies. There is support for regulatory experimentation—such as sandboxes and pilot zones—while maintaining high standards for safety. The government also flags dual-use risks and the need to protect sensitive knowledge, especially in light of geopolitical tensions.
Implementation: Not Just Ideas
This is not a standalone vision. An implementation agenda is in development, and the government has already made large-scale investments. These include initiatives focused on talent development, digital infrastructure, biomanufacturing, and translation of academic research into commercial impact. The strategy promises annual progress monitoring and ongoing stakeholder involvement.
The €1.27 Billion Biotech Investment Breakdown
The Dutch government is not just talking up biotech. It has already committed over €1.27 billion in public funding to biotech-driven innovation through the Nationaal Groeifonds (NGF). This money is spread across a set of large-scale programs aimed at strengthening everything from drug development and agriculture to manufacturing and ethical research.
Here’s where the funding is going:
Major Investments
- Biobased Circular (€338 million)
Focuses on creating circular, biobased value chains—an essential part of applying biotech to climate and resource challenges. - Oncode Accelerator (€325 million)
A national platform to accelerate oncology drug development, from preclinical validation through to patient access. - Biotech Booster (€246 million)
Targets commercialization. Helps academic biotech projects grow into viable startups by supporting early-stage business building. - Centrum voor Proefdiervrije Biomedische Translaties (€124.5 million)
Supports innovation in animal-free biomedical research and testing, including new in vitro models and simulation methods. - Pharma NL (€79 million)
Aims to strengthen the Dutch position in pharmaceutical production and innovation, particularly in essential medicines.
Emerging Platforms
- RegMed XB (€56.3 million)
Focuses on regenerative medicine, linking academic hubs and industrial partners in cell and gene therapy innovation. - Cellulaire Agriculture NL (€60 million)
Invests in cultivated meat and precision fermentation as part of the country’s food transition and sustainability goals. - CropXR (€42.3 million)
Develops resilient crops using advanced breeding technologies and systems biology.
What This Means
This is one of the largest biotech-specific public investment efforts in Dutch history. The funding covers early science, translational tools, and market-oriented infrastructure. It reflects the government’s belief that biotech can be an engine for economic growth and societal impact—provided the ecosystem can deliver.
For companies and research groups, these programs represent a chance to align with public priorities, access support, and contribute to shaping how the Netherlands defines responsible and effective biotech innovation.
Reflections: Strengths and Gaps in the Dutch Biotech Vision
The vision gets many things right. It’s broad in scope, politically aligned across ministries, and aware of the complex realities biotech faces today. But strategy on paper is one thing. Execution, positioning, and credibility—especially internationally—are another. Here’s where the document holds up, and where it still leaves open questions.
Strengths
1. It treats biotech as infrastructure, not just innovation
This is one of the biggest shifts. The government frames biotech as something that supports national resilience, not just commercial opportunity. It’s about health systems, food security, environmental targets, and economic autonomy. That framing gives the sector more political weight, which matters when investment priorities and regulatory reform are on the table.
2. It acknowledges biotech is political
The inclusion of national security, dual-use risks, and knowledge protection is important. This is not just a research or startup issue. It reflects the reality that biotech is now part of global strategy. The willingness to call that out publicly is overdue and welcome.
3. It recognizes Europe is slow—and tries to do something about it
The document openly states that Europe is too slow at translating research into impact. It supports faster regulatory processes, clear frameworks for GMOs and NGTs, and the use of experimentation zones to move quicker. That kind of language rarely makes it into formal policy visions.
4. It’s backed by real investment
More than €1.2 billion has already been committed through the National Growth Fund, including initiatives like Biotech Booster, Oncode-PACT, and Crop-XR. That’s not just support for startups but also for translation, talent pipelines, and digital infrastructure.
Gaps and Uncertainties
1. Valorisation is named, but still underdeveloped
The problem is well-known. Dutch academic biotech is strong, but the path to scale remains difficult. The vision supports existing initiatives, but it’s still unclear how this will actually shift the numbers on company creation, growth-stage funding, and global deal flow. Without new funding instruments or simplified tech transfer, this may remain stuck in pilot mode.
2. Regulatory ambition is good—but depends on Brussels
Calls for proportionate, future-proof EU regulation are important. But how much leverage the Netherlands has in pushing for change at that level remains to be seen. If other member states resist opening up sensitive files like GMO rules or drug licensing, national ambition won’t move the needle.
3. Public trust is mentioned often, but not yet operationalized
Ethical principles are strong. Dialogue is encouraged. But it’s unclear what that will look like in practice. Will societal conversations actually influence licensing and investment decisions? Or is this mainly about communication and PR? The distinction matters.
4. Biotech is global. The strategy is mostly national
The Netherlands wants to attract international investment and protect its knowledge base. But biotech companies operate across borders from day one. There’s little in the vision about how Dutch companies will compete internationally or access global markets. In a world shaped by the US FDA, Chinese manufacturing, and multinational capital, that piece is missing.
Global Context: Where the Netherlands Stands
Biotech is not a local game. Capital, supply chains, clinical trials, and regulatory influence all operate across borders. So while the Dutch vision is ambitious and well-structured, it needs to be read against what is happening internationally. In that light, it becomes clear what the Netherlands can lead on—and where it will need to follow.
The United States: Speed, Scale, and Commercial Dominance
The US remains the global benchmark for biotech commercialization. Federal funding through the CHIPS and Science Act and the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative is measured in tens of billions. The FDA, for all its flaws, offers faster and more transparent regulatory pathways than most European systems. Academic centers are plugged into venture capital networks that aggressively scale promising platforms.
For Dutch companies, the US remains both a model and a destination. This makes the Dutch focus on local scale-up support and faster adoption processes essential. Without it, the best Dutch science will continue to migrate across the Atlantic for commercialization.
China: Centralized Investment and Strategic Control
China has taken a different route. It is investing heavily in genomics, ag-biotech, and synthetic biology through top-down programs. It combines national data strategies, manufacturing scale, and geopolitical intent. Biotech is not treated as a sector, but as part of national infrastructure.
The Dutch vision rightly emphasizes the importance of protecting strategic knowledge and reducing dependency on foreign systems. But where China integrates biotech into broader industrial policy, the Netherlands still treats it as a specialism. That limits leverage in global value chains and in setting the terms of trade.
Europe: Aligned in Principle, Fragmented in Practice
At the European level, the Biotech and Biomanufacturing Initiative launched in 2024 is a step forward. It echoes many of the Dutch priorities: regulatory flexibility, better financing, talent retention, and supply chain resilience. But implementation will be slow. Member states remain divided on critical issues like GMO approval, clinical trial harmonization, and data sharing.
The Dutch strategy supports harmonization and wants to lead on EU biotech policy. That makes sense. But it will take diplomatic effort and coalition-building to make that influence count. If Dutch leadership is too cautious or too isolated, European progress will stall and biotech innovation will keep flowing elsewhere.
Where the Netherlands Can Compete
The Netherlands will not outspend the US. It will not centralize like China. And it cannot wait for Brussels to act. But it can lead by doing what others struggle with: combining academic strength with fast translation, clear rules, and predictable partnerships.
That means:
- Becoming a testbed for responsible biotech development
- Offering frictionless collaboration between science, startups, and regulators
- Creating an environment where early adopters, not just early-stage researchers, can thrive
If that happens, the Netherlands does not need to be the biggest biotech hub in the world. It just needs to be the place where serious biotech companies come to get real work done.
Vision Alone Isn’t Strategy
The Dutch biotech vision is comprehensive. It frames the sector not just as a collection of promising technologies, but as a national asset—tied to economic competitiveness, public health, climate goals, and strategic independence. That framing matters. It gives the sector more political capital and policy relevance than it has had in years.
But vision is not execution. Whether this becomes more than a well-written document depends on what follows. Can regulation really become more predictable and flexible? Will early-stage funding gaps finally close? Will academic excellence translate into global companies? Can the Netherlands scale innovation without losing public trust?
For those working in biotech, this is the moment to lean in. The space to shape how this vision gets implemented is open right now. The government is listening, but also choosing. If the sector wants to influence how this plays out—around regulation, funding, talent, infrastructure—it will have to speak up, align, and deliver.
This vision lays a foundation. What gets built on top of it is up to the ecosystem.
