Deep tech
—18 september 2026
Strategic opportunities for biotech
From new medicines, sustainable food production, circular materials and the biobased industry, biotechnology offers solutions to major societal challenges while also strengthening the Netherlands’ future earning capacity. The Netherlands is in a strong position, but global competition is increasing.
Why biotechnology is relevant now
The Netherlands has a strong starting position, but global competition is increasing. We have high-quality expertise, strong universities, innovative startups, medical expertise, a powerful agri-food sector and experience in high-tech and process development.
Yet this position does not automatically lead to new business activity, production capacity and economic value for the Netherlands. The challenge lies in scaling up. It is precisely in the phase between research and large-scale application that structural bottlenecks arise.
This limits not only the growth of companies, but also the Netherlands’ future earning capacity and strategic autonomy.
About the Invest-NL biotech deep dives
Invest-NL maps the structural financing challenges facing the sector, helping to support better investment decisions, stronger value chains and a competitive biotech sector in the Netherlands.
The biotech series consists of four deep dives into the most important biotech opportunities for the Netherlands. Through in-depth analyses, we identify where the greatest investment opportunities lie, which structural barriers companies face when scaling up and what conditions are needed to successfully bring new technologies to market.
Together with entrepreneurs, investors and governments, we aim to contribute to the future of the Dutch biotechnology sector.
#1 Enabling biotech
The Netherlands has strong biotech expertise and an internationally leading high-tech sector. Yet the two are still not connected enough. This deep dive examines the technological foundation underpinning biotech: the knowledge, equipment, infrastructure and collaboration needed to bring discoveries to industrial scale more quickly.
Read why technology for measuring, analysing, automating and scaling up is becoming increasingly important. And how this connects with areas in which the Netherlands is already strong, such as precision technology, photonics and systems integration. You will also gain insight into the investment opportunities and scaling bottlenecks, as well as the organisational challenge: how do you bring disparate areas of expertise together into one stronger ecosystem?
#2 Agrifood biotech
The deep dive into agrifood will be published at the end of October.