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Utrecht wants to become an international health metropolis
The Dutch city of Utrecht, led by mayor Sharon Dijksma, wants to establish itself as an international health metropolis. Through a collaboration between businesses, academic institutions, and government agencies, the city aims to become an international leader in providing a healthy living environment to its residents, it was announced on the city’s official webpage.
The members of the Economic Board Utrecht (EBU), who will be working towards reaching this ambitious goal, met for the first time yesterday.
EBU President and mayor of Utrecht Sharon Dijksma stated: “There are enormous opportunities for the Utrecht region, especially in the field of health. Right now, in the midst of a pandemic that has turned the whole world upside down for two years now, we see how important this topic is.’’
‘’We have everything it takes to become a frontrunner when it comes to research, treatments, and setting up a healthy living environment. It is, therefore, time to join forces and extract all the potential from the metropolitan region,” she continued.
In this regard, the Utrecht metropolitan region possesses a very favourable starting position. Located in one of Europe’s most economically competitive regions, the city is long known for its abundance of skill and talent, respectable academic institutions, and its focus on innovations.
According to the city of Utrecht’s website, the health sector employs about a fifth of all people in the metropolitan region of Utrecht. There are over two thousand businesses and a hundred start-ups working in this sector. Furthermore, fifty percent of all national medical research and development takes place here, while twenty percent of all Dutch health and biotechnology researchers are also working in this region.
The EBU’s aspirations have a strong foundation in the Utrecht Science Park, which is the Netherlands’ largest science park. Healthy urban living and health innovations are some of the main focus topics of this science park, and could undoubtedly help the Dutch city establish itself as a health metropolis. (photo credit: Avantino Pergetti from Pixabay)
