The three of them sit around the table, enthusiastic and in agreement. We are interviewing Floor van de Watering from Briskr, Rob Nelissen from Organon and Paul Bedford from AstraZeneca, all three of whom are members of the Pharma Delta steering group (alongside two members from MSD-AH in Boxmeer and CRL in Den Bosch).
This initiative ensures that pharmaceutical companies from Gelderland and North Brabant benefit from each other’s expertise and presence, and jointly raise the region to a higher level.
How do you retain talent, stimulate innovation and make the region attractive to both large and small pharmaceutical companies? These are the questions that Pharma Delta – a consortium of around forty organisations from Gelderland and Brabant active in the pharmaceutical sector – has been focusing on for the past year and a half. The aim: to accelerate and strengthen the pharmaceutical sector through collaboration rather than competition.
“The discovery, development and production of medicines has been a key priority for the municipality of Nijmegen for many years,” explains Floor van de Watering of Briskr. “Pedro Hermkens, a former lecturer at HAN University of Applied Sciences, played a key role in bringing together research institutes, public authorities and companies. This began in May 2023 under the working title Regio Farma. It is now known as Pharma Delta.”
Nijmegen and Oss
Hermkens soon came into contact with Rob Nelissen, programme director at Organon in Oss. That city in Brabant, half an hour’s drive from Nijmegen, is also home to Pivot Park, a major pharmaceutical hub. Nelissen: “With Noviotech Campus and Pivot Park, there are major clusters in Nijmegen and Oss, but Pharma Delta has no fixed boundaries. There are also key players in places such as Boxmeer, Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Tilburg.”
Paul Bedford joined the conversation shortly afterwards. He is director of the Nijmegen branch of the Swedish-British multinational AstraZeneca. “We have big ambitions for our Nijmegen branch. Regional cooperation is vital to achieving them. Pharma Delta has already proved to be extremely valuable to us.”
To be clear: the companies are not going to work together on drug development. From a legal perspective, that is too complex. Nelissen: “It is possible that companies might meet at Pharma Delta and subsequently develop medicines together. But in that collaboration, Pharma Delta would no longer be a party. We focus on shared issues that are in the public domain.”
Human capital
One of the key themes is human capital. Van de Watering says: “It starts with our aim to motivate secondary school pupils to choose a technical course of study. We then try to get them on board with our companies and, subsequently, we want to retain them in the region.”
“This industry offers fantastic jobs, from research to production, for all levels of education,” says Bedford. Nelissen gives a concrete example: “We’ll soon be taking our message to the Koning Willem I College in Den Bosch. Young people need to see how enjoyable and important this work is.”
In addition, Pharma Delta is looking at collaboration within the labour market. Employees who want to make the move from a large to a small company, or vice versa, can more easily remain in the region. “If someone from my team is a better fit for another company in the region, they’ll still remain in the region,” says Nelissen. “That’s a win-win for everyone.”
Knowledge and facilities
As well as talent development, Pharma Delta is also about sharing knowledge and facilities. “This summer, we started drawing up an educational plan incorporating training courses,” Nelissen explains by way of example. “Company A may already be offering in-house training courses that could also be of interest to Company B. We’re bringing these together and aim to offer them to each other free of charge.”
Sustainability is also a key theme. “Every organisation is looking for ways to reduce emissions of harmful substances,” explains Bedford. “Why reinvent the wheel when your neighbour has already solved the problem?”
Action-oriented
The three are particularly pleased with Pharma Delta’s action-oriented approach. It doesn’t stop at talk. Nelissen: “We have very deliberately put the ball in the companies’ court.” This allows collaboration to develop naturally. “Companies understand the challenges and are increasingly finding ways to connect with one another,” says Bedford.
Pharma Delta’s ambition is clear: to make the region more attractive and put it on the map, both nationally and across Europe. “By working together, we retain talent here, attract new companies and foster greater innovation,” concludes Bedford. “All the ingredients are in place to turn our region into a leading pharmaceutical hub.”
About Pharma Delta
On 22 January 2024, the collaborative initiative was launched, which was named Pharma Delta a few months later. Since then, the organisations involved have been meeting approximately once a month, both online and in person, including through company visits.
The collaboration puts all its energy into non-confidential topics. "This is mainly about human capital, i.e. developing and keeping talent in the region, and sharing technology, facilities and process knowledge to research and produce medicines," says Floor van de Watering of Briskr.
Pharma Delta transcends provincial boundaries. It involves organisations from Gelderland and Brabant. Two important clusters are the companies, institutes and governments around the Novio Tech Campus in Nijmegen and the Pivot Park in Oss. Other parties involved include Boxmeer, Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Tilburg.
Pharma Delta's steering committee is currently working on establishing an association. A total of over 40 organisations are involved. About 25 of them are pharmaceutical companies: large and small and active within all facets of pharmaceuticals. Pharma Delta is keen to welcome new members, as the larger the association, the broader its available pharmaceutical knowledge and expertise and the more weight it can carry. Interested parties should contact Briskr at info@briskr.nl.
