From 11–13 May 2026, Task Force Health Care (TFHC), together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Netherlands Embassy in Dublin and Export Partner, co-organised a trade mission to Dublin, Ireland. The mission brought together a Dutch Life Sciences & Health delegation active in medtech, digital health, healthcare data and healthy ageing.
Participating organisations included Bastion365, Demcon, Dörr Medical, IDE Group, IMS, IQ Messenger, Mixed Industries, Nedap, Nijdra Group, ResearchManager, RoutineFactory, Serviceware and Zenya.
Ireland’s Healthcare Transformation
Ireland is in the midst of a large-scale transformation of its health and social care system. National reform programmes such as Sláintecare and the Digital for Care 2030 framework are reshaping how care is organised, delivered and supported through digital innovation.
A key development is the move towards integrated regional healthcare delivery, shifting care from a hospital-centric model towards more community-based and patient-centred services. This includes the establishment of new Health Regions to better align hospital care, primary care and social care around patient pathways.
At the same time, Ireland is investing heavily in its digital health infrastructure. The Health Service Executive (HSE) is currently advancing one of the most ambitious digital transformation programmes in Europe, including the procurement of a national Electronic Health Record (EHR), shared care records and expanded patient-facing digital services. These developments are supported by significant capital investment, including a €263 million digital health budget in 2026 alone.
Within this context, participants learned how Ireland is not only developing national strategies but also actively implementing them through concrete programmes focused on interoperability, data sharing, virtual care and AI-enabled healthcare services.
More information regarding these developments can be found in the Ireland LSH Market Study: Ireland | Market Study 2025 – TFHC.
What we did
A Strong and Growing MedTech and Innovation Ecosystem
Alongside system-level reforms, Ireland has built a strong and internationally connected medtech and life sciences ecosystem, with Dublin, Galway and Cork forming key innovation hubs. The country hosts a large concentration of multinational healthcare and medtech companies, while also fostering a growing startup and scale-up environment supported by innovation centres such as NovaUCD.
For the Dutch delegation, this dual structure of public system transformation and private sector innovation strength proved particularly relevant. Ireland’s healthcare system is not only modernising internally, but also actively seeking collaboration with international partners to support delivery, scalability and implementation of new solutions.
This creates clear opportunities for Dutch organisations in areas such as:
▪︎ Digital health and interoperability solutions
▪︎ Hospital innovation and smart care environments
▪︎ Medtech development and procurement collaboration
▪︎ Remote care, monitoring and virtual care pathways
▪︎ Data-driven healthcare and AI applications
Participants gained insight into how Irish healthcare providers, hospitals and innovation hubs are increasingly open to working with international partners to accelerate digital transformation and improve care delivery.
Key Takeaways
Learning from practice: How Care is Delivered on the Ground
Beyond national strategies, the mission provided valuable insight into how healthcare is delivered in practice across Ireland’s system. Visits to Beacon Hospital and St. James’s Hospital offered direct exposure to clinical workflows, innovation adoption and procurement processes within hospital environments.
Participants also engaged with stakeholders in community and elderly care settings, gaining a clearer understanding of how Ireland is addressing the challenges of an ageing population and workforce pressures. The shift towards home-based care, community services and digital support tools was a recurring theme throughout the programme.
These insights highlighted both the ambition and complexity of implementing system-wide transformation, and underlined the importance of scalable, interoperable and clinically integrated solutions.
Connecting Dutch Innovation to Irish Priorities
The programme was structured around three thematic focus areas:
▪︎ Smart Hospitals & MedTech Innovation
▪︎ Digital Care & Healthcare Data
▪︎ Healthy Ageing & Community Care
This structure allowed participants to connect their expertise directly to Irish national priorities, particularly in digital transformation and integrated care delivery. Across meetings with the Department of Health, the HSE, hospitals and
ecosystem partners, it became clear that Ireland is actively seeking solutions that can support:
▪︎ Digitalisation of care pathways
▪︎ Reduction of system fragmentation
▪︎ Improved data sharing across care settings
▪︎ Scalable innovation adoption in public healthcare
Building Relationships Across the Ecosystem
A key outcome of the mission was the strength of engagement and relationship-building between Dutch participants and Irish stakeholders. The networking dinner and reception provided important opportunities to connect with healthcare leaders, innovators and policymakers.
These interactions resulted in several concrete follow-up discussions, including potential pilot projects, exploratory partnerships and targeted introductions. At the same time, participants emphasised the value of peer exchange within the Dutch delegation, which strengthened understanding of market positioning and collaboration opportunities.
What’s Next?
Ireland’s ongoing healthcare transformation, combined with its strong medtech ecosystem, presents clear opportunities for long-term collaboration with the Dutch Life Sciences & Health sector.
In particular, digital health transformation, medtech innovation and integrated care models are expected to remain key areas of development. Building on the momentum of this mission, TFHC aims to further support Dutch organisations through targeted follow-up activities, thematic missions and connections to Irish initiatives.
Together with its partners, TFHC remains committed to strengthening international collaboration and supporting Dutch organisations in engaging with healthcare systems that are actively transforming towards more integrated, digital and patient-centred care.
Stay connected
For more information about this event or opportunities for collaboration, feel free to reach out:
Phone: +316 82 39 04 68
E-mail: info@tfhc.nl
