What are the latest developments in the Life Sciences & Health sector in the ASEAN-5 area? What opportunities are currently arising for innovative Dutch LSH companies? This was discussed during our recent ASEAN-5 Health~Holland Digital meet-up.

To start things off right, Micha van Lin, Managing Director at Task Force Health Care, informed the participants about the Health~Holland Internationalisation Strategy 2020-2023. Then, as we do during all meet-ups, we gave the floor to a special guest speaker to discuss recent trends.

Mobile devices and data analytics
As the Founding Director of Implantex Meditech Consulting, Mr Torsten Führer has years of experience consulting in the field of Life Sciences & Health (LSH) in South East Asia. He discussed the current challenges and opportunities for medical device companies and LSH providers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Overall, increasing demand for healthcare solutions is noted in South East Asia, with an important role to be played by eHealth solutions. “Healthcare is no longer limited to the physician’s office,” Führer emphasized. Patient experiences can be improved using mobile devices. Groundbreaking insights can be gathered from big data analytics. These opportunities are in line with the ones identified by TFHC when we conducted market studies in the ASEAN region (pdf) in 2019.

There are opportunities to be found in innovative digital healthcare services to increase connectivity on several levels: within a healthcare provider’s organization, between healthcare providers, between provider and patient. An interesting topic was Remote Patient Monitoring. Torsten Führer: “The big question for these providers is how to effectively and safely integrate this information in their clinical workflows.”

“With the input, we gather during these meet-ups, we can enable LSH companies to build solid international relationships.”

How to enter a new market
During the second, interactive part of this meet-up, participants were asked to share their experiences and questions. What do they require in order to create new business opportunities in the ASEAN area? What are their biggest challenges?

“Most of these companies provide medical devices and eHealth solutions. It was interesting to notice that many of them face similar challenges,” says TFHC’s Esther van den Heuvel. “What’s the right way to enter a market? How do you gain access to decision-makers and opinion leaders?” TFHC can help you develop a successful market entry strategy. In addition, we can connect you to the right stakeholders because of our extensive network in both the public and the private sector.

The input gathered during this meet-up will be used to tailor future activities to the companies’ wishes. “It will further inform the Internationalisation Strategy and our programme for the coming years,” says Esther van den Heuvel. “It will help us organize effective missions together with the Topsector LSH and the Dutch government, so we can enable Dutch LSH companies to build solid international relationships.”

New opportunities to meet stakeholders
We are currently inviting key opinion leaders from the ASEAN region to participate in our annual networking event World of Health Care in November. The first confirmations have been received. Together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and the embassies in the region, TFHC will organize a digital trade mission to ASEAN in December 2020, so Dutch LSH companies can further explore business opportunities in this field.