17/07/2024

Interim evaluation of Biotech Booster

Read the reportMeet the researchers

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Biotech Booster is one of the 28 programmes honoured in the second round of the National Growth Fund (NGF) in 2022. The Biotech Booster programme has a dual objective: 1) to increase the societal impact and return on the valorisation of (biotechnological) research, and 2) to strengthen the R&D&I ecosystem of biotechnology in the Netherlands. A significant part of the funding was conditional. Before the conditionally allocated funds could be granted unconditionally or definitively, an (interim) evaluation had to take place, as with Biotech Booster. Upon request of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Directorate of Research and Science Policy, Dialogic conducted this interim evaluation. The five main questions were:
  1. To what extent does the programme's setup align with the intended programme objectives from the original proposition?
  2. How relevant is the Biotech Booster programme in practice?
  3. To what extent has the initiation and execution of the Biotech Booster programme been effective thus far?
  4. To what extent has the initiation and execution of the Biotech Booster programme been efficient since its start in 2022?
  5. To what extent is it expected that Biotech Booster can achieve its goals and ambitions in the coming years?
In short, our conclusion is that Biotech Booster has made a good start. If sufficient attention is paid to the issues and recommendations we identified, Biotech Booster can develop into a programme and ecosystem provision that is effective and efficient in the long run and can make a crucial contribution to the valorisation of biotechnological knowledge in the Netherlands. At the time of evaluation (August 2024 - February 2025), Biotech Booster was still in the form of an actively learning programme that was evolving as it was being implemented. The programme can serve as an example for other technology domains in specifically or thematically stimulating and facilitating valorisation. The conditional allocation has now been converted into an allocation. Therefore, the National Growth Fund is investing an additional €196.4 million in the programme. Would you like to know more about our conclusions and recommendations? You can download the report from this webpage.