NIRM and society
Apart from it being relevant to science, society too will greatly benefit from results obtained within NIRM. The benefits can be divided into four categories:
Health care, New generation researchers, public at large and economy.
 | Health care |
Societal benefits of the NIRM program include innovative approaches in regenerative medicine in the five major tissue/disease research lines for the improvement
of health of the population. There is no question that the new frontiers in regenerative medicine in all these research lines are through a better understanding
of stem cells, their molecular genetic/epigenetic programs and their interactions with their local microenvironment or niche. Further benefit of the NIRM program
is the synergism of stem cell innovation in collaboration with the specialty of Tissue Engineering, which includes the development and processing of biomaterials
to support and promote tissue organization and functional structure. This initiative in regenerative medicine is expected to provide innovations at all levels in
health care and these innovations provide societal benefit in the form of disease treatment, value in the health economy and increased quality of life. NIRM will
for instance tackle several unmet medical needs, such as the repair of the intervertebral disc (hernia patients), articular cartilage (osteoarthritis patients),
myocardium (heart failure patients), or life-saving treatments for hemodialysis patients (by developing cell lines for the bioartificial kidney) and renal/liver
failure patients (by targeting fibrotic cells).
 | New generation researchers |
Clear societal benefit will also be obtained from the education and training of the next generation of researchers and clinicians. New regenerative medicine
strategies cannot be expected to be implemented successfully in the clinic without prior education of the medical community. Within the academic medical centers,
universities and research institutes, the NIRM program provides for the education of medical students, Master and PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and clinical
researchers through the organization and teaching of courses, workshops and providing practical laboratory experience. International and national conferences are
organized to provide the research community with the latest information on stem cells and tissue engineering, and to promote national and international collaboration.
This type of activities within the prior network SCDD have given birth to the Dutch Society for Stem Cell Research (DSSCR), which is the first national sister society
of the world wide society, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
 | Public at large |
Informing the public at large of the activities within NIRM is a high priority and is implemented in a wide variety of ways. Newsworthy results are highlighted in
interviews with the national and international press, radio and television. Through public lectures, Science Cafes, educational programs for high school students
NIRM allow non-scientists to meet the NIRM researchers. Information on NIRM can be through this website
www.nirm.nl
and the cross-referenced websites
www.stemcells.nl,
www.dsscr.nl.
Public pages on these sites will include practical information on regenerative medicine, stem cells and forms of treatment for various diseases and trauma.
 | Economy |
Economic benefits expected from NIRM include advancements in biomedical technologies that feed into commercial opportunities. Stem cell research and regenerative
medicine is emerging as the leading platform in biomedical commercialization. Innovative technologies driven by fundamental research questions often lead to start-up
companies. Several Dutch start-up companies are now active in the field of biomaterials and regenerative medicine, such as
CellCoTec,
Progentix,
Q-tis,
SupraPolix, and
Porogen. Besides, the economic benefits of stem cell research and regenerative medicine promise to result in novel and efficient medical applications and more
permanent therapies in human health and disease, stimulating the health industry and resulting in reduced healthcare costs within the Netherlands.
