What is ZonMw?

The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development is a national organisation that promotes quality and innovation in the field of health research and health care, initiating and fostering new developments. ZonMw also actively promotes knowledge transfer and implementation, ensuring knowledge is exchanged between all relevant stakeholders (health researchers, health professionals, patients/consumers and the general public). This in turn facilitates the structured implementation of newly developed knowledge in the health care system and guarantees emerging health care issues a place on the research agenda.

In short, one of ZonMw’s key challenges is to facilitate innovation and inspiration among the various stakeholders along  a single ‘knowledge continuum’: from basic, strategic and applied research to daily health care services. ZonMw acts as an intermediary between policy, research and practice. Evidence-based medicine, relevance-based science, information-based policy - it is ZonMw’s firm belief that only the active exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience can allow the innovation cycle to flourish and help create a cutting-edge society.

The majority of ZonMw’s commissions come from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The Ministry’s main concern is to contribute to public health, including prevention and health care services. NWO is a non-governmental organisation concerned with fundamental and strategic research. As the national research council, it plays a key role in the development of science, technology and culture in the Netherlands. In terms of health research and development - and thus in its relations with ZonMw -  its main interest lies in contributing to cure, care and prevention by gaining a better understanding of disease and its underlying processes, and supporting research related to medical or health technology assessment.