Health Holland MKB Call 2027: up to 450,000 euros for health innovation


The MKB Call aims to strengthen the R&D capacity of innovative SMEs in the Dutch Life Sciences & Health (LSH) sector. It supports companies that want to take promising research further towards an industrially applicable solution, while benefiting from the knowledge and expertise of a research organisation.

From promising research to new health solutions

The scope of the call offers opportunities for a wide variety of innovations within Life Sciences & Health. Projects can focus on the development of new or improved products or services and should consist of industrial research at TRL 4-6. This makes the call particularly relevant for SMEs that have moved beyond early-stage research but still need substantial R&D before their innovation is ready for the next step towards the market.

The research must contribute to the objectives of the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda (KIA) 2024-2027 for Health & Care. In practice, this creates opportunities across the broad LS&H landscape for innovations that can contribute to better health and healthcare while strengthening the Dutch economy and competitive position.

An important advantage is that companies do not have to make this step alone. Projects are carried out as a public-private partnership, combining the commercial and technological perspective of an SME with the scientific knowledge and research infrastructure of a research organisation.

Around 8 million euros available

Health Holland has reserved around 8 million euros in PPP funding for the MKB Call 2027. Individual projects can apply for between 225,000 and 450,000 euros. Cofinancing by all consortium partners is required.

For Dutch SMEs, a maximum of 150,000 euros in PPP funding per project year can be requested. Dutch research organisations can receive a maximum of 150,000 euros per project in total. Projects may run for a maximum of two years.

The call can therefore provide a significant financial boost for an SME that wants to dedicate R&D capacity to an innovation project while gaining access to specialist scientific expertise. Previous editions demonstrate the scale of the programme: over the past three years, 49 collaborative projects involving 50 SMEs received more than 20 million euros in funding.

Who can apply?

A consortium must include at least one for-profit company (main applicant) and one research organisation. The main applicant must be a company established in the Netherlands, and Dutch SMEs applying for funding must confirm that they are not an ‘undertaking in difficulty’.

How does the MKB Call differ from the Science for Industry Call?

The MKB Call follows shortly after Health Holland’s Science for Industry Call 2026, which PNO Innovation reported on earlier this year. Both programmes encourage companies and research organisations to combine industrial innovation with scientific knowledge, but there are several important differences.

The Science for Industry Call targeted larger and longer R&D projects. Projects could receive between 500,000 and 1.2 million euros and run for two to four years. It also covered both industrial research and experimental development. Micro-SMEs were excluded as lead applicant.

The MKB Call is more specifically geared towards SMEs and smaller, more focused R&D projects with funding ranges and project requirements mentioned above. There is, however, an important restriction: the same or a comparable project may not be submitted to both the Science for Industry Call 2026 and the MKB Call 2027.

Competitive selection process

Health Holland describes the MKB Call as a popular and competitive programme, historically attracting more than 80 applications per round. For the 2027 call, Health Holland intends to select a maximum of 40 proposals (28 for the thematic track) for the full substantive assessment and expects that the available budget will ultimately allow approximately 20 projects (13 for the thematic track) to receive funding.

This makes a convincing project proposition particularly important: applicants need to demonstrate not only the technological quality of their R&D, but also why the proposed innovation and collaboration create value for health and care and for the Dutch innovation ecosystem.

Deadline: 20 November 2026

Applications for the MKB Call 2027 must be submitted by 20 November 2026 at 17:00 CET. With consortium formation, project definition, budgeting and agreements on matters such as intellectual property all forming part of the preparation, potential applicants have good reason to start developing their proposal well before the deadline.

Interested in the Health Holland MKB Call 2027?

For innovative Life Sciences & Health SMEs, the MKB Call offers an attractive combination: substantial non-dilutive R&D funding, access to scientific expertise and the opportunity to accelerate the development of a promising innovation.

PNO Innovation’s Life Sciences & Health experts can assess whether your R&D plans fit the call, help identify and structure the right collaboration and support the development of a competitive application. Call us on +31(0)88 838 13 81 or send us a message.