Positive steps at the University of Twente (UT) in the run-up to International Women’s Day on 8 March: more attention to equal health opportunities. The university plays an active role in the national innovation program Menopause Matters, which focuses on technological solutions for women in menopause, a phase that has long been understudied in healthcare, research and technological innovation.
Erasmus MC coordinates the programme and brings together a multidisciplinary group, including the University of Twente (UT), Amsterdam UMC, the Borski Fund, and Vuurvrouw. A subsidy of five million euros has been awarded for the program through Health~Holland.
Almost 2 million women in the Netherlands experience menopausal symptoms that affect their health and ability to work. Yet menopause remains a blind spot in both healthcare and the workplace, contributing to absenteeism and workforce drop-out. Menopause Matters therefore develops collaborative projects between researchers and companies for promising innovations in cardiovascular health, mental wellbeing and bone and muscle health problems. This could include new or female-specific medical equipment, smart (bio)sensors, ’hormone trackers’, apps and self-care tools. These developments are very important because they can prevent health problems, maintain labour participation, and thereby reduce social and economic costs.
International Women’s Day is observed worldwide with a focus on equal opportunities for women. These opportunities are not yet self-evident in healthcare either. Although half of the world’s population is female, only 2 percent of investments in medical technology worldwide go to innovations targeting women’s health.
"As a technical university, we see it as our responsibility to contribute to solutions for health issues that have not received enough attention for a long time," says Dr Anique Bellos-Grob, assistant professor and chair of the ’Technology for Women’s Health ’ program at the Technical Medical Centre (TechMed) at the University of Twente. "Physical and mental complaints around menopause, pelvic floor problems such as prolapse and incontinence, and optimisation of care around breast cancer are important examples."
’Combining our knowledge and expertise in a diverse consortium such as Menopause Matters is desperately needed to reduce the health differences between men and women,’ says main applicant Prof. Hanneke Takkenberg (Erasmus MC). ’The University of Twente’s TechMed Centre contributes to this consortium with specific expertise in areas including medical technology, digital health, and design-oriented research in support of women’s health.’
The University of Twente also offers the world’s only minor in multidisciplinary design of technology for women’s health. Students from the Netherlands and abroad can register for the next edition starting in November 2026.
This collaborative project was partly financed by the use of a PPP grant awarded by Health~Holland to the Menopause Matters programme , to stimulate public-private partnerships. Health~Holland is the official representative of the Dutch Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (LSH)
For students: the first-semester minors’ fair will be held on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, from 10:00 to 14:00 @DesignLab. You can collect a lot of information and ask questions, also about the minor ’Technology for Women’s Health in a Life Span Perspective.’ For general questions: womenshealth@utwente.nl
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