C-CAMP & Netherlands Embassy launch WAH! Accelerator to address the challenge of AMR

New Delhi: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) an initiative supported by Department of Biotechnology has announced a next-generation Indo-Dutch bilateral collaboration to address the challenge posed by Antimicrobial Resistance.

The program called WAH! Accelerator- will emphasize on co-creation and co-development of new technologies in Water, Agriculture, Animal and Human Health towards fulfilling the One Health approach to address AMR. This Accelerator is a C-CAMP partnership with NADP (Netherlands Antibiotic Development Platform) and AMR Global, both the Netherlands-based organizations.

WAH! Accelerator was formally inaugurated earlier this month at the official residence of the Netherlands’ Ambassador to India-, H. E. Marten van den Berg, in New Delhi in presence of former Minister of Health of the Netherlands, Mr.Bruno Bruins, C-CAMP CEO & Director, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, -government officials from the Netherlands, Carmen van Vilsteren, Chair Topsector Life Sciences & Healthcare, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Jaap Broersen, Program Leader, International Innovation Cooperation, Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and other Indian government representatives.

This formal launch has been a culmination of over two years of close partnership between India through C-CAMP and the Netherlands through the Embassy of the kingdom of the Netherlands in India and the Netherlands Consulate General in Bengaluru to set-up a platform with shared goals and mandates in tackling the AMR issue.

The Netherlands Ambassador to India, Nepal and Bhutan, Mr. Marten van den Berg said that “The joint WAH! Accelerator is a unique partnership between India and the Netherlands that aims to combat challenges related to One Health and AMR across the value chain. The partnership was ideated during the state visit in 2019 and has today taken shape in the form of WAH! Accelerator. It has full support of the Netherlands Economic Network in India as well as the -government of the Netherlands”.

One day prior to the launch, a networking/match-making event was organized at C-CAMP in Bengaluru. This hybrid networking event saw around 50 participants in total from India and the Netherlands. The idea was to initiate dialogues amongst innovators working in allied technologies, explore the possibilities of one-to-one collaboration, understand each other’s regulatory environments, and get a grasp on each other’s academic and industry R&D eco-systems.

The former Health Minister of the Netherlands Mr. Bruno Bruins, and Director Of Business Development at Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, Mr. Remko van Leeuwen and Cornelis Boersma led the Dutch delegation for an event at C-CAMP

To the audience at C-CAMP, Mr Cornelis Boersma told that he is confident that “the WAH! Accelerator will fast-track innovations to improve infection prevention and control, access to improved diagnostics, antimicrobial stewardship, and access to effective antimicrobial drugs and vaccines, tested in real-world settings globally. Mr Remko van Leeuwen said “The WAH! Accelerator will contribute to lift barriers to development, evaluation, and implementation of such innovations, with emphasis on innovations that matter for people in low- and middle-income countries”.

Commenting on this WAH! Accelerator launch, CEO-Director of C-CAMP Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, noted, “This effort of people from different countries coming together and working towards finding solutions to a common problem demonstrates India’s and the Netherlands’ commitment to the One Health approach”.

The WAH! Accelerator will use existing Indo-Dutch networks within businesses, governments, academics and investors as an early steppingstone toward each other’s health systems and to swiftly develop soft landing spaces.