Change
Our mission of driving change, improving health defines both the role Noaber wants to play and the goal we want to achieve. We put everything we have into enhancing the health span of populations at large and of every single person that is part of that population. We strive to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation and to deliver on our quadruple aim[1]. Not only through the activities, programs, and investments supported by Noaber, but also by taking an initiating and accelerating role in a system-based collaborative approach that integrates stakeholder interests and perspectives and provides the foundation for a sustainable transition.
Improving health
Demographic, social, and economic trends put increasing pressure on the healthcare sector’s sustainability. These universal developments result in an ever-increasing percentage of our GDP being spent on healthcare, while the ability to deliver upon the growing demand is limited. However, increasing expenditure on healthcare does not go hand-in-hand with increased health, whereby we see health as the positive health defined by the Institute for Positive Health. Among other things, this is due to increased welfare and medical and technological advancements; we live longer, but in a relatively unhealthy way, which is causing an increasing gap between lifespan and health span. For people in underserved communities and with less advantageous social and economic conditions this is even more so the case.
At Noaber we believe that optimizing the health span enables people to fulfill their potential and live their lives the way they desire. This is best served through a focus on health rather than sickness. That’s why we put quality of life first in our programs and investments. These programs create an enabling environment, while our investments develop, validate, and support solutions for living a healthier life. At scale, this will ultimately result in sustainable healthcare.
Driving change
A focus on improving health makes sense but is not yet fully incorporated into the current healthcare system. Regulation, reimbursement, and workflows, among others, are focused on sickness rather than health. Whilst we can show efficacy and efficiency at an individual intervention level, change on a systemic level is required to make the transition towards a new, health-focused approach. Such change is difficult as it requires people and organizations to alter their existing procedures, processes, and beliefs. This change is taking place in a scattered landscape where cooperation between stakeholders is imperative in order to be successful; something that is very difficult to kick start and requires leadership, commitment, dedication, and resources. We want to create an environment in which new initiatives and approaches focused on enhancing health span are incubated, validated, and accelerated. This provides the basis for an open innovation space that facilitates strategic collaboration between trusted partners in a flexible and entrepreneurial setting. Being an independent organization with an entrepreneurial mindset and driven by impact, Noaber is well-positioned to initiate and facilitate such cooperation between stakeholders. We will use that position to drive change at a systemic level by aligning stakeholders with this common goal and thereby utilizing our own resources, knowledge, experience, and networks geared towards achieving that objective.
Pathfinder
We have adopted a programmatic approach to address the complex and interrelated elements of systemic change in clearly defined intervention fields. As a pathfinder, Noaber initiates and accelerates such programs with the intent to enhance stakeholder involvement and ultimately hand them over to system-level players. We seek to remain engaged as long as our involvement results in a meaningful contribution towards systemic change, but no longer than necessary. A few years ago we started building programs focused on population health and lifestyle (medicine) as two main areas that require change and facilitate the transition towards an active and healthy life. We see growing attention for and acceptance and adoption of this focus from existing organizations in traditional settings; providing the first signal that the field is starting to institutionalize. Therefore, within these programs, we are moving towards applications in everyday life (home, school, work, supermarket, etc.) rather than formal care and cure settings.
In 2022 we have added a new program focused on social health that addresses the value of social connections and support. While there is growing evidence for the importance of social health, the perception of its importance in quality of life is lagging. Therefore, our initial focus is to inspire, disseminate knowledge and connect before addressing the practical limitations of implementation. Given the complexity, we assume we will remain focused and actively engaged in these 3 programs for the years to come. Being an endowed foundation allows Noaber to remain committed to its programs for as long as our involvement remains relevant in furthering the field.
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Continew
During the past few years, we have tested, refined, and validated our approach towards driving change and improving health. We are convinced that this focus creates the best possible outcome for our ‘Noabers’ (neighbors) and that we can play a meaningful role in facilitating the associated transition. There seems to be momentum for this paradigm shift. Since we can only facilitate others to put this change into motion, we have decided to put all our efforts into philanthropy, impact investments, and mission-related investments to ensure that we use this momentum within our existing programs. At the same time, it becomes more and more clear that enhancing health span is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon that is influenced by many factors beyond the healthcare sector. General socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors have proven to (indirectly) influence the onset of health and quality of life as well as the ability of people and populations to cope with that. Where our current programs are primarily focused on (individual) lifestyle factors and social networks, we are exploring new avenues for future programs in our program roadmap.
Our investment policy
The overriding principle of Noaber Ventures’ investment strategy is aligned with the mission of Noaber Foundation and the purpose is to invest with impact. Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a meaningful contribution to the health of people and deliver upon our Quadruple Aim as well as generate a financial return. Our attribution relates to the early-stage focus in under-institutionalized domains. Our acceptance of risk combined with our long-term approach allows us to fill the gap for early-stage funds and/or ventures to get started or to accelerate. Our active involvement is intended to support and influence the project or investment with a focus on outcome(s). Given the investment focus on (funds with) companies with early-stage ideas pilot or startup, established but scaling up the risk of the portfolio companies is considered as high.
Our [Cyber]security policy
In the context of the above policy and its implementation, a security risk assessment is carried out. We recognize that we have to handle our data and the knowledge we have with care. Our [cyber]security policy, therefore, includes a series of measures to limit (relevant) risks related to data and knowledge to an acceptable level. These measures are aimed at preventing [cyber]incidents and, when [cyber]incidents have occurred, detecting them quickly, limiting damage and facilitating recovery. The outcome of a risk assessment reveals what constitutes an acceptable level. We wrote "cyber" in parentheses because we believe that our data and knowledge are at risk not only within the cyber domain but also in the physical world.
[1] Quadruple Aim is the expansion of the Triple Aim (enhancing patient experience, improving population health, and reducing costs) to include an additional goal of improving the work life of healthcare providers.