Strengthening Dual-Use: Touchwaves Joins Brabant's MedTech Patch Initiative
- Editorial Team
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
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Touchwaves has joined a new medical technology initiative in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, developing next-generation medical patch prototypes alongside two other regional deep-tech companies, Bilihome and 2M Engineering.
The 18-month project is funded by the Provincie Noord-Brabant and facilitated by the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), in collaboration with TracXon and TNO / Holst Centre.
For Touchwaves, the initiative is a deliberate step in a dual-use strategy. Defence remains the core of the business, and this project broadens the same haptic platform into medtech — strengthening its market position across defence, sports, wellness, and healthcare at once.
It is a concrete demonstration of the platform's dual-use potential: technology proven in defence now advancing human performance in healthcare too.
A regional ecosystem built for deep-tech
Since 2023, BOM, Brainport Development, and the Provincie Noord-Brabant have been building a dedicated medtech ecosystem in the region.
The patch initiative is a tangible result of that work. By connecting entrepreneurs, research institutes, and production facilities, the ecosystem shortens the path from early technology to real-world application — and keeps that value anchored in Brabant.
Smart, flexible wearables are opening up continuous, non-invasive ways to read and respond to the human body, from cardiac and metabolic signals to recovery and cognitive state.
The market is expanding quickly, and the region holds the full stack needed to compete: strong underlying technology, entrepreneurship, knowledge institutions, and manufacturing capacity. Initiatives like this one are how that potential converts into commercial products for international markets.
Dual-use technology
Touchwaves builds wearable, textile-integrated haptic human-machine interfaces — systems that deliver information through touch.
A Third Communication Channel
Touch is a third communication channel, one that stays open when the visual and auditory channels are already saturated.
In high-stress environments, that open channel is the difference between information that is missed and information that is felt in time to act on.
A Proven
Capability
This capability was proven first in defence and aerospace, where operators manage many simultaneous streams of information under extreme cognitive load — and defence remains the core market Touchwaves builds for.
Dual-Use
By Design
The platform is dual-use by design: the same core technology that keeps a pilot or drone operator oriented under pressure also serves other domains where human performance is decisive, including elite sport, wellness, and medical technology.
These are parallel markets for one platform.
The Brabant patch initiative is where the medtech dimension of that platform takes shape. Developing haptic technology for a healthcare context strengthens the robustness, scalability, and manufacturability the platform needs for large markets — advances that flow back into the defence applications at its core.
From passive monitoring to active intervention
Most wearables today are passive. They measure, log, and display — leaving the human to interpret and respond.
Touchwaves' contribution to the initiative is about closing that loop: moving from passive monitoring toward active physiological intervention, where a wearable does not simply report a signal but responds to it, guiding the body through touch.
That shift — from reading the human to supporting the human in real time — runs through everything Touchwaves builds, in defence first and now across its wider dual-use markets.
It reflects the company's founding mission: bridging the gap between technological innovation and human performance, and strengthening the often weakest link in any high-performance system — the human.
Building Brabant as a MedTech hotspot
The initiative brings together a complete chain of partners: BOM as the connecting organisation, TNO and the Holst Centre as research partners, and TracXon as an industry partner, all working with three Brabant companies on distinct prototypes. Bilihome is focused on integrating LEDs into printed electronics for medical applications; 2M Engineering is developing the pHense wound patch; and Touchwaves is advancing the step from passive monitoring toward active physiological intervention.
Together, these projects show how a strong regional ecosystem turns technology, knowledge, and entrepreneurship into commercial products for international markets — and how a deep-tech company with defence at its core can strengthen and broaden a dual-use platform from within Brainport.
About Touchwaves
Touchwaves is a Dutch deep-tech company and TNO spin-off based in Eindhoven, developing wearable haptic technology for aerospace and defence.
Its systems deliver information through touch — bypassing saturated visual and auditory channels — to support situational awareness and cognitive overload management in high-workload environments.
In January 2026, Touchwaves raised €1.5M in pre-seed funding led by SecFund (Dutch MoD), with participation from TNO Ventures, imec.istart, Joanna Invest and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The company works closely with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force, and the Centre for Man in Aviation.
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