HOLLAND PARTICLE THERAPY CENTRE BV

Their core work

Holland Particle Therapy Centre (HPTC) operates a proton therapy facility in Delft, Netherlands, where particle beams are used to treat cancer with substantially greater anatomical precision than conventional X-ray radiotherapy. Their clinical work includes running and contributing to controlled trials that compare proton therapy outcomes against standard photon-based treatments — generating the evidence base needed for proton therapy to become a standard-of-care option. Beyond cancer treatment, their deep command of particle accelerators and radiation physics makes them a credible partner for testing how ionising radiation degrades electronic components — a capability that is directly relevant to aerospace, automotive, and space industries. They sit at the rare intersection of clinical oncology and radiation science infrastructure.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects began in 2021, so there is no true chronological evolution to trace within this portfolio — the keyword split reflects two parallel workstreams rather than a genuine shift over time. What the data does reveal is a deliberate dual identity: RADNEXT shows HPTC making their accelerator infrastructure available to the electronics and space industries, while PROTECT-trial reflects their core clinical mission of proving and improving proton therapy outcomes. The larger EC award going to the clinical trial (EUR 78,200 vs EUR 36,818) suggests that the clinical research trajectory is the more heavily invested of the two.

With their primary project being a multi-year randomised clinical trial on esophageal cancer, HPTC is moving toward becoming a clinical evidence generator for proton therapy, a role that will likely attract more health-sector collaboration as the PROTECT-trial matures toward results.

How they like to work

HPTC participates exclusively as a partner rather than a project coordinator, contributing specialist infrastructure and clinical expertise to large European consortia. Their membership in RADNEXT — a broad network spanning 13+ countries and dozens of partners — shows that they are comfortable operating within complex, multi-partner structures where their role is to provide access to their facility rather than to lead administration. For prospective collaborators, this means HPTC is likely an accessible, specialist node: they bring the beam and the clinical pipeline, not the project management overhead.

Despite only two projects, HPTC has connected with 47 unique consortium partners across 13 countries — a reflection of the naturally broad European networks that radiation facility consortia and multi-centre clinical trials require. Their partnerships span both the physics-engineering community (RADNEXT) and the oncology research community (PROTECT-trial).

What sets them apart

HPTC is one of a small number of organisations in Europe that combines an operational proton therapy clinical facility with active EU research participation — making them simultaneously a treatment centre, a clinical trial site, and a radiation physics infrastructure provider. This dual-use capability is genuinely rare: the same particle accelerator that treats cancer patients can be directed at electronic components to test radiation hardness for aerospace or automotive applications. For consortium builders in either health or advanced manufacturing, HPTC offers access to specialised beam infrastructure that most partners simply cannot replicate internally.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PROTECT-trial
  The largest-funded project and direct expression of HPTC's core clinical mission — a prospective trial comparing proton versus photon therapy for esophageal cancer that will generate practice-changing evidence for radiation oncology.
• RADNEXT
  Demonstrates HPTC's cross-sector value by contributing proton beam access to a pan-European radiation test network serving the automotive, avionics, and new space electronics industries.