4 August 2025

Last week on MoveTheNeedle.news, I published an exposé on “How Enschede quietly became a hardware haven for deep tech startups”. While that article mapped the region’s evolution—from University of Twente labs to photonic quantum networks— my followers (thank you!) pointed out to me that the companies I highlighted are just a few of many that together form a whole crop of promising startups from the Enschede area. This piece zooms in on four companies leading that charge:

QSA Technology (quantum‑secure authentication via photonic chips),
Uneedle (micro‑silicon needles for intradermal delivery),
Medspray (propellant‑free microfluidic spray systems), and
Nanomi (microsphere drug delivery platforms in pharma).

Their stories—and shared ecosystem—highlight how Enschede has evolved from “hidden deep‑tech lab” to real‑world innovation hub.

QSA Technology: Twente’s latest quantum spin‑out

The latest University of Twente spin-off, QSA Technology is a quantum security company specializing in photonic fingerprinting for secure authentication. It originated as a spin-out from the University of Twente’s QUANT Center, a prominent hub for quantum optics research. The foundational technology was developed in Professor Pepijn Pinkse’s research group, with Professor Pinkse now serving as the company's Chief Scientific Officer.

The company collaborates closely with Saxion University of Applied Sciences to develop a pilot quantum-secure network in the region. Saxion contributes expertise in applied research and network security testing. Additionally, QSA Technology partners with LioniX International, a leader in photonic chip design and manufacturing, to produce silicon nitride-based chips essential for their photonic fingerprint technology.

The company's work aligns with national initiatives such as the Netherlands' National Agenda for Quantum Technology, which aims to develop quantum communication infrastructure and quantum sensors, reinforcing the country's position in quantum research and application.

Medspray: Making propellant obsolete, one chip at a time

One of the oldest continuous spin‑offs in this quartet is Medspray, a mid‑2000s University of Twente alumni now fully rooted in Enschede.

• Medspray’s patented nozzle‑chip microfluidics enable fine soft‑mist sprays—for pharmaceutical inhalation, cosmetics, and fragrance delivery—without propellants, without compressors, and using just a smartphone‑style pump 
• The company now has 40+ employees, chip‑throughput of 2,400 SNU/hour (spray nozzle units), and is ISO‑13485 certified for pharmaceutical medical devices.
• A milestone: Medspray entered a joint venture with Resyca and Recipharm to co‑develop nasally‑delivered drug products—a direct industrial application of their aerosol science.
• Recently, Medspray’s inhaler was tested clinically for delivering soft‑mist CBD therapy and even COVID‑19‑related hypoxemia treatments in Phase II-level studies.

Medspray nicely illustrates a second‑generation success: a decade‑old UT spin‑out that has matured into a hardware producer with a global pharma‑grade product, all manufactured within Enschede.

Uneedle: Silicon micro‑needle rockets to scale

While Medspray and QSA manipulate photons and light, Uneedle has turned to silicon microfabrication to remake a medical instrument nearly as old as medicine itself: the needle.

• Founded as a University of Twente project, Uneedle commercializes silicon micro‑needles—called Bella‑mu—designed for dose‑sparing intradermal delivery. Their razor‑sharp, micron‑scale needles—manufactured with semiconductor lithography—stably deliver vaccines, drugs, or even ophthalmic injections with greater precision and less pain than stainless‑steel hypodermic needles.
• In 2021, Uneedle closed an early growth financing round backed by Holland Capital and Waterman Ventures, explicitly citing its ability to rapidly scale via typical semiconductor wafer scaling, plus urgent pandemic use for dose‑sparing vaccination strategies.
• Today, Uneedle is piloting multi‑site silicon lines via Kennispark’s microfabrication services, with version 2 of its needle arrays now entering preclinical studies and pharma partnerships.

The story of Uneedle demonstrates why Enschede’s lab‑to‑fab ecosystem matters: you don’t need to travel to Taiwan or Asia to scale wafer‑based medical devices—the infrastructure is right next door.

 

Nanomi: Enabling long‑acting injectables at micro‑scale

Last but far from least, Nanomi shows how Enschede isn’t just about silicon chips—it’s also about drug delivery innovation powered by micro/nanotech.

• Based in Oldenzaal, 10 km from Enschede, Nanomi is a Lupin Limited (India) subsidiary, but remains rooted in Dutch deep‑tech pharma innovation via the Twente ecosystem.
• The company’s core is Microsieve™ technology—a type of membrane emulsification enabling production of controlled‑release microspheres and nanoparticles with precise size uniformity, ideal for long‑acting release injectables such as sustained‑release peptides and proteins.
• Employee count: 30‑50, mostly life‑science PhDs and engineers, working from a dynamic microfluidics lab in green Oldenzaal.
• The company received CMO Award for Life Science Leadership at DCAT Week in New York, underscoring its rising international profile.
• Its modus operandi typifies the region: sophisticated micro/nanofabrication in relatively small lab footprint, enabled today by strengths of UT’s technological life sciences pipeline.

Shared ecosystem spells shared success

What ties all four companies together is an Enschede‑based hardware ecosystem that delivers:

1. Technical infrastructure: MESA+ NanoLab provides cleanroom space, photonics and microfluidics testbeds, and wafer services that rival—or exceed—most European mid‑cap cities.
2. Institutional support: Spin‑off deal terms, business development, and seed grant programs via Novel‑T and Kennispark (which houses over 400 tech firms and supports more than 1,000 UT spin‑offs) smooth the pathway.
3. Deep‑tech heritage: UT has spun out over 1,000 companies, more than any other Dutch university, with MESA+ contributing a growing share by fostering cross‑disciplinary engineering growth.
4. Funding alignment: National and regional programmes—like Future Network Services, Oost NL, and European Innovation Council grants—are calibrated to absorb exactly the kinds of tech these companies produce.

This isn’t Silicon Valley by scale, nor Cambridge, MA, in hype—it’s different. It’s purpose‑built deep‑tech, where labs are wired to hardware‑making, accelerated by local financing, institutional support, and engineering‑driven founding teams.

Where does this go next?

Moving forward, could we see?

• Crossover collaborations? Medspray and Uneedle could co‑develop controlled‑release dry‑powder inhalers, for example, or Nanomi & QSA collaborating on authenticated drug packaging chips.
• Increased industry R&D presence: Big pharma is quietly scouting for low‑footprint advanced drug formulation R&D—and Nanomi demonstrates the blueprint.
• Talent magnetism: Job openings—some already listed by Nanomi for analytical chemists and formulation engineers—reflect growing demand for deep‑technology life‑science teams 
• Policy support: Dutch national quantum and micro/nano-tech agendas highlight multi‑disciplinary test‑bed facilities across Twente (in abstract) as key to future sensor breakthroughs.

✅ Quick Recap

• QSA Technology is constructing photonic cornerstones in a quantum‑vulnerable world.
• Uneedle is reinventing the needle—inside the wafer fab.
• Medspray couples chips with aerosol science to disrupt inhalation.
• Nanomi brings precision microcapsules into injectable markets.

Together, they show what the “hardware haven” tag really means: tangible, scalable physical technologies that emerge from UT’s applied research ecosystem—built, IP‑backed, VC‑supported, and product‑oriented.