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Yesterday’s winter weather meant that the official meeting around the start of the construction of the Brainport Industries Campus could not take place, but construction did start. The campus will be the first location in the Netherlands where the manufacturing industry will share facilities on such a large scale for production, storage, logistics, research and innovation in a so-called ‘Factory of the Future’.

The campus must become an area of 200 hectares, where several high-tech suppliers will establish themselves. In the first instance, 100,000 square meters will be built, where Anteryon, a supplier of industrial equipment, and KMWE, a supplier of aerospace, mechanical engineering, medical and semiconductor equipment, will be established next year. ICT developers Hightech Software Cluster Software Cluster and Softwareport are also moving to the campus, as is Summa College. As of August 2018, about 1,600 MBO students in the field of technology and process technology will study in the ‘Factory of the Future’.

“The Brainport Industries Campus is an excellent opportunity to strengthen chain cooperation, innovation, and much more efficient production,” says Ferdinand Gremmen, director of SDK Vastgoed and developer of the BIC. “By collaborating with knowledge institutions and education, it also means a boost in attracting and training talent in the field of technology.”

The Brainport Industries Campus is located near Eindhoven Airport, the A2/N2, and the Beatrix canal. The space around the buildings forms a whole with the green, wooded area of the new city park Brainport Park. There are hiking and biking trails, meadows and special gardens. Alderman Staf Depla: “The way Brainport Industries Campus brings together high-tech manufacturing companies in the green Brainport Park area is nowhere in Europe. In fact, the entire high-tech supply chain, from small start-ups to multinationals, works together in one large ‘Factory of the Future’. That is also good news for employment.” Each building has shared facilities and can always be adapted to the changing demands of users because rooms are built completely modularly. In addition, the companies share high-quality facilities such as cleanrooms, flexible production areas, warehouses and other advanced facilities. The ambition is to make the campus grow into an international showcase that strengthens the strength of the supply chain in the region.