This afternoon Wim van der Leegte handed over the ‘Proposition Brainport Eindhoven for regional envelope‘ to the State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Affairs, Mona Keijzer, at the High Tech Campus. It is a proposal for a one-off investment in the level of facilities in the region. In the coalition agreement, the Cabinet set aside 950 million for tackling economic bottlenecks and asked the region to come up with plans. Brainport has done so; an investment of 170 million euros is being asked of the national government; the region itself will contribute 200 million euros.
Van der Leegte told the State Secretary that “things are going well in southeast Brabant”. The region has been growing faster on average than the rest of the Netherlands over the past 10 years. Especially in the high-tech manufacturing industry. This growth translates into an increasing demand for talent. “We have many vacancies to fill. Employees are increasingly coming from abroad because they can no longer be found in the Netherlands.” This brings Van der Leegte directly to the goal of the investment. “The main challenge in the region is to sustain this growth. We can do this by investing in retaining and attracting talent.”
This morning, State Secretary Keijzer was given a guided tour of ASML. She said she was amazed to get to see what is happening in the region. “The special thing here is that not only the technology was explained, but also its importance.” The State Secretary promised to take a close look at the proposition. “We are going to distribute the money in the regional envelope in such a way that we, as the Netherlands, can derive maximum benefit from it”, said Keijzer. The proposition presented to State Secretary Keijzer today will be discussed in the Cabinet in February.
The investment in the region’s level of provisioning amounts to a total of 370 million and the plans for that money are already clear. For example, 80 million euros will be made available for a Photonic Integrated Technology Center to maintain Eindhoven’s lead in Photonics. 80 million will also be made available for the Eindhoven Engine, which has already been regularly discussed here.
In addition to these investments in innovation, the plan provides for 95 million euros in distinctive facilities. Among other things, this will be used to finance a Dutch Design District. “Brainport Eindhoven wants to show the world what the value of design can be for sustainable, smart and pleasant living together. The region wants to designate an area as the Dutch Design District”, the region states in the proposition.
There are also plans to set up the Evoluon 2.0. “It is the international tone laboratory of lab experimentation in which the Dutch design tradition and development power of Dutch Design are continuously presented, shown, developed, researched (Research and Knowledge Development), made and experienced.”
A complete overview of where the money goes is shown in the infographic below.
Photo: Bram Saeys
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