“Foreign owner helps High Tech Campus with international ambitions”

By Bart Brouwers

After an official signing ceremony on October 1, the High Tech Campus Eindhoven was transferred to Oaktree, an American investor who is taking over the innovation cluster from the Dutch company Ramphastos. This led to some speculation about the course of the campus. General Director Jan-Willem Neggers of HTCE and Hermann Dambach of Oaktree respond in a campus podcast to the criticism that this would mean that the Netherlands would be handing over a crown jewel.

“We should (and can) have bigger ambitions than worrying about a foreign owner,” says Neggers. “I think the High Tech Campus and the Brainport region want to play along on a global level. We have internationally recognized companies that are going around the world with their innovations. Let’s see it as an opportunity to learn from a global investment house. It is a recognition of the region’s strength that investors like Oaktree are increasingly interested in the Brainport region.”

Oaktree’s Managing Director Hermann Dambach says he has big ambitions for the campus: “HTCE is a very successful technology campus. Our ambition is to further strengthen the ecosystem and make the High Tech Campus even bigger and more successful. HTCE should be the number one choice for R&D-oriented companies that want to excel in what they do. The High Tech Campus already has more than 12,000 employees, but we can add another 5,000. In time.”

Attracting talent

According to Dambach, the HTCE is a campus like no other. “Over the past six years, I have visited many parks and bought quite a few. So I have the opportunity to compare. None of the European parks has the scale and format of High Tech Campus Eindhoven (HTCE). The HTCE team has successfully managed the park for 10 years. And together we can further develop the Campus in the next growth phase. We can attract and retain talent. They don’t have to move to Amsterdam or Berlin.”

Jan-Willem Neggers adds: “Of course we want the Campus to grow, but I also look forward to keeping it a safe and inclusive place. So people all over the world feel at home here and are happy to go to work. That’s really important.”