Eindhoven is the city of high-tech, design and knowledge. Because fame doesn’t come by itself, it’s a great thing that Eindhoven has also traditionally been a city of pioneers, people who came from elsewhere, made themselves noticed and went tinkering with others to build something new. This was the case in the old days, when Eindhoven still was Philips’s company town, but it’s still that way.
The city wouldn’t have been what it is at this point in time, if over the years it hadn’t been helped by people from outside. From the rest of Brabant, other parts of the Netherlands, the Belgian border region, but increasingly also from countries far away. If you want proof, just take a walk on the Strip at the High Tech Campus around lunchtime and you can easily find yourself in India.
To honor this group of people, and to give them the spotlights for once, e52 is working in cooperation with the High Tech Campus, Brainport Development, ASML, TU/e, Eindhoven365, and Holland Expat Center to create the Expat Top 10. The aim is to arrive at a list of ten people who have meant a lot to the Eindhoven society. This might be because of an invention, an individual performance, an important role in a company, the impact of their startup or simply because they are significant for society. In short, it’s about the people of whom Eindhoven may be proud and grateful. There will be no number one, the whole top-10 consists of winners.
The jury, chaired by Alderman Staf Depla (Economic Affairs), looks at all kinds of criteria, but puts special emphasis on importance for society. As a definition of an expat we use: “Someone who has come from abroad to Eindhoven as an adult, in order to perform a job in the local community for more than a short period of time.”
After the jury process, e52 will publish portraits of the ten winners; also there will be a meeting in which we stress and celebrate the importance of the international. This party might look like one of our previous events (e52 organized the top-10 startups-to-watch and High Tech Peak Awards last year), but we will determine that later.
Of course, we already have plenty of ideas about the people who really belong in this list. But the best basis for a good top-10 is input from the city itself. So if you know an international Eindhovenaar eligible according for these top-10, please let us know. Just send us a name and a brief justification of your opinion by email to [email protected]. Your input is welcome until April 10th, after which the jury will reduce the long list for the final top-10.
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