Magnet for Innovative Development!

Every time I visit the “Brightlands Chemelot Campus” in Geleen, in the South of Netherlands, I experience an abundance of energy that comes close to the feeling of happiness... it is buzzing with activities, a diversity of people is constantly walking around the beautiful, green and impressively landscaped location...it breathes technology and innovation. And especially in spring and summer, when everyone has lunch on the various terraces and eating facilities, you can see the full potential of this breeding place.

This location did not just happen. When DSM sold business units from the late 1980s onwards, the site became, renamed as Chemelot, more and more independent. And in the Masterplan, increasingly concretised from 2008 onwards, the “Brightlands Chemelot Campus” was developed, among other things. In a final, shared vision, of DSM, Universities, other “residents” of Chemelot with the regional Government and approximately 300 million euros (if I add it up correctly), the current Chemelot location, with Industrial Park and Campus, was shaped with international range. Today there are about 60 factories and more than 200 companies, 8500 employees, more than 100 nationalities... and all on about 30 hectares of land!

And every time I visit “Getec Park Emmen”, in the North-East of Netherlands....I am overcome with a feeling of melancholy for Geleen. There are a number of large companies located at this location (Envalior and Teijin for example) - There are innovative smaller companies, such as Morssinkhof Sustainable Products, BASF 3D Printing Solutions, Cumapol Polyester Upgrading and Senbis Polymer Innovations - There are nice facilities such as a good Laboratory, Dining, Warehouses and logistics. And all this on an area of ​​more than 100 hectares! In addition, there is the University of Applied Sciences in Emmen in combination with GreenPac, “the expertise center for (green) plastics, fibers and composites”... and the University of Groningen is also not that far away!

You would think that all aspects are there to also develop this location into a Park for Innovation and Production that focuses, for example, on sustainable development, production and recycling of technical materials. With Getec as the owner of the park, the facilities are well organised, but the real development usually only happens at the individual companies on the park; there is little to no coherence and the location itself sometimes looks a bit dreary gray, without trees and other green (!), industrial look and with little human activity... not exactly buzzing.

It is somewhat comparable to the Ceintuurbaan in Zwolle, mid-North of Netherlands, where Polymer Science Park and Covestro, together with Fiberneering (3D printing) and Techlab Zwolle (technical education) - and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences nearby - are located. There is even less coherence in and around this location, but a Material Science hub is also possible here.

These are examples of technical Production and R&D Hubs in Netherlands, but I assume there are examples like these in every country in the EU.

It starts with a vision and a Masterplan! This requires leadership and (also political) will: Know what you want to be in terms of innovative and science and technology , create a Masterplan, appoint good vigorous people, work together as (regional) Government - Education - Companies, invest well as regional Government ( Drenthe and Overijssel in this case) and Companies in the development of the locations and then within 5-10 years you could easily have a number of interesting and vibrant Industrial Productions Parks and Innovation Campuses: Good for innovation and education, Good for companies, Good for employment, Good for the regions, Good for any country!

Then you could start with looking at Chemelot and the Brightlands Campuses, because it might be a good example to follow, right?


Note: due to some description of Government and Education is specifically dutch, the English version of this blog is slightly different.