Powerful innovation themes
1 the five innovation pillars of the East Netherlands are based on the Regional Innovation and Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) drawn up by the East Netherlands at the request of the European Union and the scientific analysis by Boschma and Balland as part of the Power of East 2 research, both delivered in 2020.
The Power of East1 lies in (the combination of) the following innovation themes:
- Digital Economy & Industry
- Prevention & MedTech
- Smart Energy
- Producing smart & sustainable food
- Clean & Circular
The East Netherlands has a clear vision, shared ambitions and common support
for the identified themes:
Ambition: demonstrate that circular economic development is accompanied by a positive impact on welfare, the human dimension and wide prosperity.
Clean & Circulair
Ambition: high-quality, healthy and sustainable food with the latest technologies and system-oriented business models
Producing smart & sustainable food
Ambition: The East Netherlands as a living lab for decentralised energy generation and storage - solutions for the energy transition
Smart Energy
Prevention & MedTech
Ambition: affordable healthcare through technology for the healthy or rehabilitating person, with an increase in the quality of life.
Digital Economy & Industry
Ambition: accelerate digitisation of industry, model region for digitisation of SMEs in manufacturing industry and innovative business models at the intersection of manufacturing and services.
East Netherlands: partner in mission-driven innovation in the Netherlands
The bundling of knowledge, talent, capital and preconditions supports new entrepreneurship and cooperation
the East Netherlands
These themes are further strengthened by investing in related innovation ecosystems, with attention to:
- Human capital: training of talent at the different levels in an educational chain or in the developing labour market;
- Knowledge position: (internationally) distinctive and defendable knowledge positions with scalable potential, in line with new and existing business;
- Road to market: approach to bring knowledge to application and implementation (valorisation, upscaling) and to facilitate the various target groups in business (leading group, peloton);
- Facilities/infrastructure: have state-of-the-art facilities available for deepening, applying and scaling up knowledge and technology and thereby attract other regions/foreign companies;
- Organisational strength: organising the knowledge-skill-impact chain, also in an international context (such as programmes, project portfolio, profiling and financing).
The Power of East Netherlands is therefore as follows:
The East Netherlands as a motor of innovation
East Netherlands is also actively investing in entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems. The bundling of knowledge, talent, capital and preconditions supports new entrepreneurship and cooperation. There are several ecosystems, each with their own main location(s), specialisations, platforms and networks. This is complemented by active economic cooperation in a triple-helix context per region. Together, they form the engine for innovation in the East Netherlands.
The business community in the East Netherlands is characterised by a large number of SMEs in the manufacturing industry with a lot of family ownership in a tight network. These companies are often important suppliers in chains that extend beyond the region’s borders. This makes East Netherlands the logistical link between the Randstad, Northern Germany and the Ruhr area and towards the rest of Europe. The East Netherlands also has an excellent knowledge infrastructure. Three universities that perform on a world scale in specific knowledge areas such as food, medical technology and nano and microtechnology. Four universities of applied science with lectureships focusing on valorisation to train the new generation of knowledge carriers in business, and a versatile and well-qualified vocational education system. Together, they provide the basis for research, innovation, knowledge transfer and application of knowledge in business. New knowledge themes quickly find their way to product development and production, a strong point of the East Netherlands.
