Figurehead Peter Stolk experiences innovation up close and asks ICD to organize national HHT event
A warm welcome in Drachten
On Tuesday, the Innovatiecluster Drachten (ICD) hosted a delegation from Holland High Tech (HHT). Peter Stolk, the new figurehead of HHT, visited with HHT director Leo Warmerdam the cluster in Drachten to learn about the northern high-tech ecosystem.
From the ICD went Binne Visser (Philips), Roelien Attema (Astron), Lars de Groot (Demcon) and Joost Krebbekx (ICD) in conversation with the HHT delegation. Also professor Bayu Jayawardhana of the University of Groningen (RUG) joined in, underlining the importance of academic cooperation.
Northern Netherlands as a high-tech powerhouse
During the talks, ICD explained the latest developments in the field of Autonomous Factory Systems and other strategic programs. The delegation gained insight into the emergence of initiatives such as Cognigron, Future Compute, Forest Compute and the AI Factory.
ICD demonstrated how the Northern Netherlands is developing into a solid pillar within the national high-tech ecosystem. The region offers not only technological innovation, but also strong cooperation between companies, education and government. In doing so, the Northern Netherlands underlines its position as a one of the four leading high-tech regions of the Netherlands.
ICD organizes nationwide HHT event
Peter Stolk and Leo Warmerdam suggested involving the ICD in a national event of Holland High Tech. The cluster immediately picked up that gauntlet. Soon the ICD will start organizing a national HHT event, giving the ecosystem in the Northern Netherlands even more visibility on the national stage.
High tech in practice: company visits at Philips and Sparck
After the substantive discussion, the visitors moved into the field. At Philips Drachten Among other things, Stolk and Warmerdam saw the innovative OneBlade production line and the advanced packaging department. A former Philips employee, Stolk was impressed by the high rate of innovation and the scale of production.
Then it was a short walk to Sparck Technologies, where COO Ben Scholtanus took them into the world of smart packaging solutions. He presented the development of the CVP packaging lines and led the delegation through final assembly. Sparck showed how the company serves customers worldwide from Drachten with customized solutions in the packaging industry.
Building a future-proof high-tech ecosystem together
This visit gave Holland High Tech a powerful picture of the Northern Netherlands' innovative strength. The HHT delegation went home with new insights as well as plans. ICD is looking forward to the next step: organizing the national HHT event, in which the region will further shape its ambitions, successes and cooperation with other top regions.
