At the ICD-Shared Facility Center, tech workers and students are sniffing out the latest technology. The pride of the center is an industrial metal 3D printer purchased by the joint companies. “It is not a production machine, but a development machine,” says president Kor Visscher of the Innovatiecluster Drachten association. “We have the big brother of the 3D printer which is at our cooperation partner the University of Groningen. Do they mainly do scientific research, we test how the machine can be used in product development and production processes. At our partner Resato International in Assen there will be a production machine with which a consortium of companies in Drenthe is gaining experience.”
Walk ahead
The Shared Facility Center is not the first result of the now 15 high tech companies working together. How they do it? “Simple,” Visscher says, “By sharing pre-competitive knowledge and experiences. Say, looking into each other's kitchens before we go to market with our products. We run into similar challenges when researching innovative products or services. By tackling these together, we arrive at much better solutions much faster. That makes our products among the best and most innovative in the world.’’ The high-tech companies are now working together on two large R&D projects and five in the start-up phase. They are also working together in 35 small and larger connections on such things as laboratories, test equipment and test rooms and a joint job platform. By working together, the high-tech cluster is developing knowledge that individual companies do not get around to or for which the money is lacking. “All this exchange should eventually lead to the creation of so-called regional value chains, within which as much value as possible is added,” Visscher said. “Through this chain approach, we in the northern Netherlands are leading the way in the high tech industry.”
Industrial Heritage
In 1946, under the title ‘Committee for the Promotion of Industry in Drachten,’ local entrepreneurs joined forces to reduce the high levels of unemployment after the war. Visscher: “Industry had to come to Drachten and opportunities were created for starting companies to establish themselves cheaply. For this purpose the industrial flat was built in 1949, the first multi-company building in the Northern Netherlands. Philips took over the building in 1961 and in this industrial heritage we are now working on the solutions of the future.”