Of course the Secretary of State hear the story of the successful collaboration between the now 18 high-tech companies in the Northern Netherlands. A collaboration that, according to Mayor Tom van Mourik of Smallingerland is important for retaining top companies for the region. ,,In addition to the direct business results, the innovative climate is essential for these companies” right to exist in our region. In practice, these self-creating SMEs, who also export their products worldwide, prove to be of unique and distinctive quality. That in turn is attractive for other companies to locate in the area."
IRIS
And as it should be, a visit does not stop at presentations alone. Gerrit Baarda, founder and owner of ZiuZ, demonstrated the IRIS drug scanner and told the story behind this innovative medical device. Developed within the field lab of the Region of Smart Factorys (RoSF), in close cooperation with high-tech partner Variass, it is also produced in the Northern Netherlands and now goes all over the world to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices. ’’Thanks to IRIS, pharmacists, nurses and other health care providers can give patients the right medication with certainty,’' Baarda explains. The device actually checks the contents of medicine bags quickly and securely. ''A medication pouch issued by IRIS contains exactly the right medication and amount a patient needs to take at a given time.''
EDU Robotics
Of course it came project EDU-robotics discussed. On the basis of the educational technology project for all Frisian primary schools, Keijzer was explained how important the collaboration between business and education is. The State Secretary found the network of knowledge institutions in the Northern and Eastern Netherlands with the high-tech companies to be an interesting collaboration.
cobot
The working visit was concluded with a tour of the Variass production location in Drachten. Here showed owner and director Henk Smid the route to error-free manufacturing, with special focus on the self-developed soldering robot. This robot works side-by-side with an employee, soldering highly specialized electronic components. Meanwhile, there was lively discussion with the Secretary of State.