VARIO holds inspiring two-day event in Eindhoven and strengthens ties with Dutch AWTI

Earlier this week, the VARIO council and staff were on a two-day working visit to the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. VARIO talked there with Paul Van Nunen, director of Brainport Development, the economic development company for the region with representatives from the triple helix. The council also heard John Bell CEO of HighTechXL, an accelerator for launching new 'deep tech' startups, and Tim Dieryxck, CEO of Voxdale, a Flemish design, engineering and research firm, which recently opened an office at the High Tech Campus. The highlight was the visit to ASML, a crucial cog in the global production of chips with its highly innovative chip machines, and supplier to chip giants TSMC, Intel and Samsung, among others. VARIO also visited NXP, global producer of semiconductors, and the 'workplace vitality hub', a living lab around innovations for healthy office environments, of which imec is one of the founders. Among other things, VARIO remembers that the Eindhoven area, due to its proximity to so many large and small companies, and knowledge institutions, is particularly stimulating for innovation. The region faces similar challenges as Flanders in terms of attracting sufficient talent. There, too, there is still much to be gained, especially among women.

At ASML, VARIO was received by Jos Benschop, Senior Vice President Technology, and also council member of the AWTI, VARIO's Dutch counterpart. Following this visit, there were formal and informal consultations between VARIO and the AWTI, represented apart from Jos Benschop by chairman Eppo Bruins and director Patrick Essers. Furthermore, VARIO also held a council meeting in Eindhoven. The agenda included the advisory trajectory on transformative innovation policy. For this trajectory, VARIO works together with the AWTI. During the meeting, Ellen Moors, AWTI council member, and Annelieke van der Giesen, AWTI staff member, explained a preliminary study by the AWTI and the approach for this trajectory, which, like VARIO, has just started. VARIO and the AWTI will now jointly produce a benchmark study of how transformative innovation policy is being addressed in a selection of 'example' countries.