A strong business climate, groundbreaking researchers, top education, state of the art facilities and access to finance: Representative of the Province of Groningen IJzebrand Rijzebol could take note himself of the reasons why Campus Groningen is growing so fast on his visit on Thursday 27 August. The short tour to both campus locations, the Healthy Ageing Campus at the UMCG and the Zernike Campus started in the heart of the UMCG, where Henk Snapper, member of the Board of the UMCG and Edward van der Meer, director of Campus Groningen, gave a short introduction to the Campus and the plans for the upcoming five years.
Grants well-spent
The province of Groningen is an important booster for the economic climate in Groningen, with several economic programs such as Groningen@Work and grants. The new and revolutionary Proton Therapy Center at the UMCG is an example of an innovation and facility that has been realized with the help of the province as well. During the visit to this center, the representative Rijzebol stressed the importance of a strong economy in the region: "As Province we support the economic power and vitality of the city and region. By working together and the right financial stimulus, innovation and employment develop, as can be seen so well here on Campus Groningen. It bubbles with energy here on the Campus and it is good to notice the grants are well-spent here."
Expansion strong clusters
Three concrete projects within the well represented clusters on the Campus presented briefly their projects and companies. Hedi Koning (Triade) gave an insight into the medical technological innovations in and around the UMCG, among which the Innotech Center. After this, the company got into the electric CommShare cars, a shared facility on the Campus that can be used by ‘campus dwellers’. Upon arrival on the Zernike Campus, a tour along Start-up City, a hub for startups, EnTranCe, testing ground for energy innovations and the new built of the medical technology company Polyganics followed.
In the Innovation Center of Avebe, the party visited the startup EV Biotech, that is specialized in computational microbial cell factory strain engineering. The company is located in the Innolab Agrifood, a facility for starting companies, that has also been realized with the support of the Province of Groningen. CEO Linda Dijkshoorn of EV Biotech demonstrated how her company solves the shortage of vanilla with the help of bacteria. Lars de Groot, managing director of the company DEMCON, completed the tour with an introduction to the plans and ambitions of this growing company in the new, to be built Innovation Center Chemistry and Engineering, that Campus Groningen is now developing for the Zernike Campus. DEMCON is a high-end technology supplier of products and systems, with focus on hightech systems and medical devices.
"As Province we support the economic power and vitality of the city and region. By working together and the right financial stimulus, innovation and employment develop, as can be seen so well here on Campus Groningen. It bubbles with energy here on the Campus and it is good to notice the grants are well-spent here."
Making it happen
Director Edward van der Meer of Campus Groningen is very content with the visit of the Representative: “Of course we have glossy's and beautiful presentations at our hands to show the importance, the strenght and the ambitions of Campus Groningen on a tour like this. But it are the entrepreneurs and the researchers themselves who grab the opportunities that we try to create as Campus organisation together with partners such as the Province, and make them happen. They are the driving force of growth and the are making this to the innovative hub of the North.”
Photo header: IJzebrand Rijzebol (left front), Henk Snapper (pointing, middle), Edward van der Meer (on the right in front).
Photographer: Geert Job Sevink
