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Work in Progress | Marion Hinderdael
The Brainport region is developing rapidly. This creates opportunities, but also challenges. At Brainport Development, we work every day to advance our region, both economically and socially. We do this by connecting parties, exchanging knowledge and maintaining close ties with The Hague and Brussels. In this section, employees explain how they contribute to this. In this episode: Marion Hinderdael, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Public Affairs.
‘You can see me as the linking pin between the Brainport Foundation and The Hague. A large part of my work consists of gathering information and coordinating interests with partners in the business community, knowledge institutions and municipalities. We bring this story to the forefront as much as possible within national politics and the civil service. At the same time, we take information from The Hague back to the region. Think of new legislation or parties' views on certain topics. It really is a two-way street.
Together with colleagues within and outside Brainport Development, I bring interests together and highlight the unique strength of our region. We do this through discussions with politicians and civil servants, by contributing to national events and during working visits to the region. This results in a better understanding of the high-tech sector, policy adjustments, the right attention for Brainport on the political agenda and, sometimes, the allocation of subsidies. Think of Project Beethoven, in which the national government and the region are investing 2.51 billion in Brainport Eindhoven.
A few current issues that are on my mind right now? The intention of politicians in The Hague to admit fewer international students to the Netherlands. This is not in line with the expected growth of the technical sector and the enormous need for talent. How does this relate to the investments that have been made to educate more tech students, such as in the microchip talent plan? What customised solutions are possible? Another topic: due to the government's substantial cuts in education and R&D investments, it is even more important that the right priorities are set. Think of investments in those technologies from the National Technology Strategy with the most added value, such as semicon, integrated photonics and medtech. Many of the technologies we have developed are also of interest to the defence sector, which we are currently looking into.
A final but very topical issue at the moment is the extremely turbulent geopolitical situation and the announced import tariffs. This is causing a great deal of problems for our tech companies, which are often very internationally oriented.
Of course, I don't do this work on my own. I often work with my colleague Ward and other colleagues within Brainport Development and with our stakeholders, such as the members of the Public Affairs consultation group. With this input, I then liaise with other regions in the Netherlands with which we share economic and social interests, such as Twente, Arnhem/Nijmegen and the Delft/Leiden technology cluster. The same goes for organisations such as TNO, FME, VNONCW, Techleap, Invest NL, the Economic Boards and the various technical universities in the country. These regions, organisations and The Hague are all watching Brainport Eindhoven with great interest. In the eight years that I have held this position, I have seen this happen more and more. What once started with telling people about what Brainport Eindhoven has to offer has now grown into a position where others come to us to learn from us and to collaborate with us. In the field of innovation and in our unique public-private partnership. We can be proud of that, but it also creates a certain responsibility.
When asked what the future holds for the Brainport region, we see three possible scenarios. It may be that our region will soon focus (almost) entirely on the semiconductor sector. Is that a bad thing? A second scenario is that this sector will become less relevant. Will we then have a new growth market? A third scenario is that we will have a number of focus areas, sectors in which we truly excel. In addition to semicon, these include systems engineering and materials, technology for the energy transition such as batteries, and the technologies required for our defence. At Brainport Development, we are currently considering these possible scenarios and are in discussions with suppliers and knowledge institutions, among others.
Whichever direction we take, the common thread will always be the region's capacity to accommodate growth. Ultimately, that is what all scenarios depend on. Whatever happens, we will continue to work to strengthen Brainport Eindhoven's position as an innovative region and to ensure that growth takes place in a balanced way.
