Tweet19-03-2010 om 10:23 by Maastricht Region Branding Foundation

Consortium accelerates growth of Chemelot Campus

The Province of Limburg, DSM Nederland B.V. and Maastricht University/Maastricht UMC+ will join forces in the further development of the Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen. The three parties will jointly work out a plan that should lead to reinforced growth of this campus and doubling of the number of knowledge workers. To realize this, the three parties today gave the impetus to the foundation of a consortium by signing a letter of intent in the presence of Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Maria van der Hoeven and Sittard-Geleen mayor Sjraar Cox.

The parties involved want to develop the campus into Europe’s leading CHEMaterials site, a site boasting a unique position in Material Sciences and related Life Sciences. They envisage a site where entrepreneurs and top researchers like to work and where students eagerly gain their first practical experience. The focus will be on open innovation. As a result, the Chemelot Campus, located in the triangle formed by Eindhoven (the Netherlands), Aachen (Germany) and Louvain (Belgium), will develop into a business melting pot where start-ups, small-, medium- and large-sized companies and knowledge institutes can substantially accelerate their development through cooperation.

Chemelot Campus is a magnet for innovative companies. Since 2005 the campus has welcomed 32 new companies, bringing hundreds of new jobs. These new companies make use of the knowledge and skills available at the campus, for instance at DSM and SABIC. Their presence at the campus enables young entrepreneurs to rapidly realize their ideas and make a success of their companies. According to a study by Buck Consultants International commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs the Chemelot Campus therefore is of national importance. The collaboration between government (Province of Limburg), education (Maastricht University/Maastricht UMC+) and industry (DSM), unique in the Dutch context, ensures that the already highly successful Chemelot Campus can focus and accelerate its growth. This will also reinforce the position of the south of the Netherlands as a Technological Top Region (TTR).

Chemelot Campus is located at the Chemelot site in Sittard-Geleen and is bounded by the Chemelot Industrial Park, one of the biggest industrial sites in Western Europe. At this moment some 6500 people are working at Chemelot (about 4500 employed by DSM and about 2000 by SABIC and other companies), of which 1000 are active at the Campus.

The Chemelot Campus is expected to contribute significantly to strengthening of the regional economic structure. This will result in sustainable employment being created for a thousand additional knowledge workers. It will also lead to sustained growth of starting companies, an increase in the number of patents and a positive effect on knowledge institutes.

The ultimate goal of the planned collaboration is both to invest in knowledge and to obtain economic and social advantages by combining business activities and science in an innovative way. This relates to innovations in a number of specialized areas, viz. biomedical materials, performance polymers and materials, bio-based materials, biotechnology, chemical process technology and sustainable energy. Knowledge in these areas paves the way for innovations in High Tech Systems, Health and Energy, clusters that are important for the Limburg economy. Most of the innovations will spring up at the interfaces between expertise areas.

Through the collaboration with DSM en MU/MUMC+ the Province of Limburg can boost employment and high-value production activities. This opens up perspectives for development and maintenance of innovative manufacturing industry in the region. For DSM the importance lies in stimulation and acceleration of innovation, potential synergy and creation of additional business activity. Maastricht University/MUMC+ sees the Chemelot Campus as a strategic opportunity for further development of its core tasks in the fields of education, research and in particular valorizaton in close association with and complementary to all other initiatives in the Technological Top Region.

Students, teachers and scientists of Maastricht University/Maastricht UMC+ will also be coming to the Chemelot Campus in the future. Maastricht University wants to set up a sciences master program here. This interdisciplinary program with strong foundations in biology and related fields is expected to draw a few hundred students from the Netherlands and other countries. The university’s input will lead to ongoing production of knowledge and spin-offs at the campus. The research activities at Chemelot Campus will take place in research institutes yet to be founded, in particular in the field of bio-based materials. This reinforces the ties between theory and practice, while it makes it easier for graduates to find a job and ensures the availability of a permanent talent pool for employers.

Maastricht University is already collaborating with DSM at the campus. A year ago the two parties jointly founded the Maastricht Forensic Institute (tMFI), which analyzes forensic evidence for police and the judiciary. The university follows the example of Zuyd University, which has a walk-in laboratory at the campus.

To provide accommodation for this cluster of international allure, two new buildings will soon arise, the network plaza, which will be the campus hallmark, and the accelerator building, the home basis for fast-growing companies. The three parties will further elaborate the collaboration plans in the short term, partly in consultation with other regional parties.

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