Brainport 2020 talk at Kasteel Well

A high-level meeting about the international Brainport 2020 economic initiative will take place at Emerson’s Kasteel Well in the Netherlands on Thursday, June 13.

More than 60 European university leaders, business executives, and politicians will gather to talk about Brainport 2020, a strategy to make the Southeastern Netherlands the frontrunner in the international “knowledge economy.” Brainport 2020 is part of the so-called European 2020 strategy, which is a 10-year plan proposed by the European Commission to generate smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth in the European Union.

The participants of the Brainport 2020 meeting, which is held twice a year, include representatives of the Technical University of Eindhoven and the University of Maastricht, and executives from south and southeastern Dutch companies and corporations, as well as a handful of regional and national politicians.

The strategy calls for Southeast Netherlands to be among Europe’s top three technology regions and in the top 10 on a global scale. Currently the region is the third in Europe and thirteenth in the world in technology.

It also calls for Southeast Netherlands to account for 35 percent of Dutch exports, 45 percent of private investment in research and development, and 55 percent of all patent applications.

The five key target sectors are high tech systems and materials, food, automotive, lifetec, and design.