Government invests in technical education and Brainport region, with special role for TU/e

The package includes a one-time investment of 450 million euros for technical education, in addition to structural 80 million euros per year.

The idea is that various educational institutions from four regions (Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen and Delft) will work together with industry, and under the leadership of Brainport, on a talent development plan to take the Dutch chip sector to the next level. There is a screaming shortage of technical talent in the Brainport region in particular, for which the TU/e together with Fontys and Summa had already submitted a proposal a year and a half ago.

What exact resources the TU/e will receive will be clear once the final plan is ready.

National talent plan

Smits: "With this, a big step can be made to significantly increase the numbers of students in the technical disciplines, at mbo, hbo and university. As educational institutions in Brainport, we are looking forward to working together with partners in the regions of Twente, Groningen and Delft to shape the national talent plan. Summa College, Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Eindhoven University of Technology, as purveyors to the Brainport region, will obviously take their responsibility in this."

After all, to enable the digital revolution in the future, chips are needed that can handle the increasing amount of data. Smits: "The Brainport region is one of the world's most relevant semicon ecosystems, with Eindhoven University of Technology playing a pivotal role within it, both in terms of talent and knowledge development as well as the startup scene. Investing in the chip industry means investing in the future earning power of the Netherlands and contributing to Europe's sovereignty agenda."

Moreover, the fact that TU Eindhoven is among the world's best when it comes to the chips of the future is currently being given extra shape in the form of the so-called 'Flagship Future Chips', a strategic collaboration between TU/e institutes, departments and research groups that focus on this theme. With the Flagship, the university can further accelerate the development of computer chips and thus respond to the major social, economic and geopolitical challenges in this field. The message is clear: for the future of chips when it comes to education, research and valorization, Eindhoven is the place to be.

Infrastructure

There is also a government contribution of more than 700 million euros for infrastructure projects in the Eindhoven region, such as a better train station and fast bus connections between the center of Eindhoven and Veldhoven, where ASML is headquartered. On top of that comes 350 million euros from the region. There is also 425 million reserved for the construction of tens of thousands of homes, also for students, in and around the Brainport region.

Read the letter (in Dutch) from the government containing the decision here.