Spring is in the air

It was a wonderful spring for Dutch manufacturing industries this year. It was not only the results of 2013 that made us smile. Over the whole line they were pretty good. For certain if you consider the recession our economy was suffering for almost the whole of 2013. But it was something else that made us smile even more.

There is really something new coming up, a kind of revolutionary thing that will change our Brainport industrial ecosystem profoundly: smart industry.

It started in Germany where in the second half of 2013 a report was published under the title ‘Industrie 4.0’. It described how the internet revolution of the last three decades is now entering the manufacturing industries. After it has changed retail, financial services and dramatically entered the daily live of us citizens and consumers, it is going to change the way we make things.

And like it happens often it was already amongst us for several years, now suddenly it stares in our faces. When I was at the Hannover Messe in April it was suddenly everywhere. Just like Dutch High Tech was all over the place there. And last week in Den Bosch at the High Tech Fair it was all over the place as well.

I believe this is just as exciting as spring announcing summer. Because I believe there is no industrial region in the world more ready for this new age as the Brainport region. Brainport Industries demonstrates we understand what it is to live in a network society. The new institutes at the TU/e for Data Science and for High Tech Manufacturing show we realize we have to prepare for a new industrial age. VDL in Born is building one of the first factories 4.0. And sure this new age will be disruptive as well, but it will also bring new growth and new opportunities. Spring is in the air.

Joep Brouwers,
Vice director Brainport Development