High Tech Campus Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, has become the embodiment
of the open innovation philosophy. Over 90 companies and institutes have
already established themselves at the site, all in a dynamic mix of multinational
companies, small and medium-sized businesses and technology start-up
companies. Business Development Director Cees Admiraal and Manager Business
Communication Bert-Jan Woertman explain what the campus philosophy is
and what they envisage the networked future as. "End of the day we're not
just looking to create an environment where companies and organisations
partner to develop new technology. We want the campus as a whole to focus on
functioning as an ecosystem that produces technology with real business value."
 High Tech Campus Eindhoven (HTC) was
established ten years ago on land
alongside some of Philips Research's key
facilities and upon the initiative of
Philips, the Dutch-based electronics
giant. Mr. Woertman and Mr. Admiraal
emphasise, however, that HTC today is
very much independent from Philips.
"Philips still has a presence here but
High Tech Campus Eindhoven
P.O. Box 80036
5600 JW Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Website: www.hightechcampus.nl
they're not our biggest tenant; we're all
about generating new business by
attracting companies that add value to
the high-tech eco system and that
reaches beyond Philips," says Mr.
Admiraal. "We want to be to high-tech
what Milan is to international fashion."
The Dutch themselves have no trouble in
acknowledging the significance of HTC to their economy: in a report, published
earlier this year by Buck Consultants
following a study carried out on behalf of
the Ministry of Economic Affairs, HTC
was named among the five campuses of
national significance. According to the
report, 'the greatest added value of
campuses lies in the field of knowledge
exchange'. High Tech Campus Eindhoven,
where Open Innovation is the preferred
work approach, is a textbook example in
Buck Consultants' view.
 The campus is spread over an area of just
one square kilometre, where more than
90 companies and 8000 researchers,
developers and entrepreneurs work and
share resources in research and
development. That is what the open
innovation concept is about, say Mr.
Woertman and Mr. Admiraal: campus
residents share knowledge, experience,
open laboratories and technical
infrastructure in an open environment
targeted at developing products that add
real value to everyday life. "We want to
create an ecosystem flourishes," says Mr.
Admiraal.
Interesting to note in that regard is that
the campus hosts a number of
organisations that are based on the
principles of open innovation just like the
campus itself is, such as the Holst Centre,
the Center for Translational Molecular
Medicine, and the Océ Inkjet Application
Centre. Philips is contributing to the
campus philosophy by setting up
MiPlaza, an independent subsidiary that
sells research services. Its hotel-like
approach means that start-ups can
access equipment and services that
would otherwise be beyond their reach.
MiPlaza is already making more than half
of its revenue from customers that are
not part of Philips. Alongside these
giants of the high-tech industry there's a specific building for start-ups that is
home to 45 companies, most of them
employing between two and five people.
They can call on the Campus site
management and others throughout the
campus network for support in every
aspect of their business. Additional
facilities at the Campus are housed at
what they call The Strip, a 400m-long
building full of restaurants, cafes, sports
facilities, meeting and seminar rooms.
Campus residents have to commit to
using these central facilities, rather than
setting up their own canteens and
meeting rooms. The general idea is to get
residents out of their usual environments
and expose them to each other so that
there is lots of communication.
 Mr. Admiraal and Mr. Woertman again
point out that campus tenants hail from
a variety of industry verticals who all
believe in a future where high-tech plays
an important role. Mr. Woertman: "We
believe that in the future, technology will
enable environments and people to
communicate with each other, whether
that is in a domestic environment, or in a
car for example. These communication
infrastructures will also produce vital
information: from the data a car
generates we can notably abstract vital
information about car safety. In a totally
different application, the drug packaging
of the future will alert patients when they
need to renew their subscription, and an
intelligent knee brace will warn you when
you're putting too much stress on your
knee. These are all very important
innovations in a world with an ageing
population that is trying to cope with the
increasing cost of healthcare; new
technology will enable patients to spend
less time at the hospital." Mr. Admiraal
and Mr. Woertman say that while the
technology to do these things is already there, the infrastructure is still lacking.
"When you consider that sockets aren't
even standardised yet across the EU you
come to the conclusion that it will be a
while before we can get all these high
tech innovations to communicate with
each other."
 They are confident however that our
world will meanwhile continue to get
smarter and smarter. "We expect that
we'll first see intelligent home systems,
followed by cars, and further ahead,
aircraft, andsoforth. But what we at the
campus concentrate on is not so much
philosophise about the future, but about
where the business value of these
technologies lies. End of the day these
are commercial businesses that need to
make money. "
Some interesting stats determine
whether the campus succeeds in doing
that. HTC works closely together with
the Brainport organisation (named to
contrast with Rotterdam as the home of
the Dutch seaport, and Amsterdam as
the home to the Dutch airport and
financial sector), which represents high technology in the south-east of the
Netherlands. Research shows that half of
all the patents filed in the Netherlands
come from the Brainport region; and
95% of the patents filed in the Brainport
region are filed from the campus. More
interesting stats: the businesses on and
near the Campus contribute almost 12%
of the Dutch gross domestic product, a
close second to the contribution from
the wider Amsterdam area, which
includes the airport and the financial
sector. "We believe we've created a
dynamic, international environment here
that drives open innovation with real
economic value," conclude Mr. Admiraal
and Mr. Woertman.
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