Brainport Eindhoven, world’s smartest region
NEW YORK - Brainport Eindhoven has been declared Intelligent Community of the Year 2011. After an exciting final the delegation led by Mayor of Eindhoven, Rob van Gijzel, and Helmond’s Councillor for Economic Affairs, Yvonne van Mierlo, received the award of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). “This is a performance that our region can be proud of. It is fantastic to be chosen ahead of three hundred other regions and is a great boost for employment in our region.”
The announcement of the winner brought the annual international ICF congress ‘Building the Broadband Economy’ in New York to a close. After two previous top-7 spots, Brainport Eindhoven this time conquered all its rivals, including the finalists Dublin (VS), Windsor-Essex (Canada) and the French region Issy-les-Moulineaux. Former winners were Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, New York and Stockholm.
Proud
Van Gijzel is, as you might expect, very pleased with the title. "We can be proud of our performance. The title gives us an enormous boost to get Brainport Eindhoven even more established on the national and international stage.” Brainport Eindhoven is as a top technology regions one of the cornerstones of the Dutch economy. This title underlines the ambition of the Dutch government to be one of the world’s top five economies. Van Mierlo adds. “This award encourages the further development of the successful 'triple helix' cooperation between industry, knowledge institutions and government in our region.”
Three hundred participants
Regions considered for the title ‘Intelligent Community of the Year' succeed, in the eyes of the ICF, in realising innovative, socially relevant broadband and ICT applications on a broad scale. Each year three hundred cities and regions enrol in the competition.
Jury visit
At the beginning of April the American ICF jury member Robert Bell visited the Brainport region. His enthusiasm about the developments was already very evident during his four-day visit. He was particularly impressed by what was happening at, for example, ASML and Philips Healthcare. A video report of this visit can be found at www.brainport.nl .
About Brainport Eindhoven
Top technology region Brainport Eindhoven is a breeding ground for innovation and home to world-class companies, knowledge and research institutions. Together they conceive and create the technology of tomorrow, which contributes to a safer, green and caring society and to the sustainable development of the Netherlands. With the Eindhoven region at its heart, Brainport is the pivot of a network that stretches across Southeast Netherlands and beyond the country’s borders. The five key target sectors are High Tech Systems & Materials, Food, Automotive, Lifetec and Design.
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