Netherlands based partnership to accelerate innovations

The promoter of this collaboration is the recently established foundation AMMON (Advanced Materials Manufacturing Oost-Nederland [East Netherlands]). The provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland in the Netherlands have welcomed this focused mode of industrial collaboration and have created favourable conditions by supporting the construction of demonstrators and by becoming a launch customer.

After a successful scan of the industrial DNA of east Netherlands, the first projects in 2010 (AMMON 1) and a successful follow-up in 2011 and 2012 (AMMON 2), in which Bronkhorst High-Tech, Pentair X-Flow, TenCate and Wavin agreed to firm industrial collaboration, it has now been decided to formalize the partnerships.

With the recent establishment of the AMMON foundation, the directors of Bronkhorst High-Tech, Pentair X-Flow, Reef, Sensata Technologies, TenCate, TKH Group and Wavin have endorsed the successful approach of recent years.

The executive board of the foundation and the Industrial Board will be chaired by Mr Geert Braaksma, vice president Sensors Europe at Sensata Technologies. The Industrial Board of AMMON consists of six directors of large companies in east Netherlands, who jointly take decisions relating to the prioritizing of innovation projects supported by AMMON.

Technological innovation

From a rich industrial past, east Netherlands has evolved into a technological top region. Manufacturing industry is a major driver of the Dutch (knowledge) economy. The region has one of the highest concentrations of high-tech companies in the Netherlands. Many of these companies now face the challenge of making the transition from product to system innovation in order to assure their future earning power.

This will require focused collaboration between companies in the field of system development, implementation and joint marketing. This was the reason for creating AMMON. Although many companies in east Netherlands benefit from the innovation stimulus funds provided by the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland, output still needs to increase significantly in terms of the systems completed, market results and new employment.

Economic driver

Chairman of the executive board of the AMMON foundation, Geert Braaksma, explains the developments: 'Collaboration is the new form of competition. AMMON is creating a win-win situation for our country's economic driver. Various trends that challenge our society and economy make it necessary to accelerate the development of new product-market combinations at the interfaces of technologies.

Close collaboration with universities and colleges is a precondition, since this is where the basics are laid for innovations within business and industry. In addition to good science or applied research, implementation-focused collaboration between companies is essential in order to produce tangible results.