Leading Lights
Unique Utrecht Is this the hidden gem of the Netherlands? B
izarrely under-visited’ (Lonely Planet 2012), a city where new ideas take shape in old buildings resting on ancient foundations
(New York Times, 2010) and one of the best smaller cities of the future when it comes to quality of life and human resources (fDi Maga- zine, 2012): Utrecht. A full 20% of Utrecht’s population is made up of students attending one of its institutes of higher education, creating a vibrant city life along a network of 14th Century quays. Utrecht is home to the largest and best research univer- sity in the country, ranked number 1 in the Netherlands in the 2011 Shanghai ranking of world universities. Utrecht University houses the only veterinary faculty in the Netherlands and the largest in Western Europe and offers a broad educational spectrum of life science disciplines.
The presence of world class universities, re- search institutes, innovative companies, an aca- demic medical center and a prominent Science Park (
www.utrechtsciencepark.nl) spurs strate- gic partnerships between academia, government and businesses. An example of a public-private collaboration in the Utrecht region is Immuno Valley; a consortium of renowned research in- stitutes and life science companies working closely together to combat infectious diseases both in humans and animals (
www.immuno-
valley.nl). Projects include the development of alternatives for antibiotics; vaccines against zoonosis, diseases that transfer from animals to humans; and projects aimed at unraveling the complex relationship between nutrition and the prevention of diseases such as allergies (Danone).
Infectious disease, immunology and zoono- sis, part of the so called ‘One Health’ theme, is
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one of Utrecht’s strong points within the life sci- ences. Utrecht also possesses unique expertise and advanced technologies to treat cancer and to repair tissues severely damaged due to chronic diseases: regenerative medicine (RM). RM is a rapidly growing area in biomedical re- search, with an enormous potential for new and innovative applications in medicine. Both bio- molecular techniques and stem cells have been put forward as a powerful source to regenerate malfunctioning or damaged tissues or organs on the basis of living cells.
Danone, drawn by the high quality of nutri- tion-related scientific research in the Nether- lands, is building its research center in Utrecht, bringing 450 jobs to Utrecht. ‘Danone choose Utrecht because of the Utrecht Science Park with all that it has to offer’, said Mr. Capon, Vice President R&D Danone. Another determining factor was Utrecht’s central location in the heart of the Netherlands, the close vicinity of Schiphol International Airport and the attractiveness of the region to attract and retain (foreign) talent. Another industry deserving particular atten-
tion in the Utrecht region is gaming. The Dutch Game Garden, a game incubator, houses the largest concentration of game companies under one roof in Europe in Utrecht’s city center. Also more than half of the talent in the Dutch gaming industry received their education at one of Utrecht’s knowledge institutes.
Additionally in Utrecht the appliance of gaming technology in life sciences is being put to serious use. An example includes the com- puter game Air Medic Sky 1, a video game that provides young doctors with new techniques to enhance their performance. The game is devel- oped by the University Medical Centre (UMC) Utrecht and won the prize for best serious game of 2011 at the Serious Play Conference in
New European Economy
Washington. Gaming technology is also being used for defense, architecture, and education. Utrecht’s dynamic city life combined with beautiful nature surrounding the city and its su- perb business climate attracts both talented peo- ple and innovative businesses. The smartest and most competitive region of the Netherlands (Eu- ropean Commission, 2010) has already attracted more than 900 foreign companies, including companies such as Heinz, Yokogawa, Danone, Fujitsu, Atos Origin, and Nintendo. Furthermore Utrecht was named the most sustainable region (Rabobank, 2010) and recently received a vari- ety of awards as a promising European region of the future (fDi Magazine, 2012). The Inter- national School Utrecht (ISU) opened its doors in August 2012 significantly adding to the inter- national appeal of the Utrecht region.
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