More Biotech Talent in the Northern Netherlands

Research project

Gert Noëlle en Kemal in het fermentatielab.jpg

Science and Engineering
Research Group Bioconversion & Fermentation Technology
Sustainable society

Start date 01 January 2023

The Northern Netherlands is an area rich in opportunities when it comes to green chemistry and the transition towards a circular economy. However, the region deals with a problem: finding and retaining quality staff. Good personnel is vital make steps towards a more sustainable world. This project aims to stimulate a growth in people working on the circular transition and green chemistry.

About the Project

The unique thing about this project is the collaboration between Dutch and German regions. The Ems Dollart region (Eems Dollard in Dutch) connects the Northern Netherlands and Northern Germany, with the Ems river and its estuary the Dollart as a natural, communal area. Collaboration between research and industry is common in both Dutch and German parts. Examples include the Eemshaven and Hanze University of Apllied Sciences in the Netherlands, and Hochschule Emden/Leer in Germany.

BIO Cooperative is the penholder for this project. For more information please visit their project page, or our own publications using the button below.

Green Business Challenge

Part of this project involves organising the Green Business Challenge. The first edition took place in 2024 with the theme: Biobased. Students from Hanze and elsewhere worked together with companies to develop creative ideas that contribute to a biobased economy.

The Northern Netherlands is very active when it comes to the development of a circular and biobased economy. It is rich in knowledge-institutions on vocational, bachelor, and master’s level, industrial companies, start-ups, and involved governmental organisations. There is a lot of innovation power and opportunity for upscaling. However, one major issue the region has to deal with is finding and keeping highly-trained personnel. This endangers the transition towards a circular economy. That is why companies and knowledge-institutions, like Hanze, from the Northern Netherlands and Northern Germany collaborate to grow the human capital in the area.

Through this project, knowledge-institutions and companies want to play an active part in creating more well-trained and educated talent for the circular and biobased economy. Involved partners focus on findng personnel on vocational, bachelor and master-level within the biotech-sector and other connected areas. Talented people in all areas of expertise are necessary to successfully complete the circular transition.

It is expected that this project will increase and strengthen the collaboration between companies and knowledge-institutions in the Ems Dollart region. This entails collaboration from both sides of the Dutch-German border. One of the plans to strengthen collaboration is the Green Business Challenge. Teams of students from different knowledge-institutions from the region work together for multiple days to develop new ideas that help boost the biobased economy.

This project is aimed at ensuring the presence of enough human capital in the Ems Dollart region. The project has a direct and positive impact on society and the development of the economy in this area. Moreover, it contributes to making the region more sustainable by focusing on companies that are actively involved with developing biobased products and solutions. The development that this project will bring forth will naturally spread to outside the region, ensuring that this project will have long-term, positive effects.

The cross-border collaboration is a truly unique selling point of this project. Companies and knowledge-institutions from both Germany and the Netherlands work together as a single region to tackle the issue of trained employees. This international collaboration is partly made possible thanks to the contributions of Interreg VI

The collaboration between the Netherlands and Germany also acts to make it easier for young people to find work after they have completed their education in either the Netherlands or Germany. Through the exchange of students and staff, a stronger collaboration is built. Furthermore, this research project has a direct influence on the development of young people through the Green Business Challenge.