The Brainport Eindhoven New Year’s reception was an excellent kick-off for 2020. Almost 1200 people visited the Evoluon last Tuesday and, for the first time, a successful start-up exhibition was organised. On top of that, President of Tu/e, Robert-Jan Smits, gave an exciting speech in which he called on attendees to jointly ensure that Brainport Eindhoven maintains, expands and perpetuates its worldwide role as a forerunner in the field of AI.
The speech of the former Director General Research and Innovation of the European Commission wat titled: ‘From Brussels to Brainport’. Smits started his new role in March of last year. He shared his three main observations. His first observation is that the myth is reality. "The widely acclaimed innovation ecosystem that is called Brainport, works," says Smits. "The high-tech industry is flourishing thanks to the strong collaboration between industry, knowledge- and educational institutes and governments."
His second observation: there is enormous pride and solidarity in the region. "If VDL is not allowed to deliver buses to the province of Overijssel, we all feel the pain," says Smits. “If Philips presents a new technique for detecting lung cancer in an early stage, we are proud together. And if PSV loses, we all swear and grumble."
Finally, Smits shared his third observation. “Brainport is in an excellent position to become one of the global hotspots in the field of AI. Many companies and institutes in Brainport are already at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence and we recently established the Eindhoven Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute (AEISI). The TU/ e invests 100 million euros in this. Together with parties such as Fontys Hogescholen, Summa College, TNO, Tilburg University and the JADS, we will make a broad proposition for the upcoming Wopke fund. In 2020 we want to further 'brainportise' our EAISI initiative together with you!.”
The speech of the former Director General Research and Innovation of the European Commission wat titled: ‘From Brussels to Brainport’. Smits started his new role in March of last year. He shared his three main observations. His first observation is that the myth is reality. "The widely acclaimed innovation ecosystem that is called Brainport, works," says Smits. "The high-tech industry is flourishing thanks to the strong collaboration between industry, knowledge- and educational institutes and governments."
His second observation: there is enormous pride and solidarity in the region. "If VDL is not allowed to deliver buses to the province of Overijssel, we all feel the pain," says Smits. “If Philips presents a new technique for detecting lung cancer in an early stage, we are proud together. And if PSV loses, we all swear and grumble."
Finally, Smits shared his third observation. “Brainport is in an excellent position to become one of the global hotspots in the field of AI. Many companies and institutes in Brainport are already at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence and we recently established the Eindhoven Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute (AEISI). The TU/ e invests 100 million euros in this. Together with parties such as Fontys Hogescholen, Summa College, TNO, Tilburg University and the JADS, we will make a broad proposition for the upcoming Wopke fund. In 2020 we want to further 'brainportise' our EAISI initiative together with you!.”
