Innovating in Flevoland: strength through connection

The challenges are there too. Costs are rising: last year alone, collective bargaining wages went up by about 30 per cent, and every euro added at the front has to be recouped somewhere at the back. Moreover, modern consumers want to know what they are buying, where it comes from and how it was produced. This is forcing growers and producers to increasingly fine-tune their supply to what the market demands. And in the manufacturing industry, there is another problem: how do you keep up with technological developments that are going faster and faster, and how do you attract young people to a sector they hardly know yet?

The clusters respond by tackling challenges together. Robots are taking over repetitive processes on the factory floor, and drones are monitoring fields more accurately than ever. Innovation and a progressive outlook are in Flevoland's DNA, said Sjoerd Keijser, director of the ICNOP.

Fifty companies in open cultivation share through Agrofoodcluster not only contacts but also innovations, from precision agriculture to smart data systems that help growers focus on quality. Together, Groningen, Friesland and Flevoland account for almost 60% of the total Dutch seed potato area, some 28,000 hectares; a uniquely large agricultural area that, with the right management, can become an international example. And Agrofoodcluster builds on this: ties with foreign delegations ensure that the cluster's innovations find their way to the international market, allowing the region to play along at global level.

On the other hand, ICNOP does the same for the manufacturing industry. Through the Smart Industry programme, the cluster brings the latest developments in robotics and automation to its member companies, knowledge that does not stay within the region but finds its way to diverse sectors, such as defence. In doing so, it is also becoming increasingly clear that the two clusters have also found cooperation among themselves.

It is therefore no wonder that more and more young people are finding their way to Flevoland. The Technohub Noordoostpolder shows how that works: since 2021, companies from the metal and agricultural sector, educational institutions, Agrofood Cluster and ICNOP have been working together to create a place where students and employees have the space to experiment with new technologies, from cobot robot arms to AI. Those who learn here do so directly in the context of the region where you also want to work, and for many students the step to a job in that same region is therefore small.

Many companies here are also family businesses, where ownership is still really in the business. That is very attractive for the young starter still plotting his own path: your contribution is visible, you are seen and heard, and you have room to grow. That kind of involvement inspires, and ultimately attracts people who want to build something.

Flevoland has only existed for forty years, but don't let that young age fool you. Indeed, it is exactly what drives the region: the space to build, invent and innovate without the burden of how things have always been. And the ambition is also there to do more: focus more heavily on what makes the region strong and actively attract the knowledge that is still missing.

Companies and area know where they want to be, and are investing in it. This is reflected in the technology deployed on land, in initiatives such as the Technohub, Innovally and the Mobility and Infrastructure Test Centre (MITC), and in the way knowledge is shared here.

Flevoland writes its own story, Flevoland makes future.