Businesses, educational institutions, and the municipality join forces for the future of Zoetermeer

That is why representatives from the business community, the education sector, and the government gathered at the Dutch Innovation Factory on September 22. During this meeting, chaired by Marcel Veening, they launched the Triple Helix Zoetermeer 2040 initiative.

Zoetermeer as a City of Digital Innovation

Otto Jelsma, Triple Helix project initiator, presented the results of his exploratory study. One possible direction for development is to further develop Zoetermeer into a city of applied digital innovation. By linking digitalization to the city’s strong sectors, new opportunities will arise for entrepreneurs, education, and talent.

There’s already a lot going on in Zoetermeer. Take, for example, the Dutch Innovation Park and the Techniekplein. Entrepreneurs, educational institutions, and network partners such as Siemens, Haagbouw, ZWconnect, Dutch Innovation Community, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, mboRijnland, and Unicoz Onderwijsgroep are working in various locations to promote innovation and talent development.

During the meeting, three real-world examples demonstrated the benefits of this collaboration:

• Cyber Security Living Lab: Peter Roelofsma of The Hague University of Applied Sciences spoke about this initiative organized by the research group.
• Experimentation Center: Arianne Riedijk of mboRijnland demonstrated how education and real-world practice come together here.
• Techniekplein: Olaf Polders, director of Haagbouw, spoke about this initiative.

These examples illustrate what is already happening in Zoetermeer and where opportunities exist to further strengthen collaboration.

Building Zoetermeer’s Future Together

Zoetermeer was built as a “New Town” with an eye toward the future. Today, the city is once again entering a new phase of development. In line with the Zoetermeer 2040 Environmental Vision, we aim to bring businesses, education, and government closer together. In this way, we will strengthen existing initiatives and create new opportunities for the city and the region.

"In Zoetermeer, businesses, educational institutions, and the government are already collaborating extensively. The next step is to harness that strength and scale it up: from great initiatives to a collective capacity for development and implementation for the city and the region," said Lisette Sandifort, alderwoman of Zoetermeer.

Next Steps

The meeting on September 22 marked the beginning of further collaboration. In the coming period, business leaders, the education sector, and government will work together to determine which opportunities they want to pursue and which existing initiatives they want to further develop.

To that end, we bring the right partners together and explore what is needed to move initiatives forward. We also agree on what each party can contribute. In this way, we take the step together from connecting to developing and implementing, for Zoetermeer and the region.