The Hague has announced the first plans for facilitating the chip industry in the Eindhoven region. Of the €450,000,000 for education, €275,000,000 goes to the Brainport Region.
That is 63 per cent of Project Beethoven’s education budget. Ministers Miljaarts, Economic Affairs and Minister Bruijns Education, Culture and Sciences) announced this today. The ministers based the plans on an advisory report written by former Philips CEO Hans de Jong. He wrote the plan in consultation with the important players in the chip sector, including ASML and suppliers.
The money is needed to facilitate the growth of the microchip industry in the region. In the coming years, ASML in particular expects to experience enormous growth, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the region.
Phases
The money is spent in phases. €80,000,000 will be made available until 2026, €150,000,000 will be made available until 2029 and €20,000,000 will be available until 2030. The regions must also first carefully develop their plans for each educational level before they can claim the millions. Whether the objectives of training sufficient technical staff are achieved will be closely monitored by The Hague.
Other regions
In addition to Eindhoven, millions also flow to Twente, Delft and Groningen. However, those regions have significantly less to spend. Twente can look forward to 17 per cent (€7,000,000), Delft to 10 per cent (€43,000,000).
There are already companies in the chip sector in Twente and Delft. There are hardly any such companies in Groningen, although there is a lot of potential, according to the authors of the report. Groningen therefore receives 7 per cent (€29,000,000) of the money.
Student grants
In addition to the money that goes to the regions, €10,000,000 will be reserved for the expected increase in student financing. €5,000,000 will be set aside for support services. This means that €43,000,000 of the €45,000,000 has a specific destination and €15,000,000 remains in the budget.
Brake
The money from The Hague is desperately needed, especially in the Brainport Region, to facilitate growth. TU/e previously announced that it would have to put a brake on its own growth ambitions because The Hague wants to structurally allocate less money to education. At the same time, the number of students at Fontys is declining, while tens of thousands of jobs will be created in the region in the coming years.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
