1. The Netherlands Food Valley Cluster – University-Industry Cooperation
Conference on International Competitiveness and Cooperation
Ankara, 4th June 2013
J.G. Wissema
Delft University of Technology
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2. Wissema Consulting Ltd
High tech clusters
A high-tech cluster = a cluster of high-tech enterprises
High-tech clusters are preferably located as part of a ‘know-how hub’ of which a university is the centre
A ‘know-how hub’ comprises industrial and public R&D institutions, (higher) technical schools and all kinds of specialists and facilitators
Such high-tech clusters can be remarkably successful, vide Silicon Valley
Fortunately, the principle of high-tech clusters also applies to other sectors than IT
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3. Where can entrepreneurs be found?
Agriculture
Property agents and realtors
Academics in scientific and engineering specialties
Pharmacists
Geologists
Hospitality
Accountancy IT
Luke Johnson, Financial Times, 22 May, 2013
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4. Agriculture – high tech?
In NL, agriculture is family-owned; it has an entrepreneurial culture
3% of the population works in agriculture (30% in TR)
Agriculture produces 2.2% of GDP
NL has only 2.3 million hectares of arable land, 68% of total land
Yet, export is 72 billion Euro, 2nd largest after US
How can a small, highly populated and industrialised country with a horrible climate produce this result?
Answer: we made agriculture high-tech
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5. Wissema Consulting Ltd
Role of Wageningen UR
A staff of 6,500 and 10,000 students from over 100 countries work everywhere around the world in the domain of agriculture and food processing
In terms of scientific output WUR is the 4th largest institute in the world in this area
Core is Wageningen University and ten specialised institutes for applied research, including economics and logistics
The research institutes are financed by the government, commercial businesses and non-profit organisations
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‘Food Valley’
Some 200 food and agricultural enterprises collaborate with Wageningen UR, including Heinz, Danone, Friesland/Campina, Avebe and AkzoNobel
There are many facilities to support start-ups, mostly in high-tech specialised areas and working around the globe
Many international enterprises have research facilities near the grounds of WUR: Unilever, DSM, Keygene, Heinz, Nestlé, Givaudan, Campina, Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Noldus IT, TNO Process Innovation and many others
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7. The know-how infrastructure
WUR ‘feeds’ a multi-specialised force of specialists in extension services who advise farmers on a wide range of subjects (which seeds, which fertilisers, which pesticides and when)
It also ‘feeds’ a number of model farms and showrooms
The Food Valley Innovation Link acts as the transfer bureau for SMEs
A higher professional school is part of WUR
WUR ‘feeds’ lower professional schools
A specialised bank (Rabo) is part of the infrastructure
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Conclusions
The basis is fundamental research
There is a ‘chain’ from the scientists to the users of knowledge and vice versa
There is a strong common understanding and culture
This makes the research highly effective and it has turned an originally low-tech industry into a high-tech one with an immense export potential
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9. Wageningen as an example of a 3rd generation university
Private R&D
institutions
Scientific
research and
education
Technostarters
R&D
departments of
companies,
Technoparks
Know how carousel: the more
elements, the more the others are
reinforced. Synergy and scale
create winners
Financial
infrastructure
Professional
support
organisations
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10. Wissema Consulting Ltd
Can the model be copied?
There needs to be a common goal and a balance between competition and collaboration
Research without a know-how infrastructure has limited value. The three ‘pillars’ of WUR are: research, education and extension services
The government has to supply finance for basic research and part of the applied research
Fundamental research is the source of everything
But: it takes a few generations to build it up
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