NEWS

The launching of the Brainport AI-hub

24 November 2020

In the ecosystem around Eindhoven, Helmond, Den Bosch, Tilburg and Breda, the AI-hub Brainport has been launched. The AI-hub Brainport brings together the regional business community, educational and knowledge institutions, and public organizations in Brabant to strengthen activities around Artificial Intelligence (AI) by making them more compatible with each other.

The goal is to further expand existing partnerships at the intersection of AI and knowledge development, educational development, professional education, societal challenges and jointly supporting startups, scale-ups and SMEs. The AI Hub Brainport is part of the national AI program developed by the Dutch AI Coalition (NL AIC).

Brainport ecosystem
The Brainport ecosystem has a long tradition of open innovation, close cooperation between public and private parties, the many innovative companies that know how to find each other easily, and a large private willingness to invest. In particular because of the strength of large and small international high-tech market leaders and suppliers, and their proven capacity to conceive, develop, manufacture and market high-tech systems together. Through its unique combination of high-end technical expertise and traditional systems thinking, Brainport can also play an important role for new AI solutions and applications in the field of high-tech industry, mobility and medical technology and welfare.

Brainport has been making a significant commitment to developing and applying AI for years. For example, with 137 AI-related patents, Noord-Brabant is in the top four of European regions with the most AI patents. However, it is not only the companies but also the knowledge institutions that are pushing for a stronger focus on the possibilities of AI. Ultimately, a large part of regional earning power will be realized through the application of AI in the products and services that the region produces. Besides the economic aspect of AI, the human aspect also plays an important role in the AI hub Brainport. Moreover, the social acceptance of AI is an important point of attention.

Human capital
Companies in the region are increasingly looking for personnel with knowledge of data technology and AI. Between May 2019 and May 2020, over 4,000 vacancies came online in Brainport asking for staff with knowledge of data science, data analytics, robotics and machine learning. The higher education institutions in Brabant are increasingly and better focusing on training people in the field of data technology and AI, in line with the demand on the labor market. The educational institutions work together in the AI-hub Brainport to offer matching programs and to make it more attractive for Dutch and international students to choose a study in data and AI.

In addition to inflow from education, retraining is also very important. Despite the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, the region still has a tight labor market, especially for IT and technical professions. Therefore, retraining of staff particularly for data and AI professions is an important part of the plans of the AI Hub Brainport.

Connection to national ambitions
The ambitions of the AI-hub Brainport are in line with the action agenda of the Dutch AI Coalition. Recently, the AI-hub Brainport received the so-called kickstart funding from the Dutch AI Coalition. With the formation of the hub, consortia and cooperation with other regions are strengthened and the AiNed report "Accelerate, Enlarge and Connect" and the Action Agenda of the Dutch AI Coalition are followed up.

Partners
The AI Hub Brainport is an initiative of BOM, Brainport Development, Brainport Industries, Fontys Colleges, High Tech Campus Eindhoven (AI Innovation Center), Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, Tilburg University, TNO and TU/e (EAISI institute). The business community, educational and knowledge institutions, governments and campuses have joined in the form of ASML, Automotive Campus, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Bosch Security Systems, Breda University of Applied Science, Canon Production Printing, Demcon, High Tech Software Cluster, Mindlabs, NXP Semiconductors, Philips, Prodrive Technologies, Province of North Brabant, Signify, Sioux, Summa College, ThermoFisher, VanderLande, VDL Groep, and more. Where possible, the hub seeks to connect with or build on existing initiatives in the region.

AI hubs elsewhere in the country
In addition to the start of the AI hub Brainport, AI hub Noord-Nederland, AI hub Zuid-Holland, and the AI hub Oost-Nederland recently started as network organizations. Together, the AI hubs act as a common point of contact for companies and knowledge institutions in the region that want to work with AI. Click here for more information.