The High Tech Campus attracts the best people from around the world. The campus employs people of 85 different nationalities. The same applies to the campus of ASML. Eindhoven is therefore extremely international. And it shows in the city.

More than one in ten Eindhovenaren now has a different nationality than the Dutch.

So many nationalities, so many wishes. Take Shinjan Dasgupta, an expat from India who has lived in metropoles for hijs whole life until the day he could develop his startup Proxible at the High Tech Campus. He misses the chaos of the big city, the 24-hour raging hurricane of people. It goes without saying: he won’t find that in Eindhoven within the next couple of years.

Other needs can be met better. An international health center at Strijp-S for example: recently built out of dissatisfaction among the expats with the Dutch health system. There is a doctor and soon a pharmacy, physiotherapist, midwife and dentist. In a later stage, one should be able to go there for psychological and psychiatric help.

Another important project is the Spouse Support Program. It’s still difficult for the partners of the internationals to get a job or a training - or even voluntary work. Expat Spouses Initiative attempts to change that. Worksops and training are organised, and the Initiative has come up with an overview of the expertise of all the partners of expats. In this way, the employers have a better view of their qualities.

Sometimes it takes time to suit all needs. The international school for example has reached a level of occupancy in which further growth is hardly possible. The school, the local government and the international businessesnow have come up with a plan to enable expansion. The school is essential in the ambition of the city to attract more expats. In fact: no school, no new expats.

Besides the school the Expat Center plays an important role for companies looking for staff from outside the Netherlands. The Expat Center takes care of all the red tape, most large companies know it by now. It provides the official papers (such as Social Security number and residence permit), but also helps the new Eindhovenaren and their families in getting familiarized with the city.

Director Kris de Prins, himself a Belgian expat, is also regularely in The Hague. His parliamentary lobby focuses on simplifying procedures, rules, bureaucracy. Prins: "We do this together with the other expat centers in the country and this is so very important. With the special startup visa we have made an important step, but there are still many other barriers to be removed."

It is not at all surprising that so many different nationalities found their way to the Brainport Region. Pieter Noordzij is business development manager of Brainport Development, the organisation that focuses on the economic growth in the region. "The overall growth of the economy between 2003 and 2013 was one and a half times higher than nationally." It’s one of the reasons for The Financial Times to give Eindhoven a high ranking in its Foreign Direct Investment Index (fDi) in terms of good investment climate.

At research centre Holst "at least half of employees are not from the Netherlands", according to director Ton van Mol. "They don’t mind to travel, some of them even do’nt live in Eindhoven. We might think, phew, Amsterdam, that’s a long way from home. But for foreigners Amsterdam is really around the corner. Just like Brussels or Berlin. It’s all very close."

For foreign startups, Eindhoven is also is a popular place to settle. From here, they can reach all the countries in Europe. Like the German startup Sonormed, which has devised a solution for tinnitus with their product Tinnitracks. They allow people with tinnitus to listen to music through headphones. Manager Erwin van Eijden of EIT ICT Labs: "They have been here last year to launch their product. We organized the entire logistics around it for them. If only because it takes place on the High Tech Campus, journalists will come and listen."