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The Belgian ambassador to the Netherlands, His Excellency Chris Hoornaert, today accompanies the Belgian royal couple during their visit to High Tech Campus Eindhoven.

It is not the first time that the diplomat takes a look around. On previous visits, he was very impressed by the innovation and design in the region.

How have you, as an ambassador, come to view the Brainport Eindhoven Region and what is it that makes this region interesting from a Belgian perspective?
"For the Belgian ambassador the Eindhoven region is, of course, an important region because it is close to the Belgian-Dutch border.  As part of my official visit to the province of Noord-Brabant, I was introduced to High Tech Campus Eindhoven and also paid a visit to Holst Centre.  The open innovation environment made a real impact on me. I also recall clearly how impressed I was by the demonstration of flexible OLED displays.

My visit a few months later in October 2015 to the Dutch Design Week also confirmed this - especially in terms of the power of imagination and innovation amongst so many young people as well as the digital applications which greatly appealed to me. After this visit, my interest in this region has grown and I have been able to discover a number of other nice trump cards of the region: the wonderful music venue, the fantastic PSV accommodation, the intimacy of villa De Laak.

The enthralling talents of the former Mayor Van Gijzel also proved to be a guiding light. Eindhoven is so close to Belgium that a common local culture is already evident; the proximity creates the kind of close collaboration that is matter-of-course at for example Holst Centre. Cross-border co-working and co-living are also rather common here."

Why are the King and Queen visiting this region in particular as part of their state visit?
"The King and Queen are visiting this region because it continues to be a focus not to confine them to the Randstad. Brabant has, of course, special significance for our King. The cross-border cooperation provides an additional dimension. The innovative approach and power of the region to change the focus into future-oriented economic sectors ensures that the interest is deeply rooted. To be able to find out about the magic formula that the ‘triple helix’ signifies for the region also offers an additional motivation, of course. And when there are specific successful collaborative projects with Belgian partners, such a visit is a sign of esteem for the effective and concrete collaboration there."