Maastricht manufacturing industry makes way for smart, sustainable and innovative companies

Fewer and fewer people are working in the traditional Maastricht manufacturing industry. And when the city's glass factory closes early next year, hundreds more jobs will be lost in this sector. Still, there is little gloom as the focus is now on sustainable and innovative companies.

An example is the company Qorium on the Brightlands campus in Maastricht. There, nearly 20 highly educated people are working on the development of cultured leather.

World first

When this world first comes on the market in a few years, the benefits will be great. Production requires far less water and chemicals than a traditional tannery. And the skin from slaughtered cows will become superfluous. According to entrepreneur Rutger Ploem, cultured leather will eventually provide many new jobs: "How many exactly is still unclear, but it will be substantial." He hopes the first leather factory will ever be built in Maastricht.

Manufacturing industry

Maastricht's alderman for economic affairs, Hubert Mackus, regrets another job loss in the ceramic industry following the previously announced closure of the glass factory in March 2026. But the city has adapted more often in the past. "I still believe in the manufacturing industry, because without making something what do you produce?"

Smart and sustainable

Together with the Maastricht Brightlands campus, every effort is being made to make new innovative companies succeed. This, in turn, creates new jobs in the region. But looking into the future remains difficult, says Alderman Mackus: "I believe that the biggest company in ten years in Maastricht may not exist now. And that's the interesting thing about all the developments on our campus." Currently, only just under ten percent of Maastricht's workforce still works in the traditional manufacturing industry.

Skilling

The economy of the future will require different skills from people as the mass production of the past gives way to smart, small-scale entrepreneurs. The manufacturing industry is not disappearing, but it is going to look different, Brightlands director Christine Coch also emphasizes, "I think that with retraining and retraining we can certainly help people from the traditional manufacturing industry to find new jobs. Even employees who are now losing their jobs at the glass factory."

More information: L1