BASF new shareholder in Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo

BASF Vegetable Seeds will join Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo B.V. as a shareholder as of January 1, 2020. The agreement between BASF Vegetable Seeds, Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo and shareholders Maastricht University and Province of Limburg was signed on September 27, 2019. The arrival of this international company shareholder completes the public-private partnership of the Brightlands campus in the agrifood (EU) region.

For BASF Vegetable Seeds, the participation is of strategic importance because of the innovations and research around healthy and safe food, future farming and bio-circular economy at the Venlo Brightlands campus. BASF is looking forward to the cooperation in the field of research and development and sees opportunities for co-creation of new vegetable concepts.

Sharing knowledge

BASF is one of the largest vegetable seed companies in the world, with its brand Nunhems®. "This partnership is in line with our ambition to make healthy eating more attractive by offering vegetable solutions that are more in line with consumer needs," said Vicente Navarro, Senior Vice President of BASF Vegetable Seeds. "In our view, we can only do this by sharing knowledge together and pursuing collaboration with partners in the chain and beyond. The campus with its focus on nutrition, health, new sustainable cultivation techniques and the presence of companies and knowledge institutions, offers unique opportunities for this."

Milestone

Saskia Goetgeluk, director of Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo, is very pleased with BASF as a third shareholder. "It is an important milestone for us as a campus: with this, we are combining the innovative forces of industry, government and knowledge institutions even further. We have a lot to offer each other, I look forward to the cooperation."

Place to be

Shareholders of the first hour are Maastricht University and the Province of Limburg: they founded Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo in 2017. Deputy Hubert Mackus, with Agriculture, Landscape and Mobility in his portfolio, says that at the time the ambition was expressed for Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo to become the 'place to be' in the field of healthy and safe food, future farming and bio-circular economy. "Since then, the campus has grown significantly and we are fully committed to a successful collaboration between partners from government, education and industry. We are delighted that BASF is joining as a third shareholder and sees opportunities in innovation and research."

Solid impulse

Joost van den Akker, deputy for Economy, Education and Sport of the Province of Limburg, also believes that the connection with BASF is of great importance for the further development of Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. "BASF's commitment gives a solid impulse to the international growth of Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo."

Ecosystem

Shareholder Maastricht University is also pleased with the arrival of BASF. Nick Bos, vice-chairman of the Executive Board of Maastricht University: "With BASF we have a triple helix partner that can provide a constructive and valuable addition to the total spectrum of nutrition. From the entrepreneurial side, a renowned company like BASF can contribute to the further development of the ecosystem that the campus aims to provide for entrepreneurs, students and researchers."

Source: Brightlands