Construction of new Brighthouse officially underway

This afternoon at the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo the official starting signal was given for the construction of the Brighthouse. This will be the third building on the rapidly growing campus where startups, entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions and research institutes work together on innovation in the field of healthy and safe food.

Extension

The Brightlands Campus in Venlo currently consists of two buildings, the Innovatoren and Villa Flora. Many entrepreneurs and organizations have already taken up residence here and so the buildings are almost full. Ruud van Heugten, director of Campus Vastgoed Greenport Venlo, explains: "Because of the rapid growth we had to find new housing in time. For this, we cleverly used experiences at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, where two Brighthouses will come into use in 2019."

The new Brighthouse, which will house offices and laboratories, is a copy of the already existing Brighthouses on the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen. "Inventing the wheel over and over again is not innovative. Copying means lower costs, less chance of errors and faster construction. As a result, we can have this building available as early as mid-2021 and offer companies and institutions good office and laboratory space for rent."

Place to be

Province of Limburg, together with the municipality of Venlo, is investing over 18 million in the new building. According to Commissioner Hubert Mackus a logical step: "In 2017 we expressed the ambition to let the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo grow into 'place to be' for innovations in healthy and safe food, future farming and bio-circular economy. The construction of the Brighthouse is the next step within that development."

Erwin Boom is alderman for Economy, Labour Market and Higher Education in Venlo. "The arrival of the Brighthouse shows that the regional business community has also embraced Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo and that all parties involved have full confidence that the campus will help determine the future of Venlo and the region."

Magnet

The Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo is located in a region where the agrofood business is among the most productive, sustainable and profitable in the world. Saskia Goetgeluk is director of the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo and has no doubts about the necessity of the expansion: "For the connecting role of the Brightlands Campus it is important that a new research building is added. With these facilities, the Brightlands Campus will strengthen its position in the region, becoming an EU regional and national magnet for research and innovation for large and small companies. We expect solid growth, both in innovations, R&D and in numbers of companies."