Royal couple on a visit to Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visited Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo this morning. The royal couple were updated on the latest developments in the field of healthy food and innovative agrifood and on positive health in the context of the Healthiest Region.

The king and queen arrived at ten o'clock at Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo where they were welcomed by director Saskia Goetgeluk. The couple then participated in a lively circle discussion led by the Chairman of the Healthiest Region Mayor Ryan Palmen of Horst aan de Maas. Leaders Machteld Huber and Hans Peter Jung of Positive Health, chairman Léon Faassen of the Limburg Land and Horticulture Association (LLTB) and Saskia Goetgeluk outlined to the royal couple the importance of the innovative ecosystem on and around the campus and the movement around Positive Health as foundations underpinning North Limburg's ambition to become the healthiest region.

Innovating together

The power of innovation as the basis for the healthiest region was then fully discussed during a visit to the innovation market with various companies and researchers in Villa Flora on the campus. At BASF Vegetable Seeds, the royal couple spoke about the importance of high-quality seeds and vegetable varieties for sustainable and healthy eating. At Janssen Ei, they were introduced to the sustainable egg concept Blei. Scelta Inside and Brightlabs showed the unique nutrients in mushrooms.

Photo: Province of Limburg

Youth

At the Innovation Market, the king and queen got a good idea of how the campus ecosystem works and how parties innovate together. Kokkerelli/ Kids University for Cooking and the special chair for Youth, Nutrition and Health at Maastricht University are striking examples of this. During the meeting with the kids, the royal couple got to see in practice how the campus approach works, for example to encourage young people to choose healthy food.

High Tech

This also applies to Minitree and Agrowizard. They demonstrated their jointly developed fully automatic thickness gauge that can measure the stem thickness of avenue and fruit trees on a plot. Neessen Strawberry and Asparagus Plants and AVL motion showed the jointly developed asparagus robot that ensures that the asparagus grower delivers better quality asparagus with less harvesting personnel.

Positive Health

The royal couple showed particular interest in the Positive Health program. A program developed in Limburg with healthy food as a basis, which is now taking root in many other regions in the Netherlands and abroad. The underlying idea is that 50% of chronic diseases can be prevented by healthy living. Positive Health looks at promoting resilience and self-management of people. Experiences in general practice have shown that 25% less patients are referred to the hospital, that patients are more satisfied, that less medication is prescribed and that healthcare professionals take more pleasure in their work.

Quick growth

During their farewell, the royal couple expressed that they were very impressed by the power, creativity, knowledge and entrepreneurship on the campus and by the rapid growth that the Venlo Brightlands campus is experiencing as part of the Brightlands ecosystem, according to Saskia Goetgeluk.