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Ingrid Meijer

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On 13 October, Think East Netherlands hosted the East Netherlands Defence Dinner in Brussels during the European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC). European regions, companies, knowledge institutions, governments and defence organisations came together to strengthen cooperation in defence and dual-use technology. The motto of this year's EWRC: Strong regions, strong Europe.East Netherlands was represented by Helga Witjes, Erwin Hoogland, Wendy de Jong and also executives from municipalities, universities of applied sciences, research universities, and economic boards. Representatives from several other European regions also joined the evening.<h3>From regional strengths to European collaboration</h3>East Netherlands has strong capabilities in Health &amp; Resilience, Autonomous &amp; Intelligent Systems and Strategic Supply Chains. These include medical technology, sensors, AI, robotics, cybersecurity, advanced materials, energy and smart manufacturing.The biggest opportunities arise when these strengths are connected with those of other European regions. No single region needs to have every capability in-house. Regions can complement each other.By connecting knowledge, production capacity, test facilities and companies, new opportunities emerge. This can help technologies move faster from development to testing, production and scale-up.<h3>What we take forward from Brussels</h3>The conversations during the dinner sparked new connections, shared insights and concrete opportunities for cooperation. Here are a few examples:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li data-list-item-id="e2e6a7f898098cabe01aa003a07b027f4">Scaling up requires a clear prospect of orders. Companies in East Netherlands and Central Finland face similar challenges: investments must be made well before orders arrive. Moving faster from innovation to procurement is essential to help companies scale up.</li><li data-list-item-id="ebae151da49ca00d206db8c05f14f8776">An interesting example from Finland: competence centres. These bring companies and knowledge institutions together to work on dual-use projects in areas such as cybersecurity and human performance. The centres also make their expertise visible to European partners, offering an inspiring model for East Netherlands.</li><li data-list-item-id="ef15f634fe9494b0eb4a5c87ef69e38e5">A concrete next step on semiconductors. An agreement was reached with the German network NMWP.NRW to organise a joint deep-dive session. This will explore how strengths on the German side align with Dutch plans and identify opportunities for cross-border cooperation.</li><li data-list-item-id="ecca51eaaab908d265f021dd6939bdb77">European cooperation calls for swift action. Discussions between companies, provinces, municipalities and European networks such as EURADA and ERRIN underlined the importance of working together. Herald Ruijters of DG DEFIS stressed the urgency: Ukraine urgently needs our support. Scaling up faster requires cooperation at regional, national and European levels, involving national ministries and supporting them wherever possible.</li></ul>These insights build on an earlier knowledge-sharing session in East Netherlands: companies need clarity on end users, testing, production, procurement and scaling up. The Defence Dinner brought that conversation to the European level during EWRC.<h3>Building on the connections</h3>Think East Netherlands will build on the contacts and agreements made during the EWRC in Brussels.We connect companies and knowledge institutions from East Netherlands with European regions and partners. This brings complementary strengths together and helps turn them into new collaborations.This is how European cooperation can lead to concrete projects, stronger value chains and new opportunities for companies and knowledge institutions.Read more about Make Defence Work and East Netherlands’ strengths in Defence &amp; Dual Use Technology: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://thinkeast.nl/en/makedefencework">Make Defence Work | Think East NL</a>

European regions strengthen cooperation on defence and dual use

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