Innovating together in the Factory of the Future

Brainport Industries Campus (BIC), together with the High Tech Campus and the TU/e Campus, forms the smart triangle of Brainport Region Eindhoven. Michel Weeda of BOM is responsible for the innovation program at BIC: “Our goal is to make technical innovations available to the high-tech manufacturing industry in Brabant as quickly as possible.”

Program manager Michel Weeda of BOM thinks BIC is a genuine Brabant initiative: “Collaboration is in the DNA of ‘the Brabander’ and we often work together on the campus. But it is certainly not an exclusive Brabant party. Most innovation projects involve companies and knowledge institutions from all over the country. There is also increasing interest in the concept of BIC from abroad.”

Make what you think
“The campus is a fantastic place to flexibly produce, learn, innovate and also recreate in the future. This has a tremendous attraction for talent and activity of international allure. This innovative strength is of great importance to further expand the lead we have in the high-tech manufacturing industry. In addition to smart heads, we also need very technical skills to be able to make increasingly complex products in small series with a lot of variety. Brainport may be one of the smartest regions in the world, we also need the people and facilities to make what is conceived here ourselves and market it internationally.”

Building the future
Weeda works in the BOM’s office in the heart of BIC, the Atrium. There you will also find the fieldlabs of the Factory of the Future, the innovation program for which he is responsible. “Here we are building the future of Brabant, together with a large number of public and private parties. Weeda: “The BOM has played an important role in the development of the program and the cooperation between those parties. It evidentely helps that the Province of Noord-Brabant supports innovations in the high-tech industry with financial resources and with a good policy.”

100 companies, 10 projects
The Factory of the Future is growing fast. About 100 companies and knowledge institutions are now working together in ten projects. The common goal: to implement technical innovations as quickly as possible: in the production chain, the logistics chain and in your own company. Weeda: “We now have a 3D print lab, test setups for the use of robotics and assembly with co-bots and a software competence center where virtual production systems and digital twins are tested. We are working on demo centers for data analysis, artificial intelligence and for the sustainable use of production resources in the high-tech industry. It is important to add that all these facilities are certainly not exclusive to companies located on campus. We work together with companies and knowledge institutions from all over the Netherlands and we are busy setting up international partnerships.”