Smart Materials & Chemistry
Chemistry is essential to the Dutch economy, with around 75,000 jobs and annual revenues totalling some 40 billion euros. In global terms, the Dutch chemistry and chemical industry is a world leader in sectors like basic chemistry, food ingredients, coatings and high-performance materials. This has enabled the Netherlands to play a key role in achieving Europe’s ambition to become the world’s most dynamic, competitive knowledge economy. This leading position is also evident from the strength of exports, with chemistry exports representing almost 20% of all Dutch exports and Japan being a major importer of Dutch chemical products. A favourable location, the availability of natural gas and strong innovative companies are the cornerstones of the chemistry sector’s success, enhanced by the high-tech knowledge infrastructure in the Southeast Netherlands.
Opportunities
Learn more about the opportunities in smart materials & chemistry
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Learn more about the talents that inhabit the brainport region
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Chemelot: the chemical innovation community
Chemelot is a unique chemical and materials community that ensures accelerated business growth through the open exchange of ideas. Chemelot has been planned around one central idea: to bring together the knowledge and skills normally found only in major organizations, and to apply these within a flexible community of small and large chemical businesses, radically changing the view of the chemical industry.
Materials of Olympic standard
DSM developed the new Olympic yacht (470) for 2008 silver medalists Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout. The composite materials used to make the yacht ensure a rigid structure and minimum weight, and the Dyneema plastic fibres provide the world’s strongest sailing lines.
Plastics...too valuable to throw away
Reducing weight for Audi and BMW
Brabant Alucast Products has reduced the weight of a roof system for Audi and a bedplate for BMW bij 30% by switching from aluminium to magnesium
pressure die-
casting.
synthetic organic clay
Perkalite, which is an Akzo Nobel Product, is a synthetic organic clay that acts as a flame retardant in applications such as wires and cables used in Construction. Perkalite also increases the strength of packaging materials and is used in applications such as car tyres.
Nano technology for everyday use
Kriya focuses on high-end optical coatings for everyday applications using the company’s propietary nano-dispersion technology. The technology is used in coating materials for electronic and film applications, such as the LCD and touch panel industry and heat-stop coating for car windows to better regulate the tempature in cars.
PROTACT - Polymer coated steel
Protact from Corus is packaging steel with a protective plastic layer, which combines the traditional strength of the packaging with the protection afforded by plastic against rust and aggressive substances.
Trespa panels
Trespa offers sustainable, colourfast and freeform panels to enable architects to achieve their ideal indoor and outdoor designs. They supplied panels for stands , walls, sanitary installations and facades for Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon and the olympic Water Cube in Beijing.