A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE
FPC is a vital link between UT and the innovation park, where science becomes business. Cutting-edge technological knowledge from the research environment will be brought into the industrial environment to create smarter, better and faster products.
Anne-Wil Lucas Director of Kennispark Twente
The Fraunhofer Project Center has found a new home at the Enschede Kennispark, taking the place of the soon-to-be-demolished Mai building on the corner of Auke Vleerstraat-Hengelosestraat. This new location will be home for the FPC Open Innovation Center
in Manufacturing 4.0 called the Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC). The AMC will be a 1,000m2 shopfloor consisting of equipments, demonstrators, testbeds and training facilities supported by a digital backbone monitoring system health as well as extracting data for state-of-the-art AI.
Renowned for supporting companies digitize and innovate their equipment, production systems and processes, the FPC’s new innovation center fits in perfectly with Kennispark’s high-tech profile.
Handshake between innovation and business
Anne-Wil Lucas, the Kennispark director, was “pleased” to find a replacement for a building that “has been a thorn in so many people’s eyes”. This news is particularly satisfying, as it brings a knowledge institute like the FPC to our campus, which not only integrate science into business, or UT students and Kennispark companies, but also support SMEs and start-ups in the region.
Kennispark hosts hundreds of businesses in the technology sector, including the ticketing system software company Sqills and digital platform provider Equinix, totalling over five thousand employees. It offers numerous opportunities for funding and business networking as well as technological facilities.
In terms of its location, Lucas said that “though the Mai building was vacant for a long time, we think it’s the best spot for FPC. We’re now developing a design that best fits the kind of area strategy we want to achieve at Kennispark, and since this building is one of the most important building blocks in the overall area, the municipality of Enschede will review the design along with the owner and tenant.”
MANUFACTURING 4.0 is becoming an asset of the region
Managing director of the Fraunhofer Project Center, Biba Visnjicki, said that “it’s thanks to the exceptional support of the University of Twente that we got a location for the FPC and our AMC.”
FPC is settling with AMC in the Kennispark with a mission to enable fast transition in digitalization of manufacturing industries.
“We are focusing on SMEs and start-ups, especially nowadays, when their future is put under heavy load of economic uncertainties and unpredictable changes in the market.”
AMC will introduce new model of open innovation. Integrated knowledge of FPC partners will be enabling developments essential for machine builders, producers, product developers etc. Network and international recognition of FPC will be used to connect to knowledge available in the region and abroad and stimulate network beyond regional and nation boundaries.
AMC is first of three buildings planned for the Kennispark on the same site that are envisaged to become a major high-tech cluster to support the region.
