A year and a half ago, broker Boers&Lem made the first contact between FPC and the University of Twente. STIPT. advocaten and Bloemendaal Bouwmanagement then supervised the transaction further on behalf of the owners in order to arrive at concrete plans and agreements. The signing of the Letter of Intent marked the start of the process of applying for, designing and building permits. The owners are also very pleased with this development and the arrival of FPC at their location. In addition to the development for FPC, another 6,500 m2 is available for other users. The expectation is that with the arrival of FPC at this location, this development will soon be fulfilled. The first interested parties have already registered.
Bridge between science and business
Area Director Kennispark Anne-Wil Lucas: “We are pleased that a solution has been found for the building that has been a thorn in many people’s eyes for years. And that solution is also a very nice one, because we would like to accommodate a knowledge institute like Fraunhofer Project Center (FPC) on our campus. Not only does FPC create a bridge between science and business and between students from the UT and companies at Kennispark, the FPC can also help existing companies at Kennispark to innovate. The building was vacant for a long time, but this is the destination that suits this beautiful place. We are now meeting with the owner, tenant and municipality to come up with a good design that suits the campus look that we want to achieve at Kennispark. The municipality of Enschede will think along with the owner and tenant about the design, since the building is one of the most important building blocks in the realisation of the area strategy and structural concept for Kennispark.”
New innovation hub: Advanced Manufacturing Center
Managing director Fraunhofer Project Center Biba Visnjicki: “With the exceptional support of the University of Twente we managed to find a location for Fraunhofer Project Center and our Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC). The AMC is an open innovation hub for companies interested in the latest manufacturing techniques, Smart Industry so to speak. The AMC is made possible by resources from the RegioDeal Twente. Through our extensive industrial network in Germany, we are able to further expand the industrial community to Twente and the rest of the Netherlands. We do this in cooperation with our German partner Fraunhofer Instituut voor Productietechnologie. To further strengthen that community, we are focusing on further expansion of the open innovation centre. One of the ways we are doing this is by offering training and digital services, as well as facilitating collaboration between companies and knowledge institutions. This will make the FPC and its innovation centre AMC the first international centre for advanced production in our region. I look forward to the opening next year.”
Construction of the new building is expected to start in 2020. Until then, Fraunhofer Project Center will remain housed at the UT in building De Horst.
