Ambassador of India visits Eindhoven

Last week, the Indian flag waved on top of the town hall in Eindhoven as the Ambassador of India, Mr. Venu Rajamony, visited the city of Eindhoven.

15 December 2017

Last week, the Indian flag waved on top of the town hall in Eindhoven as the Ambassador of India, Mr. Venu Rajamony, visited the city of Eindhoven. At the Town hall he received a warm welcome by Mr. John Jorritsma, the mayor of Eindhoven.

The day was set as an introductory visit to Brabant and especially the Brainport Eindhoven region, The High Tech Hub of the Netherlands. A visit like this creates awareness for all the initiatives that are already taking place on the Indo-Dutch Corridor. And moreover it is instrumental to determine common denominators to further develop and strengthen the mutual relation between the region and India.

Lars de Vries - sr. project manager Foreign Investments

The day started with a warm welcome for the Ambassador by Mr. John Jorritsma, the mayor of Eindhoven. Given the fact that India has strong ambitions with its Smart Cities Mission, one of the topics presented during this meeting was Smart Cities, or rather Smart Society in Eindhoven. Eindhoven has a proven track record to use data and smart technologies to improve life in the city, using designated districts as a living labs and implement the strategy in an organic manner. One of these living labs is also supported by an Indian company.

Later in the morning, the Ambassador witnessed an impressive demonstration of autonomous robot football at Eindhoven University of Technology. In the presence of Anupam Nayak, COO of Medical Robotic Technologies, and students from the University of Technology, the autonomous robots showed their skills in care taking, household and soccer. It was a great meet-up where all parties learned from each other. Apparently, the students managed to program the autonomous football robots pretty well, as the penalty kicks were unstoppable for the Ambassador.

After these sportive activities, the Ambassador had an interactive lunch with a diverse group of Indian companies that are located in Brabant. The variety of these companies (IT, 3D printing, chemicals and manufacturing) are a good reflection of the diversity of the Indian companies that are currently looking into an establishment in Brabant, according to Lars de Vries.

In the past the interest from India for Brabant was mainly focused on IT related activities. Nowadays we see companies active in a variety of industries looking to set up their subsidiary here.

Lars de Vries - sr. project manager Foreign Investments

the afternoon, the Ambassador visited NXP Semiconductors and Philips in Eindhoven. These companies have significant operations in India and therefore a longstanding relationship with this country. Given the large Indian expat community the day was concluded to strengthen the ties with the Indo Dutch Association, which is active since 1995 in Eindhoven, and the Expat Spouse Initiative.

The Indian Ambassador ended his visit on saturday morning with a meet and greet with the Indian community in Eindhoven at The Hub.The city currently has almost 3,000 Indian inhabitants and no less than 30% of the students at the international school in Eindhoven have Indian roots.

BOM was very honored to organize this special program for this visit of the Indian Ambassador. De Vries: “My role is to attract, retain, create and foster relationships with the Indian companies that are an important factor to our economy. I am very proud to see the Indian businesses and Indian community flourish in Brabant. It was my personal honor to be able to host this auspicious day for the Indian Ambassador.”

An impression of the visit of the Indian Ambassador can be found here.

Source: Brabant Development Agency, E52, TU/e and Indian Embassy