On February 22nd, Automotive Campus and Foundation Coast to Coast confirmed their cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. This took place at the campus in Helmond by Peter van Deventer on behalf of Ellen Hiep, President of the Foundation and by Pieter Rahusen, Business Development Manager at Automotive Campus. In the presence of Johann Beelen, USA Manager Brainport Development, who brought the two parties together and applauded the collaboration, "It is great to explore together how we can give sustainable mobility a new dimension."
California and the Netherlands both face sustainability challenges in many sectors of their economies, including Food & Agriculture, Water Management, Zero Emission Transport & Infrastructure, Smart Mobility, Health Technology and Energy Transition. California is, in many of these sectors within the United States, leading. The same is the case for the Netherlands' position within Europe. Both are considered gateways and have committed to strict action programs in the field of sustainability. This is in order to combat climate change and achieve the targets for reducing greenhouse gases and sustainable energy generation for 2030 and 2050.
In recent years, various government agencies of California and Dutch agencies have signed agreements regarding sustainability. For example, consider the Letter of Intent regarding environmental cooperation between the Environmental Protection Agency of the State of California and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2013 and 2015.
Dutch entities have subscribed to the Under2MoU signed by several Dutch provinces in 2015/2016 to develop sustainable transport and energy solutions, such as the Smart Charging Living Labs, Smart Mobility knowledge exchange and Policy Labs.
Automotive Campus
Automotive Campus is a dedicated public-private partnership campus that houses, encourages and grows startups from the sector. So do established companies and academic institutions. With unparalleled stakeholder leadership, Automotive Campus is uniquely positioned to accelerate the shift to smart and clean transportation solutions through private collaboration, public engagement and educational innovation.
Foundation Coast to Coast
Coast to Coast is a foundation that promotes the exchange of knowledge and innovation for smart and clean transportation solutions between U.S. and European partners, NGOs, academia and industry.
Since 2009, Coast to Coast has built a unique network in the US and Europe, and has contributed to several organizations that have established and/or accelerated their growth on both continents. Currently, the Foundation has agreed with the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCDavis (ITS) to host and foster startup companies on their campus. In addition, negotiations are underway for other campuses in the Bay Area and Central Valley.
Connecting networks and exchanging knowledge
Automotive Campus and Coast to Coast, in collaboration with Brainport Eindhoven, have successfully connected networks and exchanged knowledge in recent years. Examples include Lightyear and TU/e student team InMotion.
The campus organization has expressed its interest in housing and stimulating (start-up) American companies that are active in smart and clean transport solutions. For Coast to Coast, this concerns European companies in California.
Automotive Campus and Coast to Coast have agreed that they will:
1. Promote mutual exchange of information and knowledge related to smart and clean transportation solutions,
2. Introduce their members to each other's networks,
3. Actively identify companies that may want to locate at Automotive Campus in Helmond and/or the Coast to Coast ITS Campus, and guide them in doing so,
4. Collaborate on a possible "SHOW goes USA Tour" in 2022 to which Brainport Development has committed as a sponsor, similar to the successful "STELLA goes USA" Tours in 2014 and 2017, and also the "STORM goes USA" Tour in 2016.
This letter of intent will remain in effect for a period of three years.
