‘Look! Up here!’ Groningen launches new campaign to put city in national policy programme

The city of Groningen, through its ‘Akkoord van Groningen’ is looking to place itself at the top of the Dutch governments upcoming post-Coronavirus recovery plans with a shiny new campaign called “Hallo Horizon”, reports the GIC.

The campaign puts forward that Groningen can play an important role thanks to the University of Groningen, Hanze and Campus Groningen. These all add up, “Hallo Horizon” suggests to a world-class knowledge economy based on hydrogen development, healthy ageing, and more.

The aim is to get the city on the national action agenda, as the Groningen metropolitan region. In the coming years, the Groningen institutions want to work together with policymakers in The Hague on solutions to issues that the Netherlands is currently grappling with, such as the climate crisis, the Coronavirus pandemic and its associated economic recession.

The Netherlands can emerge from the crises stronger, healthier and more sustainably by investing in Campus Groningen, hydrogen infrastructure, a regional prevention fund and in the Lifelines biobank. The Hague government can help with this by designating Groningen as the hydrogen region of the Netherlands and experimental region for the healthcare of the future. The institutions united in the Groningen Agreement, with a national action agenda for the Groningen metropolitan region, want to work with The Hague to ensure that Groningen knowledge and innovations contribute even more to the national earning capacity.

Global issues, Groningen answers

The Groningen Metropolitan Area plays a key role in the many transitions of the twenty-first century. “Groningen is the sixth biggest city in the Netherlands. The Groningen Metropolitan Area is the engine for the new European hydrogen economy and the testing ground for a healthy and vital life after Coronavirus. With this we solve worldwide problems. Groningen plays a pioneering role in this and, together with the government, we want to make even better use of the knowledge and innovation from Groningen for the Netherlands”, says Koen Schuiling, Mayor of Groningen.

Dick Pouwels, chairman of the Executive Board of Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen says: “With the fastest growing campus in the Netherlands, we are a flywheel for the innovative strength, the international competitive position and the earning capacity of the Netherlands. With a national action agenda, we want to contribute to the Groningen citizens. making the knowledge economy even bigger for the Netherlands and the world. At the same time, we improve the broad prosperity in Groningen.”

There’s even a shiny, shiny, marketing video:

Photo by OC Gonzalez on Unsplash