Walk-in buffet lunch to celebrate the opening of the 2024 Japan Brabant Innovation Days

We expect to welcome over 150 CEOs and representatives from Japanese research organisations, universities, high-tech companies and clever startups. Please arrive early to enjoy the walk-in buffet lunch. We will have typical Dutch appetisers.

Opening remarks from the Vice-Governor, Province of Noord Brabant

Opening remarks from the Vice-Governor, Province of Noord Brabant. He heads the delegation of companies and research organisations visiting Japan. He represents the organisation that is organising the Brabant Innovation Days

Opening Video Presentation

On November 13th, several breakthrough technologies from Dutch research institutions and scaleups will showcase their innovations as they leave the lab and scale up for mass manufacture. Here's an overview of the topics presented this year.

Daan de Cloe - Brabant Development Agency

We will hear from Daan de Cloe of the Brabant Development Agency who will share his keynote presentation. The BOM has been a partner for several Brabant Innovation Days and they are key in building a sustainable future for our high-tech region of the Netherlands. You will see they are very active in building bridges with Japanese companies in both Brabant and here in Japan. He will also reveal how the BOM is acting as a successful catalyst for start up like the ones we will see today.

Entrepreneurship is the main driver of innovation and innovation is the solution for societal challenges. Powered by in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience, Brabant Development Agency (BOM) understands the prerequisites for successful innovation and what it takes to develop and grow ecosystems with a competitive knowledge and market position on a global scale.

The latest from TNO Holst Centre

The impact of AI, flexible electronics and consumer health patches on international public health. 

Aikon Health - TNO Spinout

Developments in Printing of Flexible Electronics

Ashok Sridhar has been a regular participant in Brabant Innovation Days while working for TNO Holst Centre. Now he heads a brand new electronics manufacturing facilty in Eindhoven that is set to revolutionise flexible electronics by scaling up great ideas from the lab. TracXon Tech is addressing the escalating issue of e-waste from obsolete electronic and photonic devices. Just 12% of e-waste is recycled and most printed circuit boards are not printed but etched. But TracXon is now scaling production of printed flexible electronics, enabling easier recovery of valuable materials at the end of product life. Japan has been a trailblazer in establishing an electronic waste recycling programme, it still confronts substantial hurdles, with only 24-30% of total e-waste being recycled. At the same time, the remainder ends up in landfills. 

Onera Health - Transforming sleep medicine

Onera Health is a leading MedTech & DeepTech company headquartered in Eindhoven (Netherlands) on a mission to make sleep diagnostics and monitoring available to all. Their end-to-end solutions are enabled by innovations in semiconductors, printed electronics, machine learning algorithms, and cloud technology, and are poised to help millions of people struggling with sleep disorders, ultimately improving the health and quality of life of patients worldwide.

Panel discussion 1: Scaling Up

Helen Kardan began her career at Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. in Japan and developed her career across the US, Europe and Asia. Prior to joining ASML in 2018, she worked for Eindhoven University of Technology and TNO. Possessing extensive experience in various senior leadership roles, Kardan brings value to TNO with her expertise in growth strategy and value chain management in high-tech domains such as semiconductor, medtech and automotive.

Rejoining TNO, Kardan is now responsible for executing a top-notch science and technology strategy to create breakthrough innovations for TNO’s partners and customer base. And by doing so strengthen relationships and collaborations with academia and knowledge institutes. 

Coffee Break

Time to network and follow up with all speakers and preview some of the startup demos

Part 2: Integrated Photonics

Welcome back to the second half of Brabant Innovation Days 2024. We will hear from new startups and spinouts from the Eindhoven region. In fact, they represent a much larger cluster of successful deep-tech ventures for which the Brainport region is internationally famous. Some companies start as ideas from students at Eindhoven University of Technology. Elsewhere in Brabant, companies like Axelera AI are working on chips for 'edge computing'. That's the trend to make devices at the edge of the network more powerful and smarter. Hightech breakthroughs to accelerate their growth require both private and public financing at the right time. However, regional government-backed ecosystems like PhotonDelta also stimulate the development of photonic chips, quantum computing, and next-generation lasers. Amazing things happen when disruptive startups tap into the wisdom of larger enterprises. And Money flows to where it is treated well.”

The PhotonDelta Ecosystem. Why it is important in the age of AI.

PhotonDelta is one of Europe’s leading Photonics Ecosystems, focussing efforts on the Brabant Region and Twente (Eastern Netherlands). Eelko Brinkhoff, the new CEO at PhotonDelta, will update us on a wide range of new photonics applications that are impacting people’s lives. There have been recent success stories like:

Surfix Diagnostics, who announced a collaboration aimed at enhancing colorectal cancer (CRC) screening methods.

QuiX Quantum, a European leader in photonic quantum computing hardware, was recently selected by the European Innovation Council Accelerator programme, for €17.5 million in combined grant and equity.

PhotonDelta has secured €1.2 billion to run numerous R&D programmes, lead international roadmapping activities and invest in pioneering startups that apply PIC technology. Over the last five years, the Dutch photonic chip industry has raised over €500 million for companies such as SMART Photonics, EFFECT Photonics, PHIX Photonics Assembly, Astrapé Networks, MantiSpectra,  Delta Life Science, Scantinel Photonics, Amazec, and many more.

Metrology at PITC

Integrated photonics holds significant promise for addressing societal challenges, such as energy-efficient optical and wireless communication networks, advanced health monitoring, AI loaded data-center infrastructure by integrating light technology with traditional electronics. However, its widespread adoption is hindered by lengthy product development cycles and limited production throughput. To tackle these issues, especially in an age of rapid AI development,  the Photonic Integration Technology Center (PITC) has launched four technology program lines to accelerate scale-up and industrial adoption of photonics. The PITC Metrology program focuses on developing next-generation test and measurement technologies.  By increasing the accuracy, speed, and scalability of testing processes in both chip design and manufacture, the Metrology program seeks to increase testing throughput by a factor of ten, thereby enabling faster and more reliable production of photonic chips in high-volume manufacturing (HVM), at desired yields.

 Sylwester will also highlight the need for talent development, working with educational institutions to train engineers in photonics. This Netherlands-based initiative continues to invite international participation, aiming to establish a neutral platform for developing photonic technologies that will have a lasting impact on the industry and society. PITC has enjoyed collaborations with Japanese companies and institutions since 2016.

Next generation PIC research at TU Eindhoven

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) pioneers next-generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs), focusing on 3D integration of Indium Phosphide on Silicon. Yuqing will present TU Eindhoven's vision for the future scaling of the PIC technology, especially in speed, energy efficiency and integration density. Yuqing will showcase how TU Eindhoven's next-gen PIC technology can empower AI and quantum applications, as well as enable a convergence of photonics and electronics.

SMART Photonics Advances

SMART Photonics recently received the ISO 9001 certification, marking a very important milestone in their journey to become the leading Tier 1 foundry in integrated photonics. Thomas will explain their approach as a pure-play foundry, how companies interact with them and why they are building production for 4-inch wafers. 

Testimonial - Working in the Dutch ecosystem

Panel discussion 2 - Attracting Talent

Closing remarks

There are less than 250 days left before the World Expo opens its doors at Osaka World Expo 2025 on 13th April 2025. The six-month event expects to welcome over 28 million business and private visitors. The theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” perfectly fits the Society 5.0 concept first launched by the Japanese Cabinet Office in 2016.

The Netherlands is already preparing its pavilion to showcase breakthrough innovation to the world. And we expect that organizations from the Brabant region will be closely involved. Maybe we can learn more about the preparations from Eric van Kooij the counselor for Innovation at the Netherlands Embassy here in Tokyo?

Networking Drinks & Demos

The day concludes with networking drinks and the chance to speak with colleagues from the Brabant Development Agency as well as all of today's keynote speakers. The advantage of the BID event is that everyone sticks around, so it is easier to follow up and discuss one-on-one. 

We can also arrange for private meetings between Dutch knowledge institutions and Japanese companies.

Please participate in our survey in December to make future events in 2025 & 2026 even better.