Brightlands joins alliance New Dutch to put the Netherlands’ innovative clout on the global map

Manou Nonnekes began her career at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht where she was responsible for the Nijntje (Miffy) Museum re-branding before ending up in nation branding through her work in city and regional marketing. “When pieces are published abroad about the Netherlands, you often see a stereotypical image; we’re the land of cheese, clogs and windmills. This is referred to as Traditional Dutch, and New Dutch stands in contrast to that. Just last year, the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions conducted a survey among tourist visitors as well as business visitors. The survey results revealed the exact same cliché image. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but we want to elevate this image to focus on innovation. After all, we rank among the best in the world in this regard. The Netherlands as a brand has three key values that characterise us: open, inclusive and inventive. We have seen that the recognition for inventiveness isn’t that high; apparently we don’t convey this strongly enough.”

 

Intermediaries

Place branding is a long-term effort, Nonnekes says. “Just look at Brabant Brainport. They have been building this campus for decades. It has taken this long to become something that is firmly in people’s minds. The Netherlands’ new international positioning wasn’t launched until 2020 and has now also been adopted by the Dutch Cabinet. To convey this message, we need intermediaries; these are the crucial players who promote the Netherlands’ brand and who also play an important role in how the Netherlands is perceived abroad.”

Innovation needs a solid breeding ground, but this isn’t New Dutch’s task, of course. Nonnekes: “This is also partly dependent on political policy, but innovation and talent development are also priorities for this administration. There is a National Technology Strategy in which the Ministry of Economic Affairs takes the lead. NL branding plays a role in branding and communication. A program like New Dutch is a great resource and a powerful alliance to deploy in this regard. Once we underscore our inventive strength in a clear, impactful way, we want to slowly but surely start adding elements apart from these clichés.”

Angèl Nijskens likes the fact that New Dutch is not all talk, but also action. “Concrete actions that contribute to visibility are being included. An article recently appeared in the NRC, for example, featuring an interview with renowned scientist Anna Gimbrère on the importance of innovation in the Netherlands. New Dutch is also working on an online campaign showcasing various regions’ innovations to demonstrate how innovative the Netherlands is. Brightlands innovations will also be included in this campaign, such as tear research by Marlies Gijs, biochemist at Maastricht UMC+ hospital. This cuts both ways since we can use the content created for that purpose ourselves. Next year, the themes of health and nutrition will be at the heart of the New Dutch Themes campaign. These are seamlessly aligned with themes that are also important for Brightlands.”

Nonnekes: “Campaigns alone aren’t enough. This is why we want to organise a theme year in 2026, during which we can make it possible to visit and experience this innovative sector in the Netherlands. Take ASML, for example, a company with a unique position in the world. Can we make this more apparent for foreign countries? Not only would this really appeal to the imagination, it would also help create unique propositions that could enable us to get the eyes of the world focused on us for a moment. The same applies to the four Brightlands campuses and other innovation ecosystems. Consider organising a traveling exhibition or project innovative initiatives on a big screen.”