The Netherlands has 29 field labs, places where innovation in the field of robotics and big data comes from. The editors of VNO-NCW magazine FORUM made a report and started at our field lab in Drachten. 

An excerpt from the report

A huge blue steel oven, that's what the 3D metal printer looks like. But one that costs 700,000 euros. With this copy in the field lab at Philips in Drachten in Friesland, you can't print any funny dolls of your own, or nice key rings. 'Pancake printers are', according to Kor Visscher, 'a hype.' Visscher works at Philips and is chairman of the Innovatiecluster Drachten, to which this field lab belongs. Seventeen high-tech companies from the north of the Netherlands – large and small – work together in this association. Goal: to provide solutions when it comes to robotics, 3D printing and processing large numbers of data, big data. One of their initiatives is to set up this field lab, where (digital) smart industry technologies are developed and tested. The metal printer makes steel objects in various – mainly round – shapes from steel powder. Visscher: 'As a result, you need 50 percent less material, which means you can make lighter and stronger constructions.' Ideal for companies in the aerospace industry, for example.

Read the whole report on the VNO-NCW website or in the latest issue of FORUM.