Eight new partners for Brainport voor elkaar

EINDHOVEN - Brainport voor elkaar welcomed eight new partners on Tuesday, September 12. This brings the number of partnerships to 63. The companies and organizations are committed to ensuring that everyone in the Brainport region can participate, regardless of origin or level of education. Kathleen Philips, general manager of imec: "We take our responsibility in this region and want to give something back. Not just technologically, but also socially.

Brainport voor elkaar was founded earlier this year by Partnerfonds Brainport Eindhoven, Impact040, Brainport Development, Samen voor Eindhoven and Municipality Eindhoven and Municipality Helmond. To ensure that everyone in the region has equal opportunities, governments, industry, knowledge and educational institutions and civil society organizations are working together on programs and initiatives that contribute to this. For example, programs have been developed for participating employers to keep their employees financially fit and improve their language, math or digital skills. Participating companies are also using their knowledge, expertise and employees to move civil society organizations forward.

New partnerships

The total number of partners affiliated with Brainport voor elkaar, including the newly affiliated partners, comes to 63. Besides imec, BDO, Springplank 040, WIJeindhoven, Markteffect, Meneer Rick, Licht interim marketing communication professionals and VB Group have signed the partnership.

Janneke van Kessel is chairman of the partner consultation Brainport voor elkaar and city ambassador of Municipality Eindhoven. She says: "I know of no other region where the business community is so willing to invest in society. These new partners show that we feel a broad joint responsibility for social and societal issues. By joining forces, more and more residents will feel that they also can benefit from the economic prosperity of our region." Jacline de Kort is program manager of Brainport voor elkaar and is proud of the growth. "This shows that in the Brainport region we are really dealing with employers and entrepreneurs who want to be involved in their environment. The ambition is that many more partners in Brainport will join, we invite other socially engaged employers to join as well. The more employers, the greater the reach among residents, the greater our impact."

Important role as an employer

So BDO also signed on to the partnership. Harald Elissen, Liaison Partner at BDO finds it natural to become a new partner of Brainport voor elkaar. "As a major employer, you simply take on an important role in society. Soon, 400 BDO employees in the Brainport region will start working on all kinds of projects. 'We provide a financial contribution, but we also deploy our expertise and our network.'

Getting acquainted with culture and region

Imec is also involved. Kathleen Philips: '25 different nationalities work at imec in Eindhoven. Through the Brainport voor elkaar projects, they can get to know our culture and our region in a nice way. In addition, the collaboration also helps us to be more visible in the area. We are looking forward to the partnership so that we can show our social commitment.'

Sign

A great example of how cooperation is taking shape within Brainport voor elkaar is the long-term partnership between ASML and Springplank 040. Founder Thijs Eradus explains, "ASML helps us one day a week. As a result, we save about 6,500 euros per month on ICT contracts. Thanks to those savings, we can assist four additional homeless people every month. Fantastic, right? He hopes for more surprising collaborations in the future. 'The Brainport region is already very successful technologically, through cooperation we can also make huge strides socially.'