After starting off as a little village in 1200, Eindhoven has become one of the Netherlands’ most populous cities with a population of roughly 212,000 people in 2009. Philips, DAF Trucks, and Brabantia are all major contributors to its success.
As a sleepy community of around 1250 inhabitants in a rural and economically depressed region, Eindhoven had been reestablished in the Netherlands in 1815, after the conclusion of the Belgian Revolution. Early industrial homesourcing (huisnijverheid in Dutch) and inexpensive land and labor made Eindhoven a desirable location for the growing industries encouraged by King William I’s administration. Eindhoven became an industrial town throughout the 19th century, with industries producing textiles, cigars, matchboxes, and hats. Most of these industries went away after World War II.
This little light bulb factory that Gerard and Anton Philips started over 130 years ago has grown into one of the world’s leading electronics companies. Eindhoven’s rapid rise in the 20th century was largely due to Philips’ presence in the city. Eindhoven has become a key location for high-tech and industrial innovation as a result. In 2005, Eindhoven was home to a third of the Netherlands’ overall research expenditures. Many of the region’s businesses are based on cutting-edge technology, such as the FEI Company and NXP semiconductors (previously Philips Semiconductors), as well as enterprises such as Toolex and Simac as well as Philips and DAF.
For a long time, Eindhoven has served as a hub for collaboration between academic institutions and private sector companies. A tangible manifestation of this was the NatLab, a large-scale cooperative network that was founded by Philips. There is a technological startup incubator at Eindhoven University of Technology, and the NatLab has evolved into the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Also, TNO has set up shop on the university’s campus. In September 2010, IPS Packaging and Thales Cryognetics announced the creation of a new research facility for high-grade packaging materials, a collaboration between the two companies.
There has also been a shift in the university’s technological research because of this cooperative heritage. As early as 2002, the Catharina hospital, Philips Medical, and the University of Maastricht collaborated on biomedical science, technology, and engineering research projects. – A new university faculty in Eindhoven has focused on this kind of study (BioMedical Technology or BMT). Since this growth, Eindhoven has become a biomedical technology center in both the Netherlands and Europe.
Witte Dame, a former Philips light factory, and the Admirant building (informally known as “Bruine Heer,” or “Brown Gentleman,” in allusion to Witte Dame across the street), the former Philips headquarters, are two of Eindhoven’s best examples of industrial legacy. The Witte Dame is today home to the municipal library, the Design Academy, and a number of small businesses. It has been converted into a modest business office building. Next next to the Admirant, Philips’ first light bulb factory can be found across the street (nicknamed Roze Baby, or “Pink Baby”, in reference to its pink colour and much smaller size when compared to the “White Lady” and “Brown Gentleman”). The “Centrum Kunstlicht in de Kunst” (centre artificial light in art) and the “Philips Incandescent Lamp Factory of 1891” museums are currently housed in the modest structure that had stood there.
