OnePlanet, a New Dutch Innovation Center for Food, Health and Agricultural Technology

February 27, 2019 – Eindhoven (The Netherlands) and Leuven (Belgium) – Imec, a world leading research and innovation hub in the field of nanoelectronics and digital technology, today announces that the Dutch province of Gelderland has approved a 65 million euro grant for the OnePlanet initiative, a new technology and innovation center. With primary location at the university campus in Wageningen, imec and its partners will develop – and accelerate the development of – innovative technology in the domains of food, agriculture and health, in which chip technology will have a crucial role.

Having a branch in Eindhoven, imec the Netherlands already has fourteen years of expertise in the development of health solutions based on wearables and the Internet of Things. With the creation of the OnePlanet initiative, imec and its partners will work at the intersection of nanoelectronics, agricultural, food and health technology. Four programs have been defined: Data Driven Nutrition & Health, Citizen Empowerment, Precision Production & Processing, and Tailored Supply Chain.

Together with Radboud University and Radboudumc, focus is put on preventive healthcare technology – leveraging early data-based assessment of health risks, prevention through personalized nutrition, early diagnosis and efficient treatment and support of chronically ill people.

In the domain of agro and food technology, imec and Wageningen University & Research will, together with industrial partners, investigate the development of sensors, robotics, artificial intelligence, (big) data analysis and digital connectivity for more sustainable agricultural technology. The aim: the creation of a sustainable, affordable, healthy and safe food system and environment.

In addition, imec will collaborate with a variety of companies from the Netherlands, Flanders and worldwide to commercialize these developments.

According to John Baekelmans, managing director of imec the Netherlands, this new collaboration agreement will allow imec to continue to expand into new application areas: “We have been chosen by our Dutch partners because of our world leading position in nano- and chip technology. In return, for imec, the opportunity lies in collaborating with one of the world's most highly regarded agricultural universities and extending our sensor technology activities into the domains of agriculture and horticulture. In addition, we want to develop new solutions for a better and more efficient healthcare – together with Radboudumc. In a first phase, we will recruit 35 researchers and gradually aim at expanding our staff to 120 employees by 2028.”

About imec

Imec is a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of our widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes us unique. By leveraging our world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries, we create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, energy and education.

As a trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities we bring together more than 4,000 brilliant minds from over 85 nationalities. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and has distributed R&D groups at a number of Flemish universities, in the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, and offices in India and Japan. In 2017, imec's revenue (P&L) totaled 546 million euro. Further information on imec can be found at www.imec-int.com.

Imec is a registered trademark for the activities of IMEC International (a legal entity set up under Belgian law as a "stichting van openbaar nut”), imec Belgium (IMEC vzw supported by the Flemish Government), imec the Netherlands (Stichting IMEC Nederland, part of Holst Centre which is supported by the Dutch Government), imec Taiwan (IMEC Taiwan Co.) and imec China (IMEC Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.) and imec India (Imec India Private Limited), imec Florida (IMEC USA nanoelectronics design center).