HSD & InnovationQuarter Sign Soft Landing MOU with The State of Maryland Department of Commerce

The State of Maryland Department of Commerce, The Hague Security Delta and InnovationQuarter signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the 13th of October to work together and foster economic development through a bilateral Soft Landing Programme for Security Technology companies.

Soft Landing Programme

The Soft Landing Programme Security Technologies USA-NL / NL-USA is designed to assist companies to carry out international business development in a new foreign market through support and incubation facilities for a trial period between January and March 2017. This allows companies to establish customers and partnerships, leading to the possibility of establishing a permanent presence in the foreign market of either greater Washington DC or West Holland (Province of Zuid-Holland).

"We welcome Security Tech companies to make use of this wonderful program. They can come for a week or even stay for three consecutive months in BWTech or at HSD Campus. We will make sure every company receives a tailor made program in which they will meet our partners and get connected to the right business environment" - Chris van Voorden, Director Foreign Investments at InnovationQuarter.

Signing MOU

The MOU was signed by Secretary Michael R. Gill of Maryland, Executive Director Richard B. Franken of HSD and Director Foreign Investments Chris van Voorden at InnovationQuarter. The ceremony took place during the launch event of the Soft Landing Programme at the Residence of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Washington DC. The event was also attended by companies from Maryland and West Holland as well as government officials from the State of Maryland, The Netherlands Office for Science & Technology, The Municipality of The Hague and the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice.

"The Hague Security Delta is the largest security cluster in Europe and offers a perfect environment for companies to incubate and settle temporary. The cluster incorporates many businesses, knowledge institutions and government organisations and provides access to market, talent, innovation, knowledge, capital, events and education" - Richard Franken, Executive Director HSD. In addition The Netherlands has an excellent digital infrastructure and the largest Internet Exchange in the world. Together with the presence of the largest security cluster in Europe this contributes to the fact that the Netherlands is well known as the ‘Gateway to Europe’, a preferred location for digital services organisations.

Call for Participation

On November 9th the first information meeting about this programme will take place at the HSD Campus. The objective of our seminar is to inform Dutch businesses about soft landing opportunities that can support their business entry into the US market. The Washington DC region is globally recognised as an advanced technology cluster in the US. Interested? You can register for this seminar here.