Ambassador Marion Derckx makes her way to Adelaide December 2019 Ambassador Marion Derckx makes her way to AdelaideIn the week of 18 November, Ambassador Marion Derckx paid an official visit to the state of South Australia. The visit focused on bilateral ties, trade and investment, the circular economy, shared maritime heritage and the Dutch community. Ambassador Derckx visited the Biomed precinct in Adelaide to discuss current and future opportunities for collaboration in medical research and commercial health activities such as medical trials. At Flinders University and the University of Adelaide discussions took place on shared heritage, renewable energy and circular economy. On Tuesday morning, Ambassador Derckx paid a visit to the Australian Submarine Company (ASC) together with Honorary Consul of South Australia Frank Weits and Military Attaché Elmar Hermans. She also met with Chief Entrepreneur of South Australia Jim Whalley as well as Anton van den Hengel, director of the Australian Institute for Machine Learning. The ambassador also took the opportunity to connect with members of the Dutch community. She attended a reception with second generation Dutch and later that week, the Dutch community in Adelaide warmly welcomed her as they celebrated the 10 year anniversary of DutchSA, a business club that brings together Dutch people in South Australia. The ambassador spent her last day in Adelaide visiting the Rembrandt Court Aged Care Facility which is aligned to DutchSA and home to more than 15 different cultures. Looking back on this visit, what stood out is the solid social and economic relationship that exists between South Australia and the Netherlands and the opportunities arising from shared priority sectors such as agriculture, energy, creative industries and space. Dutch technology helps tackle Australian bushfires During the recent bushfires in New South Wales, Dutch company Hytrans' mobile water supply technology is being used in Wisemans Ferry, located 75 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district. Fire + Rescue NSW deployed the Hytrans pump and hoses to create a filling station for fire trucks and water tankers. In this case, water was pumped out of the Hawkesbury River and then pumped into the firetrucks. The 60-meter hydraulic hose length guarantees access to almost all open waters, providing quick water supply without any loss of capacity or time due to draft problems. Hytrans is based in Lemmer, the Netherlands and Bluemont is its distributor for Australia and New Zealand. We hope that this Dutch expertise in water technology will facilitate the hard work firefighters in Australia are confronted with and that it will help keep everybody safe. Australia's first renewable energy micro grid is under construction South African mining company Gold Fields and Brisbane-based company EDL Energy are working towards making one of Australia’s biggest gold mines, Agnew, solar, wind, gas and diesel power generated. This is Australia's first ever renewable energy micro grid project. A micro grid is a localised group of electricity sources and loads that can connect and disconnect from the grid. This allows for the combination of solar, wind, gas and diesel to be used for electricity. WA’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Energy and Industrial Relations the Hon Bill Johnston officially opened stage one of the project on 20 November at Agnew. The wind turbines, which were transported from China using the Dutch bulk cargo vessel Danzigergracht, are going to the remote area Agnew gold mine in the northern Goldfields. This will be the first wind farm at a mine site in Australia. By the time it is completed, circa mid-2020, up to 60 per cent of Agnew's electricity will be sourced from renewables. Australian university students' business immersion trip to the Netherlands Last week, 20 Australian university students from various fields of study across five Sydney universities visited the Netherlands on a business immersion trip focusing on innovation and leadership. The business visits were organised and facilitated by Australian Dutch Business Connect in collaboration with E-LEAD. The students visited over 10 companies and organisations in the Netherlands including Philips, Rabobank, KPMG, Booking.com, Nyenrode, Randstad, Microsoft, Dell, SAS, Nokia and IBM. The programs offered by these companies introduced the students to the Dutch business and cultural landscapes and set a solid foundation for ongoing collaborative engagements between Australia and the Netherlands. Hosted visits included personal journey talks about authenticity, courage, initiative and self-awareness; visits to high-tech innovation labs; workshops on how corporate innovation can help social issues, and informal networking. Connections were made across the globe and generations and left the students exhausted yet inspired and empowered. If you would like to be considered for the next business immersion trip to the Netherlands in
May 2020, as a business in the Netherlands or as an Australian student, you can express interest by sending an email to Australian Dutch Business Connect via victor.konijn@australiandutch.com. Please click 'Read more' for further details. The Director of Communities and Climate Change at Sustainability Victoria visited the Netherlands From 25 until 27 November, Stephanie Ziersch, Director of Communities and Climate Change at Sustainability Victoria participated in a so called 'Influential programme' in the Netherlands. The programme focused on climate mitigation and climate adaptation, and Ms Ziersch's participation was sponsored by the Dutch diplomatic missions in Australia. Please click "Read more" to learn about the Influentials Visitors’ Programmes, that are initiated by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Looking back at our 'Springtime for Circularity: No time to waste' programmeThe Australian spring emphasised the importance of circularity and brought Dutch expertise to local communities in Australia. This was organised by the Dutch diplomatic missions in Australia and was called 'Springtime for Circularity - No Time to Waste!'. With Australia’s growing interest in circularity, the range of Dutch circularity experts spoke at various conferences, lectures, and gave workshops in multiple Australian states. The six experts included in the programme showed that the Dutch spend a lot of energy growing their knowledge in this field, while capitalising on the many (commercial) opportunities that the transition to a circular economy brings. Herman Huisman from Rijkswaterstaat discussed the importance of recycling waste and shared Dutch knowledge in waste recycling. He was the keynote speaker at various conferences in Perth and Adelaide. Huisman also spoke with representatives of state governments about the current challenges Australia faces regarding waste disposal. Freek van Eijk, Director of Holland Circular Hotspot (HCH) visited Australia for a circularity event in Melbourne organised by the Dutch diplomatic missions. At the event, HCH signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Planet Ark Environment Foundation. The aim of this cooperation is to support and accelerate the transition to a circular economy in Australia. Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Professor in Climate Design and Sustainability at TU Delft, visited Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney. Through his presentation on sustainable building at Master Builders Association Victoria and a workshop with students on the effect of climate change on the well-known Great Ocean Road, Van den Dobbelsteen explained how the Netherlands approaches similar situations. In Sydney, he also spoke with the Hon Robert Stokes, New South Wales Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, about the possibility of bilateral cooperation on innovative urban solutions. Dr. André Nijhoff, Professor of Sustainable Business and Stewardship at Nyenrode Business University visited Australia for a conference on sustainable digital value chains, organised by Monash University Business School. He also spoke at the prominent annual circular economy conference “Powering the change” in Adelaide, focusing on his recent work on market transformations and future academic collaboration. In a turn of events, Australian Stephanie Ziersch, Director of the “Communities and Climate Change” department of Sustainability Victoria visited the Netherlands to participate in a so-called 'Influential programme' in the Netherlands. The programme was organised by the Dutch government and it focused on climate mitigation and climate adaptation. A select group of participants spoke about the challenges and progress regarding local and international climate policy. Ziersch gained insight into the Dutch multi-stakeholder approach in order to achieve the common goal of emission reductions. She was also able to hear from speakers from different sectors to gain different perspectives and to see the final results of such a multi-stakeholder approach. After the program, Ziersch visited various local organisations to investigate recent Dutch initiatives in the field of circularity. Our final expert, TU Delft professor Nancy Bocken was invited by RMIT University in Melbourne to give a workshop about her long-term and internationally leading research into Circular Business models. The presentation was well-received by the public, which consisted of prominent local academics. Therefore, it strengthened the conversation on circularity between the Netherlands and Australia. Circularity will remain a priority for the Dutch diplomatic missions in Australia in the new year. Thanks to “Springtime for Circularity” a strong foundation has been set in 2019 which we can build on in 2020, together with our Australian partners. The Dutch were named as the best non-native English speakers According to EF English Proficiency Index, residents of the Netherlands are the best non-native English speakers in the world. With a score of 70.27, the Dutch are placed first amongst 2.3 million adults in 100 countries. Given the high number of Dutch people who speak English, the Netherlands is seen as a top study destination in Europe amongst international students. The accessibility to a diverse range of English taught education programs and the ability to communicate with
locals makes studying in the Netherlands that much more appealing. To find out more, please click "Read more". David Crowe wins the 2019 EU Qantas Award Congratulations to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald's Chief Political Correspondent, David Crowe, for winning the prestigious 2019 EU Qantas award! This award is presented annually to Australian journalists with more than three years working experience in media. It gives an Australian journalist the opportunity to travel to Europe and explore an issue of their choice in depth. David will travel to Europe next year and visit the Netherlands, Spain and Brussels. In
the Netherlands, David will talk with government agencies & consumer groups on the topic of Digital Economy and he will meet with companies and individuals to discuss two-way trade. Qantas and KLM expand their partnership and exchange between the Netherlands and Australia Australia’s oldest and biggest airline Qantas has announced that two members of the Qantas group, JetStar Asia Airways and JetStar Airways, will launch a codeshare agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. This new agreement will allow more options for customers travelling between the Netherlands and Australia. Qantas will add its code on KLM’s daily flights between Amsterdam and Bangkok and KLM will do the same on Qantas international flights between Bangkok and Sydney. This collaboration will also allow KLM Frequent Flyers to earn and redeem points and status credits when travelling with Qantas, including any flight between Amsterdam and Bangkok. This means customers can expect priority airport service, additional checked baggage allowance, and access the KLM and/or Qantas airport lounges in Amsterdam, Bangkok or Sydney. KLM President & CEO Pieter Elbers stated that the extension of their partnership with Qantas, “will help to drive tourism and economic and cultural exchange between the Netherlands and Australia, by facilitating reciprocal leisure and business travel.” To read more about the expansion of this codeshare cooperation, please click "Read more" BMT Mercury Technology's Opening Ceremony in Western Australia Generating jobs, managing waste locally, and protecting the environment is not an easy feat, yet the launch of the AUD18 million Dutch facility BMT Mercury Technology in Kwinana, south of Perth on 10 December can tackle these challenges. The construction of the facility generated 200 jobs and will ensure 10 more permanent jobs for day-to-day operations. As for the facility’s function, it will accept, store and treat mercury-contaminated waste from various sources, such as Western Australia’s oil and gas industry. This allows for better protection of our environment given that the waste will be treated locally rather than being exported, being left in long-term storage or ending up in a landfill. Western Australia’s Minister for Environment, the Hon Minister Stephen Dawson officially opened the facility’s mercury treatment plant. Robert-Jan Dubbeldam, CEO of BMT, also spoke at the ceremony. Our Senior Policy officer in Trade and Economic Affairs at the Consulate General of the Netherlands, Rolf Karst as well as our Honorary Consul in Perth, Anthony Willinge attended the ceremony. It was Minister Dawson who said that this new facility will help Australia fulfill their international conventions for managing and transporting mercury waste. This is a prime example of how the Netherlands and Australia are working together towards a sustainable future. World Press Freedom Conference 2020 - Call for Proposals UNESCO and the Kingdom of the Netherlands invite Dutch actors and actors in other countries who are active in the fields of journalism, media development and freedom of expression, including freedom of artistic expression, to submit their proposals and contribute to the celebration of WPFD in 2020. Submitters can be civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations, media, private sector, Internet intermediaries, policy and public affairs institutes, and universities and other knowledge institutions. Production company Radical Orange launches new part of their company Radical Orange is very excited to launch ANYDOKO Creative Studios: a social content and production agency dedicated to travel content and commercials. They are combining the creative and social capabilities of ANYDOKO with the production qualities of Radical Orange to offer clients in the travel industry a specialist social, creative and production experience. Click "Read more" to visit their brand new website. Kate de Jager reports on the International Cycling Safety Conference in BrisbaneKate de Jager, Deputy Program Manager Cycling at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, was one of the speakers at the International Cycling Safety Conference that took place in Brisbane last month. Here, she shares her experiences with us: "Eight years ago I co-organised the first International Cycling Safety Conference, ICSC. Other founders included Arend Schwab (TU Delft) and Divera Twisk (SWOV- Institute for Road Safety Research, now CARRS-Q Brisbane). In later years, the conference ventured abroad. After Europe and North America, this year the 8th edition of ICSC takes place on the other side of the world! The conference was opened by the Minister for Transport and Main Roads in Queensland, the Hon Mark Bailey. What followed were three full days dedicated to cycling safety as related to health, promotion, infrastructure, innovations, new data and more. A growing network of researchers and policy makers came together to share knowledge on safe cycling and design new measures to improve safe cycling. I think it is important to meet like this, also for the Dutch representatives. We Dutch cycle a lot, 15.5 billion cycling kilometers in 2016, but only 25% of this cycling is commuting. And although the higher the number of cyclists is, the lower the percentage of casualties - because of the many people that cycle in the Netherlands there were still 13,000 cyclists seriously injured in 2017. A number that needs to be reduced! The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Australia generously supported my participation in the conference. During the conference, I learned new terms like green bridges and cycling school buses. Also micro-mobility was on the programme. I will return to the Dutch winter with new ideas! Next year the conference will be in Sweden, 4-6 November 2020." Websites of the Ministry of Foreign AffairsFor Dutch people abroad: If you're interested in investing in the Netherlands, visit the website of the NFIA. |