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Newsletter #24

March 2017

What's Making News?

 

Damen secures order with Fortescue Metals Group

Damen secures order with Fortescue Metals Group for six ART 85-32W Rotor Tugs. Pilbara Marine Pty Ltd (Pilbara Marine), a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd has placed an order with Damen Shipyards for the building of six, 32 metre Rotor Tugs. These will be deployed at the company’s operations at Port Hedland on Australia’s west coast, the world’s largest bulk export port. From there, Fortescue exports 165-170 million tonnes of iron ore per year.

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Sarah Imm was appointed as the

On Wednesday the 29th of March Sarah Imm was appointed as Sydney's first Bicycle Mayor.

Willem Cosijn, Consul-General of the Netherlands, opened the event by elaborating on the rich Dutch cycle history and sharing best practices. Steven Fleming, co-founder of Cyclespace that was set up in Amsterdam, appointed Sarah Imm as Sydney’s first bicycle mayor. Sarah’s appointment is part of The Bicycle Mayor Program aiming to extend a global network of bicycle mayors to promote the use of the bicycle.

first Bicycle Mayor of Sydney

Sarah Imm cycles to the office every day, with kids and to the shops on a variety of bicycles. She has great plans in order to encourage more people to cycle instead of drive in the Greater Sydney. She takes a grass roots approach and shows how cycling can be part of everyone's daily life.

SBS Dutch Anneke Mackay-Smith interviewed her about her endeavours to which you can listen here.

 

 

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The number of international students in NL hits a record high!

This academic year, 112,000 international students are studying at Dutch universities. Over 81,000 of them are enrolled in a full bachelor- or master degree.

The Netherlands attracts many international students due to the quality of education and the fact that the country has the highest amount of English taught university degrees on the European mainland. Dutch universities prepare their students well for the job market. On top of that, there is no language barrier for international students since nearly all Dutch people speak fluent English!

Last week, the Dutch diplomatic missions were present at international exchange fairs of UNSW, UTS and ANU to promote the Netherlands as a destination for Australian students.

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Dutch Cargo Bike hosts a test day for their cargo bike

Dutch Cargo Bike invites everyone to join them in Canberra on the 15th of April to test the cargo bike.

Everyone with a (cargo) bike is welcome to come along and have a chat about the bicycle lifestyle, the more the merrier! There will be 3 cargo bikes for people to try. Dutch Cargo Bike will explain how the bikes work, how to ride them and how to be safe on the road. There will be no sales on the day. It is an informal session, making people aware of other ways of transport, that the car isn't the only solution. You will be able to try: Bakfiets, Nihola, Douze and some amazing folding bikes.

The day will take place in Canberra at the Commonwealth Park near Stage 88 from 10.30am-12.30pm.

 

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Philips to acquire Australian pharmacy sleep services pioneer

Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Australian Pharmacy Sleep Services (APSS), a pioneer in pharmacy sleep testing. Headquartered in Sydney, APSS will complement Philips’ sleep and respiratory care offering, and will help to accelerate the business’ home sleep testing offering through the pharmacy channel in Australia.

Founded in 2011, APSS has a unique sleep apnoea program for pharmacies that includes screening, home-based sleep studies based on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy, training and services. The retail pharmacy market provides a convenient and central local access point to offer simple and effective sleep screening. This screening is aimed at assessing sleep quality and determining if subsequent sleep treatment may be required. APSS works closely with medical professionals for assessment and diagnosis of sleep problems, and subsequent sleep treatment.

 

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Dutch Hytrans system helped extinguish a factory fire

The Dutch Hytrans Bulk Water Transfer System from Fire & Rescue NSW recently played a lead role in extinguishing a fire at the Chullora Waste Recycling Centre near Sydney. Two remote hydrants were connected to a 152mm yellow hose and pressure was boosted by the Hytrans hydraulic pump. The yellow hose was deployed at nearly 40km/h and when it came close to the fire, a manifold was connected splitting the flow into five 70mm lines which fed monitors and appliances.

The system enabled the fire brigade to quickly transfer high volumes of water from the hydrant to the fire site over a distance of 1.3km. This continuous flow of water was then used by the fire fighters to extinguish the fire. A job well done by Fire & Rescue NSW. Bluemont represents Hytrans Systems BV from Lemmer in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Nations.

The fire was fought quicker and more efficient since FRNSW put their Bulk Water Transfer System into action.

 

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Investment in international schools improves expats’ quality of life in the Netherlands!

With some of the world's top multinational companies and expat resources, the Netherlands is a great place for international talent to live and work. The Dutch government's recent payment of 10.7 million euros will alleviate enrollment waiting times at international schools in the Netherlands, improving the investment climate for foreign companies and their workers. The investment will enable approximately 1,150 additional international students to pursue their education in the short-term.

The Netherlands' positive and progressive culture makes it easy for international families to ‘go Dutch’. People in the Netherlands rate life satisfaction at a high 7 out of 10 and the business-friendly environment provides ample job opportunities.
 

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DollsVilla Global participated in the economic mission last year and her business grows

Liliane Limpens, owner of DollsVilla Global was interviewed by VNO-NCW about her participations in various Dutch trade missions and in particular the trade mission to Australia late last year. You can read the full article in Dutch here.

Limpens founded her business over 18 years ago. Her dollvillas are found in numerous hotels and hospitals world wide, but also in women's shelters, refugee centers and family homes. After participating in the economic mission last November she wants to take a more commercial approach. She prefers participating in economic missions over promoting her brand on trade fairs and is planning on exploring the Dubai market later this year.


 

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Mammoet erects 75 turbines for the Ararat Wind Farm

The last rotor of Ararat Wind Farm’s 75 turbines has been installed in Victoria by contractor Mammoet. The cable trenching and installation by RJE Global is also complete. To finish the project there just remains the connection of cables to the turbines required to transport electricity generated to the substation and into the grid, commissioning of the remaining turbines and site rehabilitation.

The Ararat Wind Farm was the first major wind farm contract to be signed following restored bipartisan support for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) in June 2015. Construction of the wind farm is a joint venture between Downer and GE.

The project also benefits from a power purchase agreement with the Australian Capital Territory Government (ACT), guaranteeing the purchase of approximately 40 percent of the energy produced at the site, which was awarded under the ACT’s Wind Auction announcement in February 2015.

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Atlas Professionals to establish new team in Houston

Specialist recruiter Atlas Professionals is opening a new office in the “Energy Capital of the World”, Houston Texas. The move is in line with the company’s goal to create a presence in North America and become a local point of contact for Atlas’ existing clients and professionals. Atlas Business Manager Laura Smith will be taking on the exciting challenge of managing a new specialist team who will focus on expanding their services into new markets in the region.

“The plans for Houston have been an idea of Atlas for a long time” explains Laura. “The idea of taking on something new, developing a new team with our experience as market leaders, in a new country, was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. It will be a great adventure both personally and professionally.”

 

 

 

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The Netherlands: Top Destination for Foreign Direct Investment

Given its small geographic size, the Netherlands economic size is quite amazing. The Netherlands is one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign direct investment. Only the US and China are as consistently among the world’s top five recipients of foreign direct investment as the Netherlands. Even the much larger countries in Europe attract nowhere near as much foreign investment.

This underpins the key role that the Netherlands is playing in the access to the European market for companies from around the world. Close to fifty percent of the companies from outside the European Union have made the Netherlands their European headquarters and their European distribution centre.

To maintain this role, the Netherlands government has made it a top priority to ensure that the Netherlands remains the first choice for companies that are setting up in the EU. All the important international rankings related to investment climate are monitored closely, and if we slip on any of the important rankings, the government takes immediate action to regain any lost ground. The result of this is that the Netherlands has the highest overall score on a combination of the world’s most important investment and business climate scorings second only to Switzerland.

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2016 was a successful first year for LEKKER Boats

As LEKKER Bikes continues to succeed, founder Meindert Wolfraad noticed that something was missing for exploring Australia's water. The ‘Sloep’! The quintessential Dutch boat for cruising through Amsterdam’s canals with family and friends. So he and his friend Daan Meyer, a mechanical engineer from Delft, designed the ideal Sloep for Sydney.

Initially built for their own pleasure, this innovative new design attracted an encouraging audience. So they decided to customize and create more unique Sloeps, founding the new LEKKER range – LEKKER Boats. In the summer of 2016 the first commercial boat, the LEKKER Damsko, was launched. Since then, several customised LEKKER Boats have taken to shores across the world, making it a very successful founding year. And as their ambitions grew, so did the sales! In just the first 2-months of this year LEKKER Boats sales have surpassed 2016, setting new standards in design and experience.

The latest LEKKER Damsko will arrive in Sydney any moment now and there will be opportunities to experience this unrivalled craftsmanship and performance on the natural playground for Sydney-siders, Sydney Harbour. Please contact info@lekkerboats.com if you are interested.

 

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Arcadis forms alliance with RedEye to digitize built asset industry

Arcadis Australia Pacific announced a strategic alliance with Australian tech innovator RedEye to transform the Australian built asset industry’s use of data.

The strategic alliance will see Arcadis integrate RedEye’s innovative cloud solution into its strategic asset management offering, bringing a tangible digital solution to public and private organisations that own, operate and maintain critical infrastructure.

RedEye provides an enterprise mobile solution that transfers “as-built” engineering drawings and related data to the cloud. The revolutionary platform allows teams to easily collaborate and find, markup, back draft, review, approve, use and manage their data from anywhere, and on any device.

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Consulate-General update

 

New honorary consul

Since March, Brisbane has a new honorary consul: Dr. Karel de Laat.

 

Vacancy for consular deparment

The Consulate-General of the Netherlands has a vacancy for a casual position at the consular department. If you are interested, please submit your application before the 15th of April 2017.

Find the vacancy here.

 

 

 

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What's Happening?

 

Dutch Smart City delegation participating in ASCA Smart Communiuties Conference in Adelaide

Last November, during the Australian Dutch Smart City Summit in Sydney, in the presence of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, the Australian Smart Communities Association (ASCA)  signed a MoU with the Dutch-based Global Smart City and Community Coalition (GSC3) aimed at adding international collaboration to its already well established national collaboration strategy.

At that time MoUs were also signed with the Greater Sydney Commission, Canberra, Lake Macquarie and Ipswich, and during the March visit of the GSC3 to Adelaide, Bendigo, Newcastle and Moreton Bay were added to the list.

In the various meetings with the cities during the March visit, projects have been earmarked for international collaboration. This will allow cities to learn from each other, share knowledge and insight, and collaborate on individual projects, which would also allow for sharing costs and speeding up implementation.

The list of projects will now be fine-tuned and GSC3 staff in the Netherlands will bring the various parties together for further discussion and collaboration.

GSC3 will be back in May for the ASCA Smart Communities Conference, where a further meeting is planned on Monday the 29th for the member organisations of the alliance.

 
 

Who's new?

 

Lynxx

Lynxx - Data Inspired By People. We help our clients make fact-based decisions through the interpretation of data.
 

They have just opened their Australian office in Sydney and are starting to work for clients across Australia and NZ.

 

 

Consulate-General of the Netherlands in Sydney

 

Level 23, Tower 2 - 101 Grafton Street (cnr Grosvenor street), Sydney, Australia Bondi Junction NSW 2022

T: +61 2 8305 6807

E: syd-ez@minbuza.nl