New Campus Consulting Group to support innovation campuses

The launch of Campus Consulting Group is intended to support organizations in campus and ecosystem development, as well as public-private collaboration. With the formal start of the collective, organized within Strategy Unit, experienced professionals are bundling their expertise to help governments, knowledge institutions, regional development agencies, real estate owners, and companies develop successful innovation campuses, science parks, and innovation districts.

In doing so, Campus Consulting Group positions itself as a strategic and implementation partner for organizations that want to invest in strong innovation ecosystems and sustainable collaboration.

Campus Consulting Group operates under the Strategy Unit umbrella. Over the past eight years, Strategy Unit has supported new and existing partnerships in defining their strategic direction, both in the semi-public domain and in the business sector. Building on that broad foundation, Campus Consulting Group was established to meet the growing demand for expertise in campus development, campus strategy, and ecosystem development. “Clients therefore benefit from a combination of strategic expertise, practical experience, and access to a network of expert associate advisors,” the new organization says in a press release.

The Netherlands is investing increasingly explicitly in innovation capacity, strategic technologies, and regional economic development. At the same time, the importance of innovation campuses, science parks, and innovation districts as engines of innovation is growing. “These environments form the physical basis for successful ecosystem development and strengthen the innovation power of regions. These innovation environments bring together talent, knowledge, entrepreneurship, and investment, making them a proven mechanism for promoting innovation, economic development, strategic autonomy, and sustainable public-private collaboration.”

Essential for innovation

Successful innovation rarely emerges within the boundaries of a single organization. New technologies and societal transitions require collaboration between companies, knowledge institutions, and governments. Campuses accelerate that collaboration by bringing research, entrepreneurship, talent, and investment together in one place, explains initiator Edgar van Leest. “Innovation cannot be planned from a meeting room. Innovation emerges where talent, knowledge, entrepreneurship, and investment meet. Innovation campuses and science parks are pre-eminently the places where that happens. They form the nodes of regional innovation ecosystems and create the environment in which new ideas can grow more quickly into economic and societal value. That is precisely why they are becoming increasingly important for the earning capacity and innovation strength of the Netherlands.”

Practice shows that successful campus development requires much more than real estate alone. An effective campus strategy, professional campus management, strong community building, sustainable public-private collaboration, a robust financing model, and clear governance are decisive for the success of an innovation campus. “Too often, a campus is still seen as a real estate development or a collection of buildings,” adds Bert Kip, former CEO of Brightlands Chemelot Campus and, for ten years, chair of the National Campus Consultation. “But successful campuses do not distinguish themselves through bricks and mortar, but through collaboration. The real value is created when companies, researchers, students, and governments manage to find each other around shared ambitions. That requires investment in professional campus management and long-term ecosystem development.”

From planning to ecosystem

Now that more regions are investing in campus development, the challenge is shifting from planning to realizing a sustainable innovation ecosystem. Many innovation campuses and innovation districts have a strong vision but are seeking support to implement it.

Campus Consulting Group wants to support clients throughout the full lifecycle of campus development: from initial explorations and campus strategy to ecosystem development, governance, financing, and professional campus management.

The members of the group combine practical experience in campus management, regional economics, financing, governance, public-private collaboration, and ecosystem development.