Chemport Europe wins Dutch EEPA final

The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) is an initiative of the European Commission. The award has been around for more than 15 years and is presented to the most successful government initiatives and public-private partnerships that support entrepreneurship at a national or regional level. Each participating country is allowed to select up to two projects to compete on a European level. Chemport Europe was represented last Thursday by communication advisor Amarenske Klatter and program manager Maaike van Heeren.

‘We are delighted with the award because it is fantastic recognition for everyone working together within the Chemport region to make the chemical industry greener,’ says van Heeren. ‘We do that together, by formulating concrete and ambitious goals and by jointly investing time and money to achieve those ambitions. And that’s not always easy, because you have to set up a long-term and very concrete collaboration with many parties with different interests.’

According to van Heeren, that concrete nature was one of the jury’s most important criteria: ‘Which of course, we were able to demonstrate really well. We were also able to convince the jury that what we do is much more widely applicable than just in the chemical industry. There are plenty of other sectors where it’s difficult to kickstart green transitions. Setting up a long-term collaboration, with a recognizable ecosystem with short lines of communication is just as important and applicable to other sectors.’

We are delighted with the award because it is fantastic recognition for everyone working together within the Chemport region to make the chemical industry greener

European final

After winning the Dutch finals, Chemport Europe will now compete on the European stage. And those finals will take place on November 20 in Budapest. ”The Dutch final is essentially just a preliminary round,” van Heeren said. ‘So the Dutch jury is actually looking to see which concept would be the most successful on a European stage. We are really incredibly proud that we got that level of trust from them.’

‘For many people, chemistry feels like something far removed from their daily lives,’ says Klatter. ‘But chemistry is everywhere, from your toothpaste to the case of your smartphone, to the paint on the wall of your house. It’s a vital industry, and that’s why it’s important that we can tell this story to people. That we can create change in a good way. And more importantly, it is of course a great opportunity for us to show the rest of Europe all the fantastic things we are doing here in the Northern Netherlands.