Growth technically oriented North Dutch business is stagnating due to scarcity of technical talentThe (SME) business needs to increase the growth capacity of the Northern Netherlands economy. The task of SMEs is to find innovative innovative solutions to the societal challenges with a focus in the Northern Netherlands on the well-known themes (biobased economy, health, agro-food, energy, chemistry, HTSM (sensor technology) and water). Human capital is the main means of achieving valuable applications and healthy economic growth. Building and maintaining networks between businesses and between companies and knowledge institutions is of great importance for building a good knowledge infrastructure. Well-trained people are crucial here. An increasing number of vacancies for highly skilled technicians and engineers, especially for regional SMEs, is becoming increasingly difficult to fill. The shortage of technical specialist staff in the Northern Netherlands is increasing, which threatens growth in the long term. This deficit is further exacerbated by the so-called brain drain: recent graduate technologists and engineers often move from the northern Netherlands to the Randstad. As a result, employees from other regions and countries have to be “located”, which means a big step for many.The technical ecosystem North Netherlands at WW level does not work optimally.Many WW students do not know the beautiful companies in Northern Netherlands well enough and many companies do not know the possibilities of the RuG well enough. For many, it is still a surprise that the UG also puts engineers on the market. Also, many students leave the region after their studies because there is a perception that there are few interesting jobs and employers. Perhaps this part of the Northern DNA is to use PR a little too easily, but this “not knowing each other well” is a bump to make the ecosystem work as it does in other parts of the country.How can the North Dutch technical orientated ecosystem work optimally at WW level?To meet the above challenges, the Groningen Engineering Business Center (GEBC) is being established and developed in phases. The main objectives of the GEBC are twofold: •EducationThe setting up and running of Engineering Mastertracks. The idea is that more students opt for a technically oriented follow-up study within the RuG and are therefore retained for career steps in this region. In the first instance, the tracks Advanced Instruments and Smart Factories are considered. This also fits in with the larger, future picture that the RuG has the ambition to become the 5th TU in the Netherlands. O Realising 300 WO Engineering internships/graduate/research places. The idea is to drive and carry out professional internships/graduation places the mutual unfamiliarity of companies vs students and companies vs RUG is actively resolved. To this end, an expertise platform (E-portfolio system) for match-making will be set upoExchange programme; setting up and realising professional and current workshops, lectures, company visits, seminars on content engineering topics. It also explores the possibility for business people to provide guest lessons in educational programmes. This is all meant to get to know each other more intensively.•Researcho Realising an Engineering oriented Professional Doctorate Engineering program. The idea is that there will be a programme of applied research that fits well with the research needs of the technically oriented North Dutch industry. This also reduces the mutual unfamiliarity. Surveys of member companies will map the future demand for highly skilled technologists. This data is used to set up and improve the curriculum of new and existing curricula. Northern SMEs can have input to the curriculum of the courses to be set up through the GEBC. The GEBC is organised as a collaboration between the UG, through the existing Groningen Engineering Centre (GEC), and a 7 numerous business co-operations. The GEC is an umbrella organisation of some 40 research groups of the University of Groningen, all of which have an interface with engineering. The business organisations represent approximately 150 SMEs. The companies participating in these cooperatives have their business in the fields of Agro-Food, Chemistry and Polymers, Energy, Machinery, Mechatronics, Robotics, Medical Technology, Medicines, Construction, High Tech Materials, etc.