The municipality of Arnhem and the Province of Gelderland have commissioned BURA (formerly known as marco.broekman) the assignment to develop a spatial-economical vision on Arnhem as ‘Hotspot Energy’. Together with Wageningen en Nijmegen, Arnhem wants to strengthen the economic position of the region by fortifying the innovation climate of the sectors ‘Food’ (Wageningen), ‘Health’ (Nijmegen) and ‘Energy’ (Arnhem). Collaboration between those sectors is necessary to create innovative solutions and ideas.

In the development of the vision, special attention went to the three major knowledge- and work areas IPKW, HAN/HVHL and Arnhems Buiten. But also the surroundings of the station area and Coehoorn as an urban  nnovation environment were implemented. The main goal is to brand Arnhem as ‘Energy Hotspot’, by strengthening the strategic alignment and programmatic co-operation between IPKW, HAN/HVHL and Arnhems Buiten. Arnhem has a strong history of companies in the energy sector who focuses on reliable energy supply, clean mobility and circular economy. Every knowledge- and work location has a different focus in work type and sector and are complementary to each other. In collaboration with city economist Willem van Winden, BURA (formerly known as marco.broekman) developed a vision through a number of workshops with important stakeholders.

In these workshops we defined a few focus points for Arnhem to work on to become a “Hotspot Energy”; Organization, human capital, accessibility, spatial quality, program and living lab. The current organization is unclear and scattered. A clear organization will help to bring companies together and organize projects. Human capital is important to keep and attract talent and companies and accessibility is needed to tie every knowledge- and work location together. Spatial quality will make these locations more attractive and by adding program innovative activities will be strengthened. Living labs are important as a city to “practice what you preach” and inspire people by showing energy innovations in the public space. For every theme a list of short and long term projects was defined and put on the agenda.