Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation, paid a two-day working visit to the Netherlands this week.
During the visit, the focus was on the important role of research and innovation in strengthening Europe’s competitiveness.
On the first day, she held bilateral meetings with ministers Heleen Herbert, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and Rianne Letschert, Minister of Education, Culture and Science. Zaharieva was also one of the speakers at Hello Tomorrow Summit 2026, a deep-tech event at NDSM Square in Amsterdam. She also took part in roundtable discussions with deep-tech start-ups.
Afterwards, the EU Commissioner was welcomed at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Science Park. There, she participated in a policy dialogue with Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf. She also visited several innovative companies, including Amsterdam Quantumlabs and LAB42, where she joined an AI walking tour. There was also a demonstration of a humanoid football match. She concluded the day with a working dinner at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
On the second day, the EU Commissioner visited Leiden Bio Science Park, the largest life sciences and health cluster in the Netherlands. She was welcomed by Peter Heijkoop, the Mayor of Leiden.
There, she visited several locations where innovative science is being carried out, including LeydenJar, a deep-tech company focused on clean battery technologies. She also held discussions with representatives from the research community, industry and the start-up sector. She visited Leiden University and Exposome Scan as well. She then received an explanation of the European Synthetic Cell Initiative, SynCellEU. The visit concluded with a visit to the biotech company ProQR.
