INDIANAPOLIS – Governor Eric J. Holcomb and First Lady Janet Holcomb returned late last week from an economic development trip to Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.
Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg and a delegation from the Applied Research Institute (ARI) in Belgium joined the Governor and First Lady.
While abroad, Gov. Holcomb and the delegation met with government officials, representatives from the semiconductor industry, and energy leaders. Gov. Holcomb paid respects to members of the armed forces during a visit to Normandy and traveled to Utah Beach with a Hoosier D-Day veteran.
Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana delegation kicked off the trip in the Netherlands, meeting with U.S. and Dutch government officials to discuss opportunities for growth and partnership between the two regions. The delegation met with U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Shefali Razdan Duggal and Dutch officials Tjerk Opmeer, acting director general for business and innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and Michiel Sweers, director general for external economic relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Once in Belgium, Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana delegation toured Redwire Space’s Belgium facility. Last week, Redwire broke ground on a state-of-the-art microgravity payload development facility at the Novaparke Innovation & Technology Campus in Floyd County, Indiana.
Gov. Holcomb and the delegation also met with imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. In 2023, imec signed an MOU with the state of Indiana and Purdue University, advancing research and development in Indiana’s semiconductor sector. In December 2023, imec opened a new research and development hub on Purdue’s campus.
The Indiana delegation also visited the Port of Antwerp-Bruges to meet with leadership and discuss opportunities to grow partnerships focused on logistics, trade, and energy to enhance the state’s global trade capabilities.
The Governor met with the leadership of Voka – Kamer van Koophandel Antwerpen-Waasland, an Antwerp-based chamber of commerce, including CEO Luc Luwel, to discuss Indiana’s and Belgium’s shared focus on furthering innovations in life sciences, energy, and semiconductors.
Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana delegation met with the leadership of the country’s Flanders region, including Jan Jambon, Vlaams Minister-President, and representatives of the region’s industry, to discuss how Indiana and Flanders can work together to create greater cooperation for a more prosperous economic future. The meeting continued a memorandum of understanding signed between Indiana and Flanders in December 2023.
Gov. Holcomb and the delegation also met with representatives of the European Union, which is headquartered in Brussels, including Belén Martinez Carbonell, deputy secretary general for economic and global issues at the European Union External Action Services.
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After departing Belgium, Gov. Holcomb and the delegation traveled to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The Governor participated in a ceremony at Normandy and visited Utah Beach with a fellow Hoosier and veteran.
This was the Governor’s third international economic development trip of 2024, his fifth visit to France, third to Belgium, and first to the Netherlands.
