FNWI: Green student lab

The Netherlands is a world leader in terms of seed development and one of the largest exporters of seeds in the world. Seed Valley is an area in the province Noord-Holland where many companies are located specialized in the breeding, production and sale of high-quality seeds.

Seed Valley is growing at a high rate and half of current staff will retire in the coming ten years. Therefore about 5,000 new employees with the right expertise are needed for the upkeep of Seed Valley. Only a small part of the life science education at the university of Amsterdam (UvA) is focused on the green sciences while the number of master students in the life sciences at this university increased enormous over the last three years. It would be beneficial if a link between companies of the green sciences and the students of Amsterdam could be created. The MicroArray Department of the UvA proposes a new concept within the UvA education to educate students towards the expertise needed in industrial plant sciences : the Green Students’ Lab.