Queen Máxima to virtually open new Prodrive Technologies manufacturing facility in the United States
On the afternoon of Thursday 8 October Her Majesty Queen Máxima will conduct the virtual opening of Dutch company Prodrive Technologies’ new manufacturing facility in Canton, Massachusetts. The company’s main offices are located in Science Park Eindhoven in Son.
Prodrive Technologies researches, develops and manufactures ingenious software and mechanical and electronic parts for machines in innovative sectors. The company is a supplier to the semiconductor industry, the medical sector and the automobile industry, as well as providing infrastructure and energy technologies. The new facility in Canton, near Boston, will expand capacity for both manufacturing and research and development. Massachusetts is a fast-growing tech hub specialising in complex technologies, thanks in part to the combined presence of top-tier universities such as Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), business incubators and accelerators, talented professionals, multinationals and venture capital. Several Dutch multinationals, startups and scaleups have a presence there.
Queen Máxima is conducting the virtual opening partly in her role as member of the Netherlands Committee for Enterprise. She will do so together with the Massachusetts State Governor Charlie Baker. Prior to the virtual opening, speeches will be given at the facility by Dutch ambassador to the United States André Haspels, executive director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center Elisabeth Reynolds, two staff members and a local customer. Pieter Janssen, CEO and co-founder of Prodrive Technologies, and the State Governor will speak via a videolink.
King Willem-Alexander visited the Dutch offices in Son in 2015 together with the then Minister for Economic Affairs Henk Kamp (Government Information Service press release no. 26, 2015).