Travel opens doors. It connects people, broadens perspectives, and offers a chance to experience the world through different eyes. Each journey is an opportunity to learn about culture, history, and the everyday lives of others. In Europe, few places bring these elements together as seamlessly as the Netherlands.

As climate change disrupts traditional farming patterns in the Philippines, a Dutch innovation is offering a fresh solution. 

Singapore has unveiled its first polder, a reclaimed land area below sea level, on Pulau Tekong, spanning 800 hectares.

At the southernmost tip of the Netherlands lies a groundbreaking research hub that is reshaping the future of gravitational physics and space exploration. ETpathfinder, based in Maastricht, is a living laboratory for the technologies that will power the Einstein Telescope (ET), a next-generation European underground gravitational wave detector. In the lab, researchers experiment with ultra-sensitive optical and cryogenic systems that will allow tomorrow’s observatories to ‘listen’ to the universe in ways never before imagined.

The Netherlands has long been a hub for international education, attracting ambitious students from around the world. Recent research shows that more of these graduates are choosing to stay in the country after completing their studies, a trend with significant implications for the Dutch labour market.

Startups are often celebrated as engines of innovation, but their true impact lies in helping society confront urgent global challenges. Startup creativity is shaping industries and economies with people and planet in mind, and the Netherlands is one place where many of these ideas are taking root. 

Living in a world where production leaves no waste may sound like utopia, yet that is precisely the idea at the heart of C-District and MAAK-park Haarlem. Here, circular solutions and new production methods are tested and explored, from construction to product design. It’s a place that thrives on experimentation, where learning comes through doing. A hub where ambitions in digitalisation, industrialisation, and circular innovation come together to shape a future without waste.