All partner regions of the Meuse Rhine Triangle have one goal in common: to strengthen the key technology clusters in their regions by encouraging closer cross-border co-operation in business, education and research. The field of life sciences (esp. medical technology and biotechnology) is a key sector in all five partner regions of the Meuse Rhine Triangle.
When in early 1999 the annual fair MD&M took place in the US, Bernd Thomas, AGIT's CEO, found himself right near Ferdy Bremmer, economic developer at the City of Maastricht, both exhibiting with their own booths. For the people visiting the booths, it was hard to understand why two initiatives located less than 40 kilometres away from each other did not join forces. For AGIT and City of Maastricht this gave the impetus to start a common project to attract foreign investors not only to Maastricht or Aachen, but to the whole Meuse Rhine Triangle, this cross-border region, where you can reach the three major cities in less than one hour driving by car.
The INeurope life sciences project started in autumn 1999 for three years and focussed on international marketing. But the bright life sciences cluster in this region suffered by something else: There were only sporadically cross-border cooperation as well as cooperations between science and economy. So the INeurope project was followed by another one: 'The Heartbeat of Life Sciences in Europe'.