It might not have occurred to the bright sparks of Brainport Eindhoven that one of the reasons it finds it hard to attract foreign ‘knowledge’ workers is not the government’s immigration policy – but its rather stupid name.

Brainport Eindhoven is the name given to the region by its own lobby group and is supposed to attract high-tech industries to the move in.
As its website says: Brainport is ‘a national title with international allure. Brainport is not only the draft horse of the Dutch economy but it ranks high in Europe too’. Whatever that means.
Brainport is, of course, a play on words based on that other interesting little concept: Mainport – the word which Schiphol Airport and the Port of Rotterdam invented to describe an international transport hub.
And now, Sidelines has been sent a press release about another new port – this time a Bioport. The press release is an invitation to the presentation of a report, written for Rotterdam (Main)port, entitled ‘Bioport: The Netherlands as a Mainport For Biofuels’. The mind boggles.
Still, port is slightly preferable to valley: the Netherlands has, for example, a ‘Food Valley’ – where the food industry is concentrated and an ‘Energy Valley’ where the energy industry is concentrated. A pretty good achievement for a country with no real hills.