No return needed: Voka – KvK Limburg and POM Limburg attract young talent back to Limburg
Today, 142,000 highly educated people from Limburg work in their own region. In total, 188,000 people from Limburg with long-term education are employed, accounting for 21% of Limburg’s working population, compared with 15% ten years ago. The long-standing brain drain to Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp therefore appears to be gradually reversing. The figures are moving in the right direction, but there is still work to be done. To accelerate this positive trend, Voka – KvK Limburg and POM Limburg are launching the ‘One-way ticket to Limburg’ campaign from Monday 21 September — the day the academic year also starts in Flanders.
With a striking communication campaign in the railway stations of Hasselt, Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp, the two organisations want to make young people from Limburg and other young professionals aware of the career opportunities in the province. The timing is no coincidence: just as thousands of students from Limburg begin their studies elsewhere, Voka – KvK Limburg and POM Limburg want to let them know now that an exciting career is also — and increasingly — possible in their own province. The campaign ties in with the Limburg Tech Manifesto, which was launched last year to further strengthen Limburg’s start-up and scale-up landscape.
With ‘One-way ticket to Limburg’, Voka – KvK Limburg and POM Limburg want to bring these two worlds closer together. The campaign will appear in the stations of Hasselt, Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp over the coming weeks. At its heart is a train ticket with Limburg as its destination and a clear message: ‘No return needed. Start your career in Limburg.’
‘For many young people, it feels natural to stay and work in Leuven, Brussels or Antwerp after their studies. Yet there are also many particularly interesting career opportunities in Limburg today. The figures show that the trend is already reversing, but we are not there yet. With this campaign, we want to maintain and accelerate that momentum. Limburg should be a region where young talent not only enjoys living, but also consciously chooses to build a career’, says Johann Leten, Managing Director of Voka – KvK Limburg.
Concrete implementation of the Limburg Tech Manifesto
The campaign ties in directly with the Limburg Tech Manifesto, which was launched last year with the ambition of further developing Limburg into a strong region for innovative companies and young talent.
One of the action points within that manifesto focuses specifically on retaining talent from Limburg. Many young people move to other student cities for their studies and do not automatically return afterwards. At the same time, companies in Limburg need technical, digital and entrepreneurial talent to continue growing.
‘With the Tech Manifesto, we not only set out our ambitions last year, but also agreed to link them to concrete actions. This campaign is a good example of that. Limburg has strong companies, innovation campuses and an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We need to tell that story much more emphatically to the talent that we still too often see leaving today’, says Jonas De Raeve, Director of Advocacy at Voka – KvK Limburg.
Limburg as a career destination
At the same time, the campaign aims to strengthen the image of Limburg as an economic region. Today, the province is much more than an attractive place to live. Companies in Limburg are working on applications and innovations in areas including AI, healthtech, cybersecurity, smart logistics, industry, energy and sustainable technology.
Alongside established companies, Limburg also has a growing ecosystem of start-ups and scale-ups, innovative campuses and international companies. For young professionals, this means not only interesting jobs, but often also the opportunity to take on responsibility more quickly and make an impact.
Tom Vandeput, Deputy of Limburg and Chairman of POM Limburg: ‘Limburg has a great deal to offer young talent today. Our companies are growing, our campuses are attracting new activities and new opportunities are constantly emerging in fields such as technology, life sciences, energy and smart industry. Young people therefore do not have to choose between an ambitious career and Limburg. Above all, we want to show them what opportunities are available here, so that they also consider Limburg when deciding where they want to build their future.’
‘The idea that you have to leave Limburg to pursue an ambitious career is becoming less and less accurate. Our companies operate internationally and are constantly looking for talent. But that story is still not sufficiently known outside Limburg, and sometimes not even among young people from Limburg themselves.’
Not against leaving, but in favour of returning
For Voka – KvK Limburg and POM Limburg, the campaign is therefore not about keeping young people in the province at all costs.
Studying, working or gaining experience outside Limburg remains valuable. The ambition is, however, for young people to consider Limburg again as a fully fledged option when making career choices.
‘Anyone who has studied or worked for several years in Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp or abroad should know that returning to Limburg is not a step backwards. On the contrary. You can build an exciting career here, become an entrepreneur and at the same time enjoy the quality of life our province has to offer.’
Build your future here
The posters in the stations are the visible starting point of the campaign. Through the online platform ‘Build your future here’, young professionals are introduced further to Limburg’s story.
There, they can discover which companies, sectors and career opportunities the province offers today and why Limburg is an interesting place to work, do business, innovate and live.
Source: Voka – KvK Limburg
