Chinese HEAD Aerospace Technology to expand their operations to the West Holland region
Beijing, October 26 2015 – The Chinese space trading company HEAD Aerospace Technology Co. signed a Letter of Intent during an official Trade Dinner, as part of the Dutch economic mission to China. The economic mission runs parallel with the official state visit of his Majesty King Willem-Alexander and her Majesty Queen Maxima.
By signing this Letter of Intent Mr. Jason Zhou (Board of Directors of HEAD Aerospace Technology Co.) and Mr. Chris van Voorden (Director Foreign Investments of InnovationQuarter) marked their common goals for setting up a new office for HEAD Aerospace Technology in Noordwijk, West Holland.
Official signing of a Letter of Intent in Beijing
On Sunday the 25th of October the economic mission started with an official Trade Dinner, hosted by the Netherlands. On this occasion, China HEAD Aerospace Technology Co. (HEAD) and InnovationQuarter formalized their co-operation by signing a Letter of Intent. This was witnessed by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders, the Dutch minister for Agriculture Sharon Dijksma, Deputy Minister for Healthcare Martin van Rijn, the Dutch Ambassador in China Aart Jacobi and the commissioner of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) Jeroen Nijland.
HEAD Aerospace Technology Co.
HEAD is a leading space trading company in China, engaged in introducing worldwide advanced space products and technology to domestic civilian space missions, as well as selling Chinese space products to the commercial space market worldwide.
As the first private space company in China to expand their operations in the Netherlands, the chairman of the board of HEAD Mr. Jason Zhou is very confident about the their newly established Dutch company HEAD NED B.V.: "We bring our microsatellite platform, launching service and large amount of China space market requirement into the Netherlands. We hope to bring new opportunities for the Dutch space market."
“The plans of HEAD to set up facilities in Noordwijk are very important for the West Holland region”, says Chris van Voorden, InnovationQuarter. “First of all, it will create high-quality employment and secondly, HEAD’s choice for Noordwijk confirms the international role and importance of our region as being the hotspot for advanced space technologies.” InnovationQuarter is the regional development agency for West Holland and is assisting HEAD in setting up their business in Noordwijk.
The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) has been an important partner for InnovationQuarter in supporting this project and was present at the signing ceremony. NFIA and InnovationQuarter will continue to join forces in assisting HEAD with their establishment and growth in the West Holland region.
Mr. Jason Zhou is very pleased with all the support: "They help us a lot by providing information about the Dutch policy and assisted in the process of establishing our business. This encouraged us to choose the Netherlands. We feel confident about opening the Dutch office with the assistance of these professional organizations”.
HEAD’s intentions for West Holland
HEAD has already established a Dutch legal entity (B.V.). In the past, they worked together with (among others) Dutch Space Office, TNO, Airbus and CRIAect. These successful co-operations contributed to their choice of setting up an office in the West Holland region. The company is looking forward to continue working with TNO and ESA/ESTEC in the near future.
HEAD NED B.V. will set up office in the Space Business Innovation Centre (SBIC) in Noordwijk. Martijn Seijger, Director of SBIC Noordwijk: “The Space Business Innovation Centre Noordwijk is pleased to announce the partnership with the Dutch office of HEAD. We look forward to building a business relationship which benefits HEAD and the SBIC (start-up) community in Noordwijk. In our community the start-ups focus on turning space-connected business ideas into commercial companies. We believe this is an exciting opportunity for the start-up community to establish business relations in the Chinese market via a local partner”.
HEAD aims at being operational soon and will initially hire 5 staff members. In the next 3 years their goal is to expand to about 30 employees. They will invest 10 million euros in 3 years, spent mostly on both R&D activities and marketing and sales. At first, HEAD will rent office space. Later they plan on building their own 5000 m2 office.