# Dutch Design Week's Miriam van der Lubbe asks tech industry to invest in design

> As the 26th Dutch Design Week opens in Eindhoven on Saturday, its creative leader has called on the region's high-tech industry to put money into the city's design sector. Designers say the sector is short of space.

Society · published 2026-10-17 21:10 · https://nlnow.nl/a/dutch-design-week-opens-in-eindhoven-with-2-500-designers/

The 26th edition of Dutch Design Week starts on Saturday in Eindhoven. Its creative leader, Miriam van der Lubbe, has called on the high-tech industry to invest in the city's design sector. "With all the capital in this region, I would say: be generous," she said.

Van der Lubbe, a designer who co-founded the event, said the sector needs commerce. She said the money should help keep an event like Dutch Design Week at the top internationally. Eindhoven designers, the municipality and local businesses have joined forces in the partnership Design Development Eindhoven (DDE). They say money is needed to strengthen the design sector.

Space is a central worry. "The room for experiment that we have in Eindhoven is under great pressure," said Bernhard Lenger, director of Foundation We Are. He sees a shared interest with the high-tech industry, whose growth puts pressure on space and services in the region. He said ASML says it wants to take its social responsibility. "As a design sector we are very good at arranging everything ourselves. But sometimes you also have to accept help," he said.

Students still leave the city because of a lack of space, said Anne Ligtenberg, DDE programme director. "For a long time we had the luxury of space in Eindhoven. Now everything is under such pressure that we have to seek each other out," she said.

DDE arose after Design Academy Eindhoven threatened in 2024 to leave the city because its lease was ending. Mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem helped prevent that. In a speech at last year's Dutch Design Week he said: "When it was a crisis, everyone found each other in no time. That should be the case all year round."

## Background

- **Dutch Design Week**: Dutch Design Week is an annual design festival held in Eindhoven, usually in October. Designers, students and companies show their work across many locations in the city, including exhibitions, talks and public events. It is one of the largest design events in Europe and is a major date in the Dutch design calendar.
- **Design Development Eindhoven**: Design Development Eindhoven is a partnership in Eindhoven that brings together local designers, the municipality and local businesses. It is meant to strengthen the city's design sector and to connect the people and companies working in it. It matters here because Eindhoven is one of the Netherlands' main design cities, and this partnership links the creative sector to local government and industry.

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