Dutch Technology Week is not just about discovering the promising side of technology; yesterday during the official opening event it became clear that there are enough issues that the Netherlands has to cope with. More women in technology; more money for technical universities and more awareness of the opportunities and impact of technology on society. To name but a few examples.
Entrepreneurs from the manufacturing industry with a dilemma will be able to talk to colleagues during the DTW at the Industry Summit (IndustrieTOP) 2019. Spread across four locations in the Netherlands, participants can talk about robotisation or lifelong learning, for example. “These can be various subjects that play a role in the sector. The intention is for us to start a dialogue. Participants can also present a dilemma and then be supervised”, says Renco Kraak, director of the industry for the South-East region at ING. The bank organises these conferences together with FME, Koninklijke Metaalunie and VNO NCW.
There will be several speakers, including Frits van Hout of ASML, who, together with participating companies, will discuss the importance of good education and how the business community can contribute to this. Ron van Kemenade, ING’s chief information officer, is responsible for all IT processes within the bank and explains that customer experiences and technology cannot exist without each other. Kraak says: “As a bank, we are increasingly more than just there for the money. When companies need money, they usually know where to find us. In addition to this function, we want to contribute to what the future holds for Dutch society. You can see that technology is playing an increasingly important role. As a bank, we too have become much more of a technology company. But we can’t do that on our own, for this we work together with various fin-tech startups.”
For the organizers of these congresses it is also a way to keep an eye on what entrepreneurs in the manufacturing industry have to deal with or where they could use help: “By engaging in dialogue, we are better able to immerse ourselves amongst entrepreneurs and their challenges. We talk to them about their concerns, so that we can all learn something from them. But it’s also great to get together in interesting locations and expand the network.”
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