‘People breathe, eat, sleep and exchange cards’

Pim Tuyls Intrinsic-ID expanded from High Tech Campus Eindhoven to Silicon Valley, California in 2008. Based in both high tech areas, we asked him about their similarities and differences. “San Jose revolves around business.”

Silicon Valley versus High Tech Campus
Intrinsic-ID’s technology uses biometrics to help computerchips aknowledge other chips around the world. “Just like a human being, a chip posesses unique biometric qualities. We teach them to judge whether or not it’s safe to communicate with other chips”, Tuyls says.

Being one of the company’s founders, Tuyls first set foot in San Jose’s Silicon Valley in 2008. The Belgium native, permanently moved to California in 2015. According to Tuyls, the Campus and the Valley differ most in the way California facilitates business.

Tuyls: “It’s all build tot do ‘big things’. Everything that has anything to do with business is much easier to achieve here, its infrastructure seems to be build for it. If it takes a year to set up a business in the Netherlands, the same can be done over here in one month.”

I would like to see the campus develop even more

Differences
According to Tuyls there also seems to be a general difference in culture between the people that populise the Valley and the Campus. “I think there’s a difference in mentality, comparing Europeans and people from the States”, he says. “Networking seems to be first nature here. People breathe, eat, sleep and exchange cards.”

Tuyls doesn’t feel any regret about the move to San Jose. “Such elements create an environment which is business friendly. I would suggest this move to every young company in the world which is pursuing growth in this sector.”

In comparison
Like the campus in Eindhoven, Silicon Valley houses a variety of nationalities working in the area. “There’s a large Dutch, Belgium and German community here and a lot of people from Asia and India. Just as in Einhdoven, it’s a melting pot of cultures.”

Also, the presence of tech-giants such as Facebook and Google in the Valley lures other companies to the area, according to Tuyls. “That role -more or less-  is handed to Philips in Eindhoven. I would be a great thing to see more big companies coming to campus.”

“I would like to see the campus develop even more. Please note that, in no way, I think bad of the campus. It has a lot to offer and their work truly is great for the branch, region and the country in my opinion. But a place like that should always pursue progress”, he says.

“The campus has been very valuable for us and will keep on proving its value in the future, there’s not a doubt in my mind about that. I think it would be great if entrepeneurs that left Eindhoven for San Jose would return after a while to help improve the campus even more.” One day, Tuyls might make that move himself.