The Power of Dutch innovation

By Bart Brouwers

In our Sunday newsletter, we, as editors, reflect on the past seven days. We do this on the initiative of our cartoonist Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.

For the past two weeks, we have taken a closer look at the heart of Dutch innovation. What is typical about it? Is it different from, let’s say, German, Chinese, or American innovation? Can we coin it as a concept, like Dutch Design? And is that an opportunity to position the Netherlands more strongly on the world stage as a leading innovation country? In a three-part series in preparation for the Dutch Innovation Days, May 11, 12, and 13 in Enschede, we have explored the opportunities and limitations of Dutch innovation. We discovered that it is about a combination of a down-to-earth mentality, resilience, an anti-hierarchical attitude, collaborativeness, speed, openness, and being always impact-oriented.

In the coming days, we will add the views of two specialists who are also invited to do a keynote at the Dutch Innovation Days, this Thursday and Friday. So stay tuned, just like our cartoonist Albert Jan Rasker is always tuning in on the latest innovations – with or without Frans Timmermans, who is one of the speakers in this week’s event in Enschede.

And of course, we’re also curious about your thoughts on Dutch innovation. Please share them with us as a reply to this email.

Read the three-part series on Dutch Innovation here

And buy your tickets for the event here 👌