The High Tech Campus is not just a group of buildings where loners with a total IQ of 1.25 million think up smart stuff. It’s also a place where these individuals can come into contact with one another and not only make even better products, but reach better markets too.
According to Bert-Jan Woertman, Director of Marketing and Communication at the HTC, it’s all about relationships. In an interview with marketing platform webs.nl, he says that relationships between residents on the High Tech Campus develop more easily and quickly thanks to a high level of trust. “Conference Center The Strip is our village square where everyone can come together at any time. It’s the place where people, ideas and, as such, businesses, get connected.”
Woertman emphasises that, although online marketing has increased in importance, real meetings are still essential. “Here you find each other in lots of ways. It’s easier if you’ve met once before and know each other’s backgrounds, but then it’s nice if the online environment is set up in such a way that people can easily find you again and can see what you stand for. In this way, you can do business more easily via the web.”
Managed Serendipity
But how does that figure into his work? “I can’t say to person A and person B who don’t know each another to go and work together. It starts with a meeting, and I can facilitate that. We create an environment where as many As and Bs can meet one another. Managed serendipity: it seems like a coincidence that it happens, but it’s not. We’ve really though about it here. The design of the landscape, the architecture, the surroundings, the facilities and services, and the events we organise; everything is geared up to stimulate meetings.”
One example of this is the way in which the canteens are outside of the office buildings and concentrated in The Strip. “So that people can meet one another at lunch. All this contributes to the mutual trust.”
Brainpower
New companies can immediately start to benefit. “We do it all to make it possible for new companies to get involved here. If you’re connected with the rest of the world in this smart way, it helps with better, quicker and more successful innovation. You need to be part of a smart network. This ‘brainpower’ works like a magnet on the campus.”
The interview with Woertman was triggered by the upcoming event on the digital future of business to business, marketing and sales, The digital future of B2B , which will take place tomorrow, 30 June, at the High Tech Campus. Read more information about the event here.
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