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Philips has received the King Willem I Prize in the category of large corporations. The Oisterwijk based Tobroco won in the category of SMEs. Queen Maxima awarded the prizes at Radio Royaal at Strijp-S. A few hundred meters away, in the Evoluon, Jan van Eijk received another prestigious award: the Martin van den Brink Award.

The jury reports:

Philips:

“The Board of the Koning Willem I Foundation praises Philips for continuously adapting to the questions and challenges which society needs. For example, Philips is a global innovator in the healthcare and lighting industries. The move to split the company into two strong independent branches testifies of courage, an eye for market opportunities and a long-term strategy.”

TOBROCO Machines

“The Board of the Koning Willem I Foundation expresses its particular appreciation for Tobroco for the way the welder in the pigsty developed into a producer of high-quality agricultural machines and exports them worldwide.”

Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Koppert Cress BV

“The Board praised Koppert Cress BV for bringing together health, nutrition, education, nature, environment, decent work, innovation, energy neutral business and major economic impact. This integrated approach and broad interpretation of sustainability highly impressed the board.”

The King Willem I Award is the National Enterprise Award, which is awarded every two years by the Koning Willem I Foundation. The prize is awarded in two categories: Large Corporation and SMEs. By awarding the Prize, the Koning Willem I Foundation’s goal is to raise awareness and generate interest for positive developments in the Dutch economy and to stimulate creative and innovative entrepreneurship.

The award ceremony evening’s theme was “Creating the Future ‘. The winners were praised during the ceremony for their courage, decisiveness, perseverance, sustainability and innovation.

Jan van Eijk

The Martin van den Brink Award is a prize for the best of DSPE system architect in the precision engineering industry. Martin van den Brink is the namesake for his key role in the early years of ASML. Erik Loopstra won the first award in 2012. Jan van Eijk is now the second winner of the trophy. Van Eijk is seen as one of the founders of the mechatronics.