Loek Jongen

🇳🇱 🇨🇦 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚: 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 At the University of Twente, we believe innovation thrives through collaboration. That is why we are pleased to share that Novel-T and Velocity, the entrepreneurship centre at the University of Waterloo in Canada, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen ties between our ecosystems. The ambition is clear: to explore how we can create a transatlantic bridge that helps early-stage founders validate faster, scale smarter and connect with both European and North American markets. For startups, this could mean turning research into real-world impact with the right support on both sides of the ocean. The agreement was formalised during Enschede Slush'D. It builds on the partnership we already enjoy with the University of Waterloo and marks a new step in connecting our innovation communities across borders, underlining Twente’s role as a hub where global innovation meets local strength.

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10 brutal truths on running a consulting firm specialising in Product Management. 4 years ago, I candidly launched a consulting firm. I had 0 experience in consulting but a decent startup experience. Fast-forward: We’re nearly 30 in the firm, have advised some of the most successful Belgian startups, and guide large groups in implementing product operating models. Here are 10 brutal truths about our journey: 1. Launching a consulting firm is easy. The bigger you get, the more challenging it becomes. 2. Bad deals are worse than no deals. Soon or late, they’ll hit you back. 3. Cash is king. Cutting too much on your gross margin is a race to the bottom. 4. It’s in times of trouble that you find your best people. 5. It’s sometimes very challenging to apply internally what we preach externally. 6. The smaller the company, the more trouble. Surprisingly, large companies pay on time, have fair contracts and never abuse their positions. 7. While the product management maturity is still low in most companies we meet, the maturity gap between startups and large corporations is getting thinner. 8. Outstanding work and word of mouth are our largest growth source by far. 9. Unreasonable tech investment in the period 21-23 is striking companies with budget cuts and bad practices instilled. 10. The biggest challenges are always the ones to come.

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Exactly 1 year after the Draghi report, ASML commits 1,7 billion EUR to Mistral.ai, becoming its largest shareholder. Has Europe finally waken up? The alliance between the continent's two AI champions - the world leader in chip-making machines and the rising LLM star - is great news: a European corporate finally investing massively in a European scaleup from its industry, even if not directly tied to its core business. This follows other positive developments, like the partnership between automaker Renault and exoskeleton scaleup Wandercraft to lighten the workload of workers who handle heavy loads in factories. But this kind of news are still the exception and not the rule: to mainstream this virtuous deals, we need Europe to enact an industrial policy for tech and innovation. This starts with recognising that tech is not only a fully-fledged economic sector, but also a strategic one to be treated with the same consideration of energy, chemicals or steel. A sector, for which the EU should have a truly shared competence to coordinate in practice - and not just in words - the work of Member States. Once we get there, we need to put in place a 5 step action plan: 1️⃣ Introducing a European preference in public procurement to organically support the growth of our startups, scaleups and tech companies. This should not be a blank obligation, but an additional evaluation criteria which weight will depend on the sensitivity of the concerned use case. 2️⃣ Creating real incentives for massive European private capital (savings and corporate investment) to finance innovation. European pension and insurance funds already invest in US innovative companies. Why not do the same in Europe? As for corporates, we need more of them to follow the example of ASML and Renault and look beyond their immediate business for their strategic investments. 3️⃣ Put in place a “28th regime” making it seamless for European companies to expand and operate in the Single Market as their domestic market. 4️⃣ A structural reform of the European budget for innovation (starting with the Competitiveness Fund) to allocate funding based on the innovative potential of projects rather than their geographical distribution. 5️⃣ A competition and merger control framework that promotes the consolidation and emergence of European tech champions. If we manage to do this, we will create jobs, unlock growth and secure our businesses against geopolitical risks. And with that, we will finally regain our leverage in international negotiations—whether in matters of trade or peace—with the world’s other great powers. More on these ideas in our latest report drafted with Marianne Tordeux Bitker and Marie Moussy and nicely laid out by Séverine MERCIER --> link to the full publication in the comments (available in 🇬🇧 and 🇫🇷 ).

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It was a privilege to be interviewed by Eindhovens Dagblad journalist Mascha Geerts-Prins, together with Henry Chesbrough, about how the #Brainport region leads the way in #OpenInnovation. 🚀 See the link below for the complete article, but some key insights are: ➡️ Community building is key: Open innovation is fundamentally about creating communities where "most of the smart people work for someone else", which is exactly the opportunity we need to embrace. ➡️ From closed labs to open ecosystems: Philips' transformation of the High Tech Campus based on Henry's 2003 book shows how powerful this shift can be, as it triggered turning an internal R&D facility into a thriving innovation ecosystem. ➡️ Smart knowledge management: It's not about opening everything, but finding the balance between sharing and protecting knowledge so that 1+1=3, in which patents, licenses, and strategic cooperation can all play crucial roles. ➡️ The quadruple helix: Beyond the traditional triple helix of university-business-government, we're now seeing society itself as an active participant in innovation, which is essential for tackling today's complex societal challenges. As Henry perfectly summarized: "Open innovation benefits companies, people, and society as a whole." This is both the challenge and opportunity for our region and for the world more generally! 🌍 Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/ejtiWAgR Eindhoven University of Technology Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences at TU/e World Open Innovation Community Brainport Eindhoven Brainport Development High Tech Campus Eindhoven

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"We've been doing this for 140 years, but we're already thinking about the next 100 years." This quote from Mart Kruidenier at Koninklijke Dekker perfectly encapsulates why I'm passionate about our growth strategy - partnering with established companies ready to embrace AI transformation. Our recent visit to Dekker's warehouse showcased exactly the kind of impact that drives our growth initiatives. The Challenge: Dekker's team was overwhelmed by hundreds of weekly purchase orders in multiple formats - PDFs, Excel files, emails. Their order intake team was buried in manual data extraction, product matching, and ERP entry work. The Solution: Through Lleverage's AI automation platform, we eliminated the entire manual workflow - from document processing to seamless Business Central integration. The Growth Story: What excites me most isn't just the operational efficiency we delivered. It's watching Dekker's team redirect their expertise toward high-value customer service instead of repetitive tasks. This is exactly the growth trajectory we're building - helping traditional companies like Koninklijke Dekker future-proof their operations through intelligent automation. We're not replacing teams, we're amplifying their potential to focus on what drives real business value. These partnerships fuel our mission and validate why the AI transformation market represents such tremendous opportunity for sustainable growth.

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"I like things to be easy... so I let AI think along." - Kees van Middendorp Kees joined our Zoom call late, wifi issues. But within minutes, it became clear: this isn't a coach experimenting with AI. He's a very early adopter in the coaching world. Executive coach. Start-up mentor. Three days a week, 90% online. Kees is also an associate at Global Coach Group, a global network of 3,500 carefully selected independent coaches. His AI toolkit? A Zoom notetaker, Reanotes for ICF competency analysis, and You.com, access to over 30 AIs for €200 per year. What stuck with me wasn’t just his tech stack. It was his clarity: "I get my work through coaching networks and platforms. But if I want to keep making a real impact, I need to build something of my own." Kees is planning to launch a training program for new coaches and a start-up mentor growth journey. AI-augmented learning paths where you don’t just train your skills, you learn how to work with your own AI Twin. He’s ready to get his AI twin with CoachNova. If AI could take 50% off your plate, what would you do? #CoachingBusiness #AIinCoaching #CoachingInnovation #coachnova

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How do you scale in the age of AI without losing what makes your company work🤔? If there is one person who can answer that question, it’s Marili 't Hooft - Bolle. As the CEO of Trengo, she knows what it takes to scale, lead, and stay human in a fast-changing world. In episode 116, Marili is your guide through today’s AI “Land of Confusion.” Together, we uncover that: 👉 Growth is not about adding people. It is about adding the right structure without slowing things down. 👉 In the AI era, you cannot just build the next version of what you know. You have to reimagine real value for your customers. 👉 True leadership means hiring for complementary skills, not clones of yourself. That is where diversity becomes inevitable. And there’s more. Marili’s reflection on International Women’s Day hits home. If we celebrate women on one day, it implies the other days are not women’s days. Ready to learn how to navigate growth and leadership in the age of AI? Listen to episode 116 of Women Disrupting Tech with Marili ’t Hooft-Bolle. Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e-fReyyX Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3JyCtG1 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eugqmM3B A podcast player near you: https://lnkd.in/e_SZSc3r

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𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 “No company innovates in isolation,” says Elke De Clerck, Global Science and Innovation Director. “Our approach is built on partnerships: with research institutions to expand scientific knowledge, with marketing strategists to translate insights into action, and with startups and med-tech companies to drive breakthroughs.” “In the biomedical space, we often find that startups can be both partner and customer. We work with them to combine cutting-edge solutions and products for market differentiation,” Elke explains. “True innovation arises when different players combine their unique strengths. Collaboration like that is the only way to achieve meaningful progress.” Read more in the full article - find it in the comments 👇 #Innovation #Collaboration #MedTech

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