end-user marketing geosynthetics / advanced composites - TenCate

During the celebration of TenCate’s three
hun dredth anniversary in 2004 President and CEO
Loek de Vries presented his vision on the future
of textiles, the Twente manufacturing industry
and the role that open innovation played in this.
To that end he outlined his image of Twente as
Materials Valley. ‘At a regional level there is a
great need for increased cooperation between
the industrial sector and knowledge institutes,
he told his audience. ‘As the largest private
employer in Twente, TenCate has taken the
initiative that has resulted in the launch of
Materials Valley to ‘bring about alliances
between companies and to tighten links
with the University of Twente, Saxion
University and regional education centres.
In addition, TenCate has invited companies
from other sectors to join forces in applying
their knowledge, skills and experience.’
Framework for innovation
As early as 2004 there was a need at national
level for a framework to promote innovation.
In the opinion of Loek de Vries it was up to
national and regional administrators to create
the preconditions to make innovative solutions
possible. ‘Ambitious plans demand not only a
challenging climate for research and education,
but also financial participation by government
to cover the risks inherent in innovation and
cooperation between industry and science.’
In his view, it is the research & development,
the level of education and the creativity that are
available that form the input for the innovation
strength of a region. The output is made up of the
innovations resulting from it. ‘This is very often
measured in the number of patents. The interplay
of forces and cooperation within the innovation
triangle, consisting of companies, administrators
and knowledge institutes, will determine
whether you achieve valorization - an increase
in value in fundamental and applied research in
industry. This requires face-to-face contact and a
functional relationship between inventors, manufacturers
and suppliers to get the partnership off
the ground. OICAM fulfils its own role in this.’’
Linking of technologies
In essence, Twente is a materials area, a
Materials Valley. Approximately 28% of
companies are to be found in this high-grade
manufacturing industry. ‘We should not renounce
our roots, however. TenCate is a textile company,
and it is in that field that we have knowledge
and skills. We must link up chemical technology,
textile technology, material technology and
nanotechnology and embed these disciplines in
a foundation of applied and industrial research.
That is what TenCate does. Together with other
companies this produces innovative spin-offs.
Such a supra-regional approach will really put the
region of Twente on the map as Materials Valley.’
Loek de Vries emphasizes the importance
of cooperation between the four elements,
consisting of companies, public sector bodies and
educational and research institutes, observing
that in companies there is always a sense of
urgency. ‘There is greater haste, more drive.
Innovation cannot be imposed from above.
The role of government must be supportive
and enterprising. True innovations always
start small and need to be given structure.’
Innovation route: five clusters
The above four elements have defined five
clusters for the Innovationroute Twente:
Nutrition, Care, Megatronics, Materials and
Construction. The first three are demand-driven,
the remaining two, supply-driven. ‘What you now
have to do is look for common ground: where
does supply support demand? What for example
can the Materials cluster do to help the Care
cluster? It is from these sorts of questions that
innovation springs. We must strive to achieve
chain-knowledge structuring and remain focused.
This sometimes demands bold options: good
strategy makes some customers unhappy.’
On the interface between the supply and
demand of the clusters, collaboration will be
possible by combining fundamental, applied
and industrial research. The University of
Twente, Saxion University and industry are
working together on this Regional Technological
Roadmap. ‘Scientists and regional and provincial
administrators monitor the connections and
give or withhold the go-ahead. This is the right
way to spend innovation budgets. If you aim
to create strength, you must not give money
to the clusters separately, without any coherence.
It is vital to achieve unity and structure.
Ultimately, it is the government that has final
responsibility for allocating innovation budgets.’
Inventions and innovations
‘Our entire company is R&D-driven’, concluded
Loek de Vries. ‘At least five per cent of our
budget is spent on research and development.
TenCate is without doubt the worldwide leader
when it comes to the number of patents filed
in the textile market. But not every invention is
an innovation; an invention does not become an
innovation until it is actually used. In general, it
appears that companies do not use 95% of all
inventions. “Large companies have five to ten
per cent of true innovations and these are thus
the real cash cows”, said Professor of Urban
Economics, Frank van Oort in the 2010Twente
Index. The same applies to TenCate. You evolve
from invention to innovation, from prototype to
product and then it must also be reproducible
and sustainable. I regard it as a great asset
that, with the support of Peter den Oudsten
as Chair of the Region of Twente, a centre like
OICAM will enable us now to really get down
to work on innovation. Let’s make an energetic
start and above all, respect each other’s roles.’
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