Dennis Schipper
“I have observed that when the need arises, the people of Twente unite and are willing to go to great lengths to achieve the common good. That makes me proud.”
As a board member, Dennis Schipper represents the Twente business community. He takes on this role because he believes it is essential for entrepreneurs to have strong representation on the field. “To truly make something of the region, you must collaborate and challenge each other,” he believes. “Sometimes it seems as if the government assumes the world is malleable, but in practice, this isn’t the case, especially not in Twente. The ball is largely in the entrepreneurs' court, so they should be central to the support they receive. Government and education should play a more supportive role for entrepreneurs. This is not yet the norm, so it’s something we need to work on together. I see it as one of my roles on the Twente Board to bring about this change.”
Solving rather than talking
Dennis notes that in Twente, we enjoy engaging in conversations. “In that respect, we are good at finding each other, including us entrepreneurs. But the implementation power of our ideas is often limited. I believe we need to learn to hold each other accountable, take responsibility, and voice our thoughts so we can truly work together to solve problems. I see this as a task for the Twente Board as well.”
Challenges
According to Dennis, the ageing population is one of the major challenges that Twente must address. “I see a significant decrease in young people from Twente. We need to think about how to retain them. As an employer, you need to distinguish yourself and focus on the ambitions and wishes of today’s young people. If you do that well, they’ll want to work for you. We must also realise that we need to attract people from outside. In countries like Spain, there are many well-educated people who would love to work here. But to have them work here, we need to provide housing. This means we need to build more housing. How will we do that? How will we attract people here? This discussion needs to be held, and the Twente Board can play an initiating role.”
Gross Twente Happiness
Dennis believes that Gross Twente Happiness is a valuable addition to the Twente Board’s strategy. “The strength of this approach is that it’s not about yet another nanotechnology project but about broad Twente prosperity. It’s not just about the prosperity of the larger cities, but also about the welfare of the people in places like Tubbergen and Wierden. I believe that we should evaluate project proposals against the benchmark of Gross Twente Happiness. This would be very powerful and would make people more aware of what truly matters in life.”
Additional Roles | Dennis Schipper
- Board Member, Health Valley
- Board Member, Holland Robotics
- Board Member, Hightech NL
- Board Member, Polymer Science Park Zwolle
- Member, Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (AcTI)
- Member, Advisory Board DISC
- Member, Advisory Board of Electrical Engineering, University of Twente
- Member, Steering Committee HCAT
- Chairman, Supervisory Board of FC Twente
- Jury Member, Van den Kroonenberg Award – University of Twente
- Member, Twente Board
Other Positions
- Fellow, Netherlands Academy of Engineering
- Board Member, High Tech NL
- Chairman, Supervisory Board of FC Twente
- Member, Twente Board
- Board Member, Stichting Ondernemend Twente
LinkedIn Dennis Schipper