Marc Hendrikse has been appointed by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy as the figurehead of the top sector high-tech systems and materials, Holland High Tech. As such, it is his job to stimulate innovation and internationalization in the Dutch high-tech ecosystem.

Hendrikse has been chairman of the Advisory Board of Mikrocentrum since the 1st of January of this year, a role that he enjoys fulfilling, he says.

Mikrocentrum plays a crucial role in organizing collaborations and connections between people in the high-tech industry. That is one of the main reasons why we in the Netherlands participate so well in the high-tech sector worldwide. We belong to the most anti-hierarchical countries in the world. If you want to work at the top of your game in high tech, you really need that anti-hierarchical attitude. In our country, a professor with a doctorate in engineering can just as easily talk to the man behind the lathe, but in other countries that interaction hardly ever takes place. The fact that we can put people from different disciplines together at the table in one room also leads to the best solution for the total system. As a result, we can make the most accurate electron microscope and ASML is the only one able to build a machine that no one else in the world can make and that is now even part of the battle between America and China.”

Connector and cross-pollinator

According to Hendrikse, it is important that Mikrocentrum continues what it has been doing for 55 years, namely the continuous training and further education of personnel in the high-tech manufacturing industry.

People who have just completed an MBO course have a working life of fifty years ahead of them. It is certain that the world will change considerably in those fifty years. People who completed their education ten or fifteen years ago are not aware of the latest state of affairs in digitization and circularity, while these are two challenges that feature prominently on the high-tech agenda. In that aspect of lifelong development, Mikrocentrum plays an important role with the courses and training it offers.”

In addition, Hendrikse emphasizes the role of Mikrocentrum as a connector and cross-pollinator between companies and professionals in the sector.

At the events organized by Mikrocentrum, such as the Plastics Fair and the Precision Fair, the whole of the Netherlands comes together to exchange knowledge and experience. That is part of our way of doing business, to help each other further and to lift the entire Dutch ecosystem to a higher level in this global world.”