Kor Visscher is one of the founding fathers of our high-tech business cluster and will retire on Tuesday 15 May. According to him, captivating and retaining talent is not only a business interest, the impact is much greater. It is crucial for the quality of life in the North. ,,Are we able to bind top talent that grows up here? And I don't just mean top talent at an academic level, but also higher vocational education graduates and professionals from senior secondary vocational education."

shoe boxes

The fact that the brainpower for technical innovation takes place in companies such as Philips and the partners in our business cluster has long been hidden. “Of course that is up to us. These companies are all gray shoeboxes on an industrial estate. We also have to bring the world in to show what is happening.” Some 14,000 students now go on 'safari' every year to discover what happens in those shoeboxes. ,,And we have a girls day, we have the project EduRobotics done where every primary school got a robot. It won't happen by itself, but I do think there is something beautiful now."

Download the complete interview at the bottom of this post, written by Maarten Pennewaard, journalist Leeuwarder Courant.