Innovation, innovation and innovation. Outgoing Philips Director in Drachten Rob Karsmakers (54) gets up with it and goes to bed with it. ,,In the Netherlands and in Europe we are very good at it. With smart industries, smart production processes and techniques, you have a chance to compete globally. That's a must,but it's also fun. Winning is not dirty.’’
Karsmakers threw open the doors and put employees at the center. His main focus was on attracting new talent, training and retaining them to build for the future. To do that, he realized, the branch had to be attractive. For this reason, Karsmakers made work of innovation. The University of Groningen, the colleges, province and municipality were brought in to make innovation successful at all levels. This led to the establishment of theInnovatiecluster Drachten, to which some twelve companies are now connected. In addition to Philips, these include BD Kiestra, Variass, Whisperpower and YP Your Partner.
Karsmakers: ,,In the beginning I had the feeling of pulling a dead horse, but it worked out. Innovation is not a matter of one year, rather ten years, but we are well on our way. It is now in our DNA. The recognized innovation hubs were in Eindhoven, Twenthe and the Randstad, among others. The North was always an empty spot on that map. In the latest ING report, we are in third place. The cluster shows that the region has a face when it comes to innovation.’’ The effects are noticeable, according to the outgoing location director. We get open applications, bring them in and give them the opportunity to develop themselves for a number of years. From me they don't necessarily have to stay with Philips, it's fine if they choose another partner within the Innovation Cluster.’’
The emotion of success is important.’’ Drachten offers plenty of those opportunities, Karsmakers said. ’’We do a lot ourselves. Product and process innovation, research and development, we have everything in-house here. As a result, everyone talks to everyone, from the operator to the highly educated. That stimulates enormously to make innovations a success.’’ Employees are invited to propose improvements. Six years ago, there were hardly any, according to Karsmakers. ''Now there are so many each that we can't even process them all.'' (Source: Dagblad van het Noorden)