Looking back and forward with confidence

 
The Netherlands Institute for Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship, better known as NIKOS, celebrates its 10th year anniversary this week. For the institute, it’s a time to reflect on days gone by and peek into a future project, namely a technology-based business school.
 
The celebration of NIKOS showcases a range of activities highlighting different focus areas in the academic field of entrepreneurship. The program includes the INSCOPE Conference, a PhD workshop and more practically oriented open VentureClass. Scientific Director Aard Groen: ‘I am especially excited that we host this year’s INSCOPE Conference, a leading consortium on social innovation.’ The anniversary will mainly concentrate on research and business development he added. ‘Our educational activities will be more emphasized during the Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.’
 

Tiago Ratinho hiding behind a pile of dissertations written by his NIKOS predecessors. He will defend his own thesis on the impact of business support services next Thursday 13 October.  (Photo: Eric Brinkhorst).
 
The ten-year milestone automatically brings up memories of special moments that have occurred throughout the past decade. Groen remembers the High-Tech, Small-Firm Conference, organized by NIKOS in 2008. ‘There were many internationally renowned keynote speakers, such as Anthony Di Benedetto, Paul Trott, Shaker Zahra and Andrew Van der Ven. Looking back, it was the moment when we first presented our VentureLab Twente program to the public. The program is designed to stimulate high-tech, high-growth entrepreneurship in the region. Currently, approximately 200 entrepreneurs and six PhD candidates participate in the program.’
 
Assistant Professor Jeroen Kraaijenbrinkrecalls a visit to the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Chicago. ‘We were with a nice group of colleagues and enjoyed useful conference sessions. Our visit to a fine American steakhouse was something to be remembered.’ But Kraaijenbrink is especially proud of the research conducted on strategic entrepreneurial processes at the University of Minnesota and the University of Virginia. ‘NIKOS enables its staff to create and exploit opportunities. I feel encouraged to be entrepreneurial myself.’
 
Most likely, this week’s festivities will encourage more recollections. The first official NIKOS doctoral candidate, Dr. Ingrid Wakkee, is looking forward to festivities: ‘I am excited to meet my former colleagues at the ‘staff-only’ cooking workshop. Thinking back on NIKOS takes me to the time when my colleague, Marijke van der Veen and I, almost turned a literature review for our joint paper into our life’s work,’ she laughs.
 
Wakkee’s dissertation, among other things, once more confirms the importance of the success of entrepreneurship networks.  To this day, networking is one of the cornerstones for NIKOS’ research, education and business development activities.
 
For Tiago Ratinho, the anniversary will also include a personal celebration. On Thursday 13 October, he will defend his thesis on the impact of business support services to participating entrepreneurs. ‘It is great NIKOS exists ten years at the very moment when I finish my PhD.’
 
NIKOS is full of plans for the future after the celebrations. It aims to develop a technology-based business school with other departments of the university. Within this framework, special attention will be devoted to internationalization. Professor Aard Groen: ‘Our research was accredited with an excellent score last year. Officially, we are now considered a nationally leading and internationally acknowledged institute for entrepreneurship. We strive to also be internationally leading in the near future.’
 
Mariska Roersen