A great step towards a national valorization agenda

Compared to fifteen years ago, we’ve come a long way with valorization of Dutch scientific research. But, in the opinion of Braventure director Job Nijs, there is still plenty of room for improvement. He is optimistic about the new developments and at the same time advocates sustainable anchoring and a national agenda. ‘We need more role models, and thanks to programs like the Faculty of Impact, they are on their way.’

Job Nijs has been around for a long time in the world of academic entrepreneurship and startups. Since 2020, he has led Braventure, the Brabant partnership for guidance and support of startups. His career before that included YES!Delft, Green Village and TechLeap, so he has witnessed up close how valorization has taken on an increasingly important role in academia.

How do you think the startup landscape in the Netherlands has developed?

‘There is much more cooperation between all parties now than there used to be. Those involved have always shown passion and enthusiasm to improve the system, but where everyone used to keep reinventing the wheel, you now see that the learning ability has increased somewhat. There is much more sharing, looking at each other. In the early days at YES!Delft we did just about everything ourselves, but now there are more and more specialized organizations, both public and private, which focus on different phases. And it’s also more professional. Whereas the leaders of knowledge transfer offices used to be cowboy types from outside academia with the most wonderful backgrounds, nowadays they are much more often trained internally and you see people with experience in those positions. As far as I am concerned, a next step is to have designated valorization persons in the university boards as well. Take England as an example: most boards have chief innovation officers.’

‘Two extremely important elements come together in this program: long-term funding plus the fact that it is a broad, national initiative’

What else is needed?

‘It has been over 20 years since then Minister Van der Hoeven made valorization the official third core task of universities. And yet there is still no structural funding. Twenty years, and still not mature: I find that very long. Because of the lack of financial security, it all remains very project-based and it is difficult to embed it sustainably. Because there is no so-called first flow of funds, you’ll always remain dependent on subsidies. Then you get snap policies, because when the subsidy ends, you can start all over again.’

In that light, how do you assess the Faculty of Impact?

‘Two extremely important elements come together here: long-term funding plus the fact that it is a broad, national initiative. All universities and NWO are working together in it. It is a very good example that we need to scale up further; a crucial first step towards a national valorization agenda. An agenda that would also need a national valorization financier, modeled on how NWO is funding academic research.’

‘It is a comforting idea when you know that you are not the first in your department, but that others have done this before and that you can call them for help and advice’

Do you think entrepreneurship is sufficiently on the map as a potential career path for academics?

‘At the very least it’s much more on the map than it was ten or fifteen years ago. The important thing is that academics who have this ambition can actually choose this career path. And that they know that this opportunity exists. That is why I am such a fan of the Faculty of Impact, and also Biotech Booster, for example: these programs make it possible to work up business cases from universities. Thanks to these initiatives, we will soon also have more role models, because that is something that is often lacking in this country. It is a comforting idea when you know that you are not the first in your department, but that others have done this before and that you can call them for help and advice.’

What advice would you personally give people with entrepreneurial ambitions?

‘Take that step! Explore it. Find people who have already done it, sign up for a program. You really don’t have to quit your job or make other big choices right away. Don’t just keep thinking about it but take action.’