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Innovation: a cost-benefit analysis

   

Companies need collaboration and input from academia, says innovation expert

When it comes to innovation, Rob van Leen has seen it all. Until earlier this year, he managed the innovation centre at Dutch chemical and nutrition company Royal DSM. He was the company’s innovation manager and he still sits on several supervisory boards throughout the country. Between 2012 and 2015 he was the figurehead for the public-private Top Sector Life Sciences and Health, a flagship programme coordinated by the Dutch government.

Now, Van Leen has retired from DSM and is extricating himself from many of his supervisory roles. But he says that championing innovation is more important than ever, as companies are being pressured by international market forces to come up with products faster and more often. This, he tells Research Netherlands, means companies have to be more collaborative—something that can run against their nature.

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