(Editor’s note: The Eindhoven Business Briefing is part of our Tech Tuesday series. Dispatches covers tech because so many of our highly skilled internationals are engineers and entrepreneurs.)
It’s summer and no one is working. Which gives us time to catch up with the news we missed or didn’t have room for. And we’ll have some actual briefs for the Eindhoven Business Briefing.
The nearly complete cessation of work till September also gives us time to ponder the imponderable. Such as why Eindhoven, a major tech center on par with The Valley, Austin and Boston, has an airport that looks more like a Colombian airstrip out of “Narcos”?
We just got back from a workation in Antalya, a major mass tourism destination. When we first moved there in 1999, Turkey’s regional airports used to have tiny terminals and runways too short for the largest airliners. Now, airports such as Antalya are massive and modern, handling maybe 50 times the traffic of Eindhoven, and doing it with huge terminals and the latest technology. Oh, and their parking garages don’t collapse.
That’s a regional airport. New airports in Istanbul and Izmir are far beyond faciilities in Europe.
I get it that top execs at global tech giants ASML, NXP and Philips are going to fly their Gulfstreams and Falcons into Schiphol or Rotterdam, where chauffeurs pick them up for the trip back to Eindhoven. But what about the rest of us? Well, we line up in too-small terminals, then walk outside and wait on the tarmac to board. Just like we used to do back in the day at Third World airports from Tortola to Yemen. In 2027, the plan is to close Eindhoven Airport for 5 months (which means at least a year) for updates.
It gets worse. We found a post on Up in the Sky, which covers the Dutch aviation industry and discovered that in the future, there will be fewer flights out of Eindhoven and civilian aviation will be gradually pushed out, with only 270 flights in the future down from 1,560 now, then banned rom 2026.
There is a vocal faction complaining about just what a terrible waste the airport is.
Thom Aussems, housing activist and the former top executive of housing corporation Trudo, advocates closing the airport because it adds no value to the local economy: “I don’t know any company that takes up so much space and at the same time generates so little economic activity.” Aussems advocates moving the airport far out of Eindhoven like cities such as Stockholm have done. What Aussems fails to note is that Stockholm has the Arlanda Express, a dedicated train running from the center of the city to the airport. We’ve taken it. It’s incredible what a few billion krona can buy.
ASML executives might take issue with Aussems. Europe’s most valuable tech company has operations in the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel and Singapore, according to the ASML website. So, if I’m at ASML and weighing whether to stay or leave for a real city where C-suite execs and mid-level employees can fly on business to anywhere in the world, this has to be a consideration.
As a possible compromise, there is a small airport, Kempen, in Budel just south of Eindhoven, dedicated to general aviation and flight lessons. It’s tiny, but an option would be to turn Kempen into a major biz jet center with a great FBO. As for Eindhoven Airport, I think the writing is on the wall … environmentalists and neighbors ultimately will win and we’ll all just bicycle to Turkey for business and vacations. It’s only 3,300 kilometers. Come on. Don’t be a wuss. You can make it!
Vacations
Speaking of vacations, the debate about just how few hours Eurpeans can work is hotting up. The Economist, as usual, leads the way with a post, “The unbearable self-indulgence of Europe.” In a nutshell, the post argues that as a number of crises simmer – Ukraine war, eroding demographics that soon won’t support safety nets and the challenge from Trump – Europeans’s default mode is vacation.
Here’s the best line:
Whatever the issue, if it cannot be dealt with in the next few weeks it will have to wait for la rentrée in September. Europeans know the global race for economic supremacy is lost. But the continent’s business model endures: it is a third poorer than America, works a third less, and is a lot more tanned at the end of August.
Secretly, we wish we could be part of that tanned and rested “take the summer off” culture. But as Americans, we’re keenly aware that would be akin to Muhammad Ali resting his eyes in the middle of fighting Joe Frazier.
996 debate
American VC in London Harry Stebbings recently sparked a debate with a post about the 996 model, a work culture that’s brutal, but the norm in Silicon Valley. The model takes its name from the American startup work week – 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days per week.
From Stebbings’ post:
What European founders need to realise: The valley has turned up the intensity once again. 7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now. There is no room for slip up. You aren’t competing against a random company in Germany etc but the best in the world.
The 996 week started – no surprise – years ago in China at tech giants such as TikTok and Alibaba. Now, some European VCs are advocating that European startups follow suit. We see little or no chance of European startup teams here embracing 996, with 1044 remaining the model – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., four days per week, with summers off.
Full disclosure: When we had our first digital media startup in the United States, we worked seven days per week, cutting hours to four on Saturdays, then going back to at least 12 hours Sunday through Friday. There were regular 6 a.m. Saturday breakfast meetings with investors, and scheduled 10 a.m. calls with sources on Sundays. And of course, there were dinners, events and meetings almost every weekday night.
It wasn’t easy, but we got the exit that got us here. But, you really have to want it. Anything less wouldn’t have gotten that result.
Those briefs we promised:
• TNO Launches TNO Ventures. A few weeks ago, we posted that the American startup model doesn’t translate well to Europe. (See above.) We argued that Europe already has a winning innovation model – spin-offs from TNO and other research institutes. Now, through the new TNO Ventures initiative, you can tap into TNO’s technologies, expertise, and facilities including in AI, medical technology and integrated photonics. TNO takes a stake in your startup as a strategic partner.
TNO has an incredible list of 40 spin-off companies, including Nearfield Instruments, LeydenJar and Peregrion. Almost nine percent of the total capital invested in Dutch startups in 2024 went to TNO spin-offs. What we didn’t know is that about 25 TNO projects are ready to become spin-offs in the near future. The founding teams of these spin-offs are not always complete, so TNO is actively looking for experienced entrepreneurs interested in strengthening these teams, according to their website.
Innovation Origins has an interview with TNO’s director, whose name we wouldn’t even try to pronounce.
STENTiT into clinical trials. We see a lot of startups, and we know real entrepreneurs when we see them. STENTiT founder Bart Sanders is the real deal. Based on High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Bart’s STINTiT team just announced they will begin clinical trials for its absorbable stent:
What started in 2017 as an ambitious academic concept has now transitioned into clinical reality. After years of research, testing and relentless development, the resorbable fibrillated stent has been implanted in its first patient to support limb preservation. This stent goes beyond merely reopening blocked blood vessels — it aids the body in repairing them from the inside. It signifies a shift from permanent implants to those with regenerative properties, serving as the first step toward demonstrating the potential of STENTiT’s technology.
• High Tech Campus Eindhoven 300: Europe’s largest tech R&D campus just reached 300 companies. For some prespective, the one-kilometer-square campus only reached 100 tenants in 2011. Some call it the smartest square in Europe, and we’re not inclined to disagree. HTCE is home to some of the most successful companies and research institutions in Europe, including NXP and TNO. Look for more big announcements before the year is out.
• TechCrunch shuts down in Europe: Well, this isn’t good. TechCrunch is shutting down its European coverage following its acquisition by Regent LP, a Beverly Hills-based private equity firm. That leaves about 10 journalists, including veteran Mike Butcher, available. TechCrunch did a great job covering tech here, but now there multiple competitors, including Sifted.
• Boudewijn Docter is the head of the new photonics effort at HTCE: We told you last month about HTCE landing TNO’s new photonic chips fab, a 153 million euro project. Turns out a former colleague of sorts will oversee the new facility. Boudewijn Docter is co-founder and former CEO of EFFECT Photonics, so he knows photonic integrated circuits.
Here’s the good news:
We will soon be hashtag#hiring a team of experienced people to build this factory of the future together with us – if you’re interested let me know.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
