College President Robert-Jan Smits: "Our collaboration with industrial partners moves everyone forward: researchers, students, industry and society."
College president Robert-Jan Smits. Photo: Fotoburo Rias Immink
If he has to name one thing for which TU/e is known worldwide, Robert-Jan Smits never has to think for long: "Our collaborations with the high-tech industry in Brainport. That is good for our researchers and students, for industry, and for society. Because thanks to that cooperation, the research done here can be brought to society faster."
It should be clear: TU/e president Robert-Jan Smits is a warm supporter of TU/e's cooperation with industrial partners. "We owe our existence to that, because the university was founded 67 years ago by Eindhoven industry. We have continued to work closely with high-tech companies over those years, it's in our genes. And we are good at it. A lot of universities are jealous of that. I remember from my time in Brussels that everyone wanted to go to Eindhoven to unravel the 'secret of Brainport'."
Unique in cooperation
Smits sees this cooperation as TU/e's unique selling point. "If you want to attract top talent, or enter into collaborations, it is important to have a clear signature. Something we are unique in. With increasing competition worldwide to attract the best people, this is more important than ever."For the TU/e, this is undeniably the intensive cooperation with parties from the high-tech industry, such as ASML, NXP, Signify, Philips, VDL, Sioux, DAF Trucks, AccTec, Neways, ProDrive, Vanderlande and many other companies from the Brainport region.
Illustration: Bart van Overbeeke
Co-publications
For years, TU/e has scored high in the CWTS ranking, which ranks universities based on research cooperation with industry on the basis of scientific co-publications. Those co-publications account for about 15 per cent of our university's total research output.Smits: "For years, it was a misconception that such publications had less status. But scientific research on PhD studies with industrial partners shows that they score better on most points than studies without companies. And other research shows that this kind of research leads to more citations."
Out of the box thinking
"Smart industry is not asking us to do the same as they do. No, instead they are asking us to think autonomously and out of the box. To come up with concepts that can help them one day. With this, we are not walking by the industry's hand, we have our own agenda. And are in the beating heart of the Brainport region with this."English:
TU/e president Robert-Jan Smits: "Our collaboration with industrial partners moves everyone forward: researchers, students, industry and society."
If he has to name one thing for which TU/e is known worldwide, Robert-Jan Smits never has to think for long: "Our partnerships with the high-tech industry in Brainport, which are good for our researchers and students, for industry and for society. Thanks to that collaboration, the research done here can be brought to society faster."
Needless to say, President of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits is a strong supporter of TU/e's collaboration with industrial partners. "We owe our existence to this because the university was founded 67 years ago by the industry of Eindhoven. We have continued to work closely with high-tech companies over those years; it's in our genes and we're good at it. A lot of universities are jealous of that. From my time in Brussels, I remember that everyone wanted to go to Eindhoven to unravel the 'secret of Brainport'."
Unique in collaboration
Smits sees this collaboration as TU/e's unique selling point. "If you want to attract top talent or enter into partnerships, it is important to have a clear signature - something we are unique in. With increasing competition worldwide to attract the best people, this is more important than ever."For TU/e, this is undeniably the intensive collaboration with parties from the high-tech industry, such as ASML, NXP, Signify, Philips, VDL, Sioux, DAF Trucks, AccTec, Neways, ProDrive, Vanderlande and many other companies from the Brainport region.
Co-publications
For years, TU/e has scored highly in the CWTS ranking, which positions universities according to research collaboration with industry on the basis of scientific co-publications. These co-publications account for about 15% of our university's total research output.Smits: "For years, there was a misconception that these types of publications have a lower status. But scientific research on PhD studies with industrial partners has shown that they score better than studies without companies in most respects. Other research has shown that this type of research leads to more citations."
Out-of-the-box thinking
"The smart industry is not asking us to do the same as they do. No, they are instead asking us to think autonomously and in an out-of-the-box manner in order to come up with concepts that can help them someday. In doing so, we are not being led by the hand of industry; we have our own agenda within the beating heart of the Brainport region."
Source: TU/e news
