Naomi Verstraeten of Brainport Eindhoven and Lucas van Grinsven of ASML won the High Tech Piek awards. The awards are back after a corona pause.
The awards recognise people who have made an extraordinary effort for the high-tech Brainport region. This year, as a first, there are two Peak awards- a male and female category. Alderman Stijn Steenbakkers presented the Peak awards. Beatrix Bos and Bert-Jan Woertman presented the program.
High-tech Peak award
Naomi Verstraeten works for Brainport Eindhoven on the internationalisation of the region. The jury praised her ambition of getting the Southeast Netherlands to the top three tech regions in Europe. Verstraeten deserves recognition for her role in winning the billion-euro Brainport deal, intended to strengthen the business climate and facilities in the region.
Lucas van Grinsven, head of communications ASML, also won the Piek award. Van Grinsven is responsible for communication and reputation management at the Veldhoven chip machine manufacturer ASML.The jury lauded ASML for following in the footsteps of Philips with regard to social responsibility. Van Grinsven has played a formidable role in making the Brainport deal a reality.
Star and Knaller (stunner)awards
In addition to the two Piek awards, four Star and four Knaller awards were presented. Start-up investor Andy Lürling, marketer and the initiator of Fe+male Tech Heroes network Ingelou Stol, start-up officer of the Eindhoven municipality Johan van Erp and Mr and Mrs Boyd, the founders of Dispatches Europe were honoured with a Star award.
The Knaller award recipients were Studio040 director Mike Weerts, Paul van Son, Jeroen van Woerden, and Louise de Laat. The social importance of good local journalism is crucial in realising the region’s rapid growth, and it’s evident in the choice of Mike Weerts for the award. Innovation manager of High tech campus, Paul van Son and managing director of startup platform Gate, Jeroen van Woerden were extolled by the esteemed guests at the gathering. Louise de Laat is a promising member of a TU/e student startup team.
Peak Awards
The award ceremony is organised by the journalistic platform Innovation Origins in collaboration with the High Tech Campus, Mikrocentrum and the municipality of Eindhoven, among others. The awards put people who have made an extraordinary effort for the Brainport region in the spotlight. Due to corona, the award ceremony had to be postponed for two years. Yesteryear awardees of the Piek awards are Guus Frericks, Rob van Gijzel, Maarten Steinbuch, Staf Depla and Steef Blok.
For EindhovenNews: Beena Arunraj
