University of Twente's TOP Programme has now been running for 25
years. The scheme was set up in order to guide new businesses
through their difficult first year and enable the local region to
benefit from the knowledge available from the university. The
programme has been a been a great success and has benefited over
400 entrepreneurs so far.
The University of Twente's TOP Programme was launched in 1984.
It aims to help new entrepreneurs to start up their business and
enable the local region to benefit from the knowledge available
from the university. This year, the scheme will celebrate its
25th anniversary.
"Over 400 entrepreneurs have made use of our services during
those 25 years. This has led to the creation of 320 businesses, 75
percent of which are still going," says Jan van Benthem. "On
average those businesses have between eight and nine employees
each. So it's an enormous boost for the region. In fact, more
people now work for those businesses than at the University of
Twente itself." Van Benthem admits that, of course, some of these
businesses may have been established without the TOP scheme, but he
estimates that 75 percent of them would never got off the ground
without the programme.
A helping hand
According to Van Benthem, the aim of the programme is to
encourage the creation of as many businesses as possible in the
university's areas of specialist knowledge. "The University of
Twente offers new entrepreneurs, many of whom are graduates from
the university, a way to become professionals in the activities
that they are good at and that they enjoy. We cannot make good
businesspeople out of everyone, and neither is that the idea behind
the TOP scheme. But we would like to use the programme to give a
helping hand to people who are still having doubts about starting a
business and actually we have managed that very successfully."
One of a kind
Despite the success of Twente's programme, it is still the only
one of its kind in the Netherlands. "They have tried similar
schemes at many other institutions in the Netherlands," says Van
Benthem says, "but they did not have the right culture to promote
entrepreneurship. The TOP Programme has strengthened Twente's
business culture, and vice versa. The essential thing about the TOP
Programme is that the doors of Twente's departments are open to
everyone. This inclusiveness applies not only to the departments,
but to the whole region. The success of the scheme has been due in
part to the involvement of various businesses and institutions
across the region." Benthem sums the programme up as follows: "The
TOP Programme is for the long term and not just a one-off project.
This has really enabled it to become part of the culture."
TOP Programme
But what does the TOP Programme do, exactly? The programme is
open to any entrepreneur who wants to develop a product or service
with the help of the University of Twente. These new entrepreneurs
receive an interest-free loan of €20,000 and assistance with all
sorts of issues. The interest-free loan is meant to cover the
living costs of the entrepreneur, so that he can devote his time to
getting the business off the ground. But Van Benthem says that the
loans are actually of secondary importance. "The most important
elements are the intensive supervision and assistance that the
entrepreneurs receive, and the access they have to all the
departments of the University of Twente, whose doors are wide open.
Because when you are starting up your own business, access to all
those facilities and the network of the department are really
important."
Anniversary
The programme marked its 25th anniversary on 10
December with a celebratory meeting during a VentureClass of the
VentureLab Twente. Jaap van Tilburg was very much in the spotlight
at the meeting. He was one of the founders of the TOP Programme 25
years ago, and is still active on the TOP Committee. During the
meeting, Carry Abbenhues, a Member of the Provincial Executive for
Overijssel, presented Van Tilburg with the Nikos Award. This prize
is meant for people who have made an extraordinary contribution to
the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.
