Lifelong Learning Cafe

Lifelong Learning Cafe

A good idea, a strong technology or an interesting topic is not yet an answer to a question. Before you can develop a solution, product, or service, you first need to be clear about what is being asked – by a company, a market, or a client. Getting that question right – demand articulation – is the foundation for good collaboration with industry, and the heart of business development: it is the link between what we, as the University of Twente, have to offer and what is needed out there. Getting this right prevents time and energy spent on the wrong problem and lays the foundation for a solution that truly matters. 

That’s why, on Thursday 17 September, we are organizing an LLL café on this theme. In small groups, we will discuss show to approach needs assessment, how to ask the right questions to get to the core of a problem, and what this means for our own work in business development. 

Who should join: teaching staff and colleagues who want to learn more about – or do more with- business development and demand articulation are warmly invited. Whether you are already deeply involved in this topic or simply curious to find out more, everyone is welcome at the table.  

We have asked three table hosts to kick off the conversations, each from their own perspective. 

1. Jeroen Sempel – lecturer in Strategy & Entrepreneurship, BMS – High-tech Business and Entrepreneurship (UT) Jeroen has been teaching at UT since 1989, at the intersection of financial management, strategy, and innovation, and combines this with advisory work for companies such as TSM Business School, Booking.com, Exact, and VINCI Energies. This gives him both an academic and a practical view on how to sharpen a strategic question — making him well placed to open the conversation on demand articulation in a business context.
2. Lennart de Vreede: Impact Development Manager, Strategic Business Development (UT) At SBD, Lennart works daily at the interface between companies wanting to know what UT knowledge can offer them, and researchers wanting to know how their knowledge can find its way into industry. This makes him a table host with first-hand experience of what demand articulation really involves: asking questions until you uncover a company’s or partner’s genuine need.
3. Jeroen Rouweler: Managing Director, STODT - Jeroen started out in sales at STODT and worked his way up to Managing Director of the Netherlands’ leading technical corporate training provider. In that role, he continuously translates the training needs of manufacturing companies into concrete offerings. He brings the entrepreneur’s perspective: how to build an offering, starting from the customer’s question, that truly fits.

Practical information

Date: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Time: The doors will open at 15.45 PM and we will start at 16.00 until  17.00
Location: The Gallery – Grand Café

What is the LLL Café?

• An informal initiative to make UT’s LLL community more visible, inspire each other, and share experiences.
• Open to anyone at UT with an interest in Lifelong Learning.
• Simple format: a short plenary start followed by table sessions (30 min each) around specific themes. Always interactive—never just PowerPoint.
• Organised every 6–8 weeks in the Gallery from 16:00–17:00, with drinks and snacks.
• No registration required, but you can join as a “member” to receive Outlook invitations.
• Ideas for themes or would you like to host a table? Get in touch via lll-cafe@utwente.nl or reach out to one of the café hosts (Dick Wijnveen, Astrid van Os, Wim de Boer, Marije Hahnen).

We look forward to seeing you there!