Department HBE | Department HBE and its sections | Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences (BMS)

The department of High-tech Business and Entrepreneurship (HBE), is an ambitious and steadily growing tech-centred business school that merges business and entrepreneurship with tech innovation and social sciences to help companies and business people impact society.

How are today’s technologies – from artificial intelligence (AI) and data science to the latest fintech innovations – affecting the ways in which we do business? How do they fundamentally change our companies and the often international environment in which we do business? How can we use them to improve our performance in business modelling, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, or supply chain management, in order to create real value for employees, people and society? What technologies that are still on the horizon may disrupt markets, and how can we prepare for these changes? And how can we apply innovative technologies in our research methods, so as to offer students, entrepreneurs, professionals and the wider corporate world the best possible science and applicational support? These are some of the key questions we deal with as researchers, educators and societal problem solvers at the HBE Department. By merging business, (high) tech and social sciences, we support organisations with innovative and entrepreneurial management practices and decision-making.

Bart Nieuwenhuis, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Technology Management:

"HBE, essentially, is a high-tech business school. From using advanced mathematics to optimise hospital logistics or boosting the use of Artificial Intelligence in The Netherlands to training the world’s best purchasing professionals, we’re out to change business people, organisations and society for the better."

Our education

At a university known for its High Tech Human Touch approach, and as part of a faculty specialised in merging social sciences with technology and engineering, it goes without saying that our involvement in UT education reaches far, and across many disciplinary boundaries. Our main focus as educators is on the UT’s business-related programmes and modules. The goal of our department is to equip entrepreneurs, business people and organisations – whether next-gen or veteran – with the knowledge, mindset and tools they will need to contribute to a fair, sustainable, digital society. We aim to educate multi-disciplinary business professionals with a curious, entrepreneurial and problem solving mindset.

Get an impression of programmes and modules in which we are involved
- HBE hosts the award-winning Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes (International) Business Administration (IBA/BA), Business Information Technology (BIT) and Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM)
- We contribute to many other UT Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes, including Health Sciences, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Advanced Technology, CreaTe, and Honours Programmes
- We are involved in UT’s Professional Learning & Development (PLD), particularly the part-time dutch-taught Master’s in Risk Management and Public Management (content in Dutch).

Our research and researchers

The world we live in today, the research we engage in at our department crosses many scientific disciplines and societal domains. Here are some exemplary research topics and activities:

Working closely with Esports Team Twente (ETT) at our eSports Lab, we conduct leading research in the rapidly growing field of gaming and e-sports. Our (Dutch) video on ‘How to become a better gamer’ is a great example of this work. The relevance is high: we collaborate with the Royal Netherlands Navy to apply lessons learned from esports to contribute to military training.
Using Serious Gaming, we offer our students a minor in Circular Economy Transition, equipping them to accelerate this vital transition as they move into their careers.
Sustainable renewal and development of industry, logistics, smart cities, and healthcare.
Support of innovative and entrepreneurial decision-making in private and public organisations.
Innovative business models and organisational forms designed to boost circularity and inclusiveness in businesses, governments and society.
Computational social sciences for businesses in and beyond the 4^th Industrial Revolution.
Advanced decision-making support – based on mathematics as well as technologies such as AI, machine learning, and big data) – aimed at helping individuals and organisations to cope with the industrial disruption caused by digitalisation.

Creating value for society

As a part of the ultimate people-first university of technology, here to empower society through sustainable solutions, the HBE department aims to create real value in everything we do. Our societal impact takes many shapes. Through our education, research and application, we contribute to four of our faculty’s research themes: health, smart industry, sociotechnological transformation, and resilience for smart cities, sustainable communities and safe societies.
Our Bachelor’s and Master’s students frequently conduct research for external companies and organisations, helping to solve real problems. We have a strong and broad network in the academic, governmental and corporate world, and collaborate closely with partners such as Volkswagen, KLM, ING, Thales, Ziekenhuis Groep Twente, Provincie Overijssel, the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Our department hosts several cross-departmental research centres, whose societal impact is immediate and significant:
The Center for Healthcare Operations Improvement and Research (CHOIR) uses advanced mathematics to help healthcare practitioners solve complex logistical challenges, improving efficiency, while reducing cost and labour.
The University of Twente Initiative for Purchasing Studies (UTIPS) is one of the world’s leading centres of expertise in the rapidly growing field of industrial and public procurement.