Startup ecosystem gets center stage at Braventure event

It felt like a relay, though not the rapid passing of a baton, but a carefully timed moment of letting go, looking back, and looking ahead. At Braventure’s New Year’s event in Tilburg, the Brabant startup ecosystem took center stage, with particular attention for one person: Job Nijs. Fresh from winning the Gerard & Anton High Tech Piek Award the week before, he marked his farewell after six years as director. Bert-Jan Woertman has since taken over the helm.

A panel that mirrors the ecosystem

The program opened with a panel discussion moderated by Linn Smetsers, who set the tone: personal, light, yet substantive. Alongside her and Job Nijs sat three voices that together reflected the full breadth of the Brabant startup story.

Job Nijs, Marijn van Aerle, Linn Smetsers, Stijn Plekkenpol and Beatrix Bos – Photo © Nathalie Duin

Beatrix Bos spoke about her motivation to invest in talent and community alongside her work at Carbyon—not because it is expected, but because it works. Her account of Startup Talents and related initiatives underscored the importance of ecosystem participants taking responsibility for the next generation. “Even if you don’t work at ASML, young talent should still have the opportunity to keep developing,” she said.

Marijn van Aerle has long served - Job Nijs noted with a smile - as the archetype in internal Braventure discussions: the ambitious entrepreneur who not only builds a company, but also gives back structurally. His call for clarity and simplicity amid a maze of schemes and service desks resonated strongly across the room.

By contrast, Stijn Plekkenpol, on behalf of BOOST, illustrated how student teams are becoming a crucial breeding ground for startups. With subsidies, covenants with educational institutions, and a rapidly growing reach among thousands of students, from vocational education to university, it became clear that early entrepreneurship now begins in Brabant and is being supported in a structural way.

Connecting and simplifying

A recurring theme among the panelists was that talent development is not a side issue but a core component of the infrastructure. For students, young professionals, and experienced founders alike, without proper guidance, training, and continuous learning pathways, potential remains untapped. The panel agreed on Braventure’s role in this landscape: connecting, simplifying, and creating space.

Words of thanks, with weight

After the panel, the atmosphere shifted. The informal gave way to the ceremonial, without becoming solemn. Olaf Broeders, Chair of the Supervisory Board, portrayed Job Nijs as a connector in the purest sense—someone who thinks not from systems, but from people, and who uses data and structure precisely to make life easier for entrepreneurs.

Martijn van Gruijthuijsen thanks Job Nijs © Nathalie Duin

Next, provincial deputy Martijn van Gruijthuijsen widened the lens to the regional level. He placed Nijs’ work within a longer tradition of Brabant’s entrepreneurial strength and emphasized his role in professionalization, collaboration, and building trust between public and private partners. Praise with substance—and with gravitas.

The final word

In his farewell speech, Job Nijs stayed true to himself. Pride and frustration, he said, can coexist: pride in what has been achieved, frustration about what remains unfinished. He mentioned people, moments, and initiatives, from collaboration with BOM to the development of methodologies and funds, making clear that progress is rarely linear, but always possible when done together.

His gaze is firmly forward. Perhaps toward defense innovation, but certainly not away from Brabant or the startup ecosystem. “This isn’t a real goodbye,” he said. More of a transition.

More than a farewell

The Braventure New Year’s event proved to be more than a goodbye. It offered a snapshot of an ecosystem coming of age without losing its energy: a place where students, founders, policymakers, and investors continue to seek each other out.

Later that afternoon, the Top-10 Brabant Startups to Follow were also announced, another highlight of the gathering. Together, they tell one story: Brabant continues to build, with new faces, on foundations laid over the past years.