The IO+ Week: Broad Prosperity and Human-Centred Innovation
Our weekly overview offers a summary of the most compelling stories about key innovations, with a strong focus on the Netherlands.
Published on January 11, 2026
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
The new year began with a sharp assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing Brainport and the Netherlands in a world that is changing faster than many acknowledge. During Brainport’s New Horizon New Year’s reception, a geopolitical wake-up call resonated through the room: “It is no longer companies competing with companies, but continents competing with continents.”
With these words, experts outlined the reality of 2026, a time in which technological strength is no longer a luxury but a necessary pillar of European resilience. The central question was not only how Brainport can preserve its pride, but how the region’s accumulated supply-chain strength can be translated into strategic autonomy in areas such as batteries and integrated photonics, especially now that physical constraints like grid capacity and space are coming under increasing pressure.
Piek Awards
A few days later, in the cold depths of January, the Gerard & Anton High Tech Piek Awards 2026 brought warmth to the Brainport ecosystem. While many media outlets welcome the new year with top-10 lists or sweeping macro trends, the Piek Awards once again demonstrated that the true strength of an innovation climate lies above all in the people who sustain it. In the historic glass laboratory on Strijp-T - where heritage and future quite literally meet - the focus was not only on numbers and investments, but also on what growth truly means for a region and its inhabitants. Realism and optimism went hand in hand, just like the dedication of the award winners: not the loudest founders or the biggest dealmakers, but those who connect, accelerate, and collectively build a resilient future.
In that context, the highest honour, the Piek Award 2026, went to Job Nijs of Braventure. His many years of consistent commitment to entrepreneurship in Brabant symbolise exactly what Brainport needs: durable foundations on which technology, talent, and society can grow together. Job’s strength lies in building bridges among regions, government, education, and businesses, often behind the scenes yet essential to the ecosystem’s overall functioning. Alongside him, eight other frontrunners were highlighted this year, ranging from community builders and education innovators to connectors between defence and tech, and talent developers at Fontys.
Together, these stories send a clear signal that 2026 is not a time for nostalgia, but for purposeful action: strategic autonomy, broad prosperity, and human-centred innovation. Dutch strength does not reside solely in knowledge and components, but in the people who dare to connect—and who, especially in cold times, know how to create warmth.
A selection of other highlights from last week:
- OPT/NET protects the infrastructure society depends on
- An American flag on our weapons, under our emails (Elcke’s column)
- What does 2026 hold for the global energy transition?
- Zoetermeer aims to become a hotspot for digital innovators
- Five Dutch innovators to watch at CES 2026
- Green investments under pressure due to an overloaded power grid
- ShanX Medtech raises €24 million to combat antibiotic resistance
- Dutch tech helps study muscles in lunar gravity
- How Peter Wennink responds to the main criticism of his report
- TwinTwente aims to redefine digital spatial planning
Would you like to explore all other articles as well? You can find them here.