The IO+ week: the newsletter as a compelling contact moment
Every Sunday, our weekly overview offers a summary of the most interesting stories about important innovations.
Published on March 30, 2025
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.
Every IO+ article is written to be read by as many interested people as possible. Of course, we also understand that the diversity of production means that some subjects will affect you more than others. But the biggest frustration for most journalists is undoubtedly that their story is relevant to countless people, but only a fraction of them actually get to see it. This is due to two things: 1) the reader only has so much time (and so many other activities) and 2) the article does not find its way to those interested enough (there are relatively few people who constantly check the homepage of a website to see if there is any news).
We must learn to live with the first problem, but not the second. Fortunately, there are many methods to make a story more findable. For example, all news media use social media to promote their articles and 'search engine optimization' is used to become more visible in search engines such as Google. A third - now proven - method is the newsletter. The fact that you are reading it is a good indication of its effect. Just think about it: although your mailbox is overflowing every day with more or less well-intentioned messages, this message stood out for some reason.
We also see this in our metrics: every time a newsletter is sent out, there is an immediate spike in our traffic. The beauty of the newsletter is that you can tailor it to meet the specific needs of the user. For that reason, we now have seven different newsletters at IO+:
The top two are our weekly editions: you are currently reading one of them. They are published in two languages and have over 5500 members. Our daily newsletter is only available in Dutch. Our most popular newsletters are each linked to one of IO+'s four main themes and written by our specialists in that field. Each of these newsletters will keep you updated on the most important developments. Signing up is very easy (click on the name of the newsletter):
- IO+ Daily (Dutch, 1,200 members)
- Mauro's Green Corner (English, 13,800 members)
- Elcke's Saturday Data Dive (English, 20,550 members)
- Elcke and Mauro's BIO+ Bites (English, 29,300 members)
- Aafke's Saturday CHIPS (English, 16,300 members)
And then there was also this:
- Promising health tech from Maastricht's Biotech Booster
- Do we give each other a head start and utilize each other's strengths? (column by Puck van Holsteijn)
- Many US scientists consider emigration due to Trump's budget cuts
- Startups reveal new strategy to stimulate growth in Europe
- Fouquet (ASML) warns: 'EU must better protect champions
- European Parliament urges Chips Act 2.0
- Ecosystems hinder cross-regional entrepreneurship in the Netherlands
- Venture capital in defense: why innovation is exploding here now
- Limburg a candidate for “smartest region in the world
Want to make sure you don't miss a thing? You can find an overview of all our articles here. Have a great Sunday!
Bart Brouwers, IO+