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At the BOOSTIQ Event, on the 27th of May during Dutch Technology Week, students and technical (young) professionals meet with High Tech companies on High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. It’s BOOSTIQ’s third edition. The initiave started out on a regional scale three years ago, and will remain a regional event, despite an interest from across the country.


dtwE52 publishes a series of articles in preparation for the Dutch Technology Week (23-29 May). This is the thirteenth part. Here the other parts.


 

According to Hilde de Vocht, Marketing Manager at High Tech Campus Eindhoven, BOOSTIQ can be compared to the ‘carrierèdagen’ a multi-day career event in the West of the Netherlands. “Except BOOSTIQ is smaller and more specifically aimed at high-tech. We’ve heard companies on campus say they had a difficult time in finding young talent. As a reaction to that we’ve started BOOSTIQ.”

The companies at BOOSTIQ are actively recruiting young talent.

The event will be mostly built up out of booths belonging to companies in the Brainport-region. There will also be lectures. Names such as Philips, Aquantia, ASML, NXP, IBM, VDL, Additive Industries, Holland Innovative and TCM will be represented. “Students, starters and everyone who is looking for a way to take a next step in their career could establish contact with CEO’s and recruiters of such companies.”

Region
The participating companies all hail from the Brainport-region. In next editions, this will stay this way. “We regularly get requests from companies outside the region to join us in the event. But we choose not to. In the past there have been propositions of taking the event to the West of the Netherlands. But we deliberately want to stay in this region.”

Het carière-evenement vindt plaats in het congrescentrum op de High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.
Het carière-evenement vindt plaats op de High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.

“We think it’s important to help out the companies in our region whenever we can.” Terrains and ecosystems, such as High Tech Campus where companies are gathered, revolve around the idea of collaborating. “This event taps into that. We -as campus management- also try to understand what’s needed on campus, and then act on that. BOOSTIQ is an example of how we do this.”

According to de Vocht, campus already has a certain appeal to young talent, but there’s a need for people in a specific discipline. “Companies in the region have a steady flow of students, mostly coming out of TU/e, but it’s always a challenge to find software specialists or ‘hardcore’ tech-people. We hope BOOSTIQ will attract these people.”

Third edition
It’s BOOSTIQ’s third edition. It started out small, working exclusively with companies on campus. After that, it expanded with a collaboration with Brainport Industries. Now, for the first time, there’s a Student Challenge Track, established after partnering up with Brainport Talent Centre. Several participating companies have created challenges for students to work on.

The event caters to two sides of the industry. “On the one hand it fills the industries need to find young new talent. On the other there’s an opportunity for students in building a career. The event has an informal feel to it. But the career possibillities are very real. Companies are actively recruiting young talent.”

Read more on Dutch Technology Week here.

Photo Hilde de Vocht: (c) Heddy Gijbels