Global The Hague

Martin van Pernis, Chairman of the board, Siemens Nederland.

'Innovation deserves  a more prominent place in our society'

Siemens first became acquainted with the The Hague in 1879, when the company provided street lighting to the residence. Almost half a century later, the enterprise has its pillars firmly anchored in this beautiful city. Martin van Pernis, Chairman of the Board, gives his vision on innovation and the question of mobility.

It was the German founder, Werner Siemens, who discovered and described the principle of the dynamo. In 1889, the fi rst electric power station opened in The Hague, The Netherlands. Eight Siemens’ dynamos produced electricity at this power station. Since this time, Siemens has grown into an international enterprise that delivers numerous electrical products and services worldwide in the areas of health, energy, mobility, industry, communications, safety and infrastructure. Consider the scanners that check for things like explosives at the Port of Rotterdam and at Schiphol, medical equipment in hospitals, power stations, trams and high speed and light rail trains. Siemens is pioneering and is constantly searching for innovative solutions. After all, it is not without reason that Siemens has the highest number of patents in the world to its name. The enterprise is currently active in some 200 countries and has almost half a million employees.

What is the appeal of Siemens? “We have a very low staff turnover”, said the Chairman. “Many employees have been working for the company for decades. Every five years, employees rotate jobs in order to learn about all the different aspects of the company. They may rotate within the Netherlands itself, or to one of our offi ces abroad. We are a company that is always searching for innovative and pioneering solutions. This means that you also need to give employees the opportunity to develop. Only in this way can you bring out the best in them, and ensure that their work remains challenging. It’s the people that make this company, and we invest in them gladly.”

Knowledge is crucial
Knowledge is inextricably bound with Siemens. Is the company not afraid that soon countries such as China and India will overtake us? “The thing is to keep on innovating”, states Martin van Pernis. “I’m not afraid of our production being taken over, but I am afraid of the increasing technical knowledge in these countries. In China, 600,000 engineering students graduate annually. In India there are 300,000. However, I’m more concerned about the strength of the competition from India than China. After all, everyone generally speaks good English in India: a necessity if you want to work internationally.

I think it’s a real pity that so many companies in the Netherlands are losing R&D. We lose new knowledge because of this, simply through lack of money and the will to invest. I firmly believe in investing in knowledge. It is the origin of the Dutch economy. Knowledge is crucial for a fl ourishing economy! Politicians, government, educational organisations and large companies must keep investing in this.

Also, young innovative companies must be given much more space than is currently the case. Not one company started out as a large concern and the appreciation that young enterprises get leaves a lot to be desired. The government must stop making funding applications so complicated; applications which are then, all too often, not granted. Innovation must be rewarded instead of punished. It deserves a more prominent place in our society. When requesting funding for knowledge development, entrepreneurs are quickly made to feel like beggars. It’s ridiculous. A grant should really be a boost. In the Netherlands, we’re still too frugal and, in the end, that will kill us in the international competition with China and India.”

Intelligent mobility
In addition to improving the policy on innovation in the Netherlands, Martin van Pernis sees many possibilities for intelligent approaches to the question of mobility in our country. “We
need to approach this differently: in a more intelligent and dynamic way, as far as both public transport and car traffic are concerned. For example, car navigation systems should give the car driver timely information, not wait until he is in the middle of a traffic-jam.” Intelligent traffic management can resolve more congestion problems, the Chairman stated. “When it gets busier on the roads, freight traffic should be directed immediately to the right hand lane via electronic signs above the road”. Luckily, public transport has been improved in region around The Hague, said Martin van Pernis. “It’s only now that public transport operates more frequently. Thanks to RandstadRail, travellers can travel without having to wait for a long time for the next train. That saves a huge amount of time and money. That really should have happened years ago. In addition, we simply just have to build more roads, otherwise in ten years time we’ll be gridlocked again.”

Peak traffic avoidance
Although on the late side, the government is now very conscious of the need to drastically tackle the mobility problem. This can be seen from such plans as the mileage charging systems from Minister Camiel Eurlings (Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management). In the run up to the introduction in 2011 (freight traffic) and 2012 (cars), Eurlings has given the Siemens office in Zoetermeer the go ahead for a scientific peak traffic avoidance trial on the A12. The test will take place over nine months, and participants who avoid the morning rush hour will receive a reward of our euros per avoided zone. The test is taking place on the A12 between Gouda-Zoetermeer and Zoetermeer-Den Haag, in which the Oostweg (exit 7) in Zoetermeer, is the zone border. Siemens has been familiar with the phenomenon of peak traffic avoidance for some time and believes that this trial will succeed. “We have conducted a similar test in Seattle. Nine hundred participants received 1500 dollars each, with which they had to travel to and from work for one year. This resulted in the commuters searching for cheaper alternatives to the ar, for example, by working from home or by using public transport. A year following the end of the experiment, the behaviour of some sixty percent of the participants had changed permanently.”

The Chairman completely agrees with Minister Eurling’s plans. “Peak traffic avoidance saves companies an unbelievable amount of money. At Siemens, we’re continually looking for solutions to enable our employees to work as efficiently and pleasantly as possible. They have the possibility of working from home which, thanks to the internet, is  good possibility. Yet, this resolves only a part of the problem, considering that only 400 of the 1500 employees use this option regularly. Most employees want to keep contact with the company and place great importance on social contact with their colleagues. Home-working on its own just isn’t enough.”