Bruls talked about the importance of Océ to the City of Venlo and vice versa. Océ has made Venlo the capital of printing and document management in Europe. He said, “Venlo is proud that a global player such as Océ, for whom terms such as cutting-edge, innovation and quality are household values, has both its headquarters and R&D department here.” Venlo is playing an increasingly important role in attracting and stimulating innovation in the region. Bruls mentioned new developments in the Sunrise Campus in Venlo Trade Port West. He also noted that Venlo will be hosting the World Horticultural Exhibition, the Floriade, in 2012.

In his speech, Buijink congratulated Océ on its innovation-driven growth. He presented the book “Good news from the Netherlands: fifty inspiring innovations” to Van Iperen. The Océ Gemini concept, a technique that enables printing on both sides of the paper, is mentioned in the book. Buijink said this was a good example of an innovation that makes an impact on society. During his talk, he emphasized the measures that the Dutch government is taking to stimulate innovation and enterprise in the Netherlands to strengthen economic growth.

Van Iperen outlined five major waves of innovation that characterized the 130 year history of Océ. The first was when Lodewijk van der Grinten invented a natural coloring agent for butter in 1877. The second came in the 1920s with the invention of a new ammonia-free diazo process for copying technical drawings. The third wave took Océ into the office with Océ Copy Press technology for plain paper copying in the 1960s. In the 1990s, the fourth wave involved several Océ innovations in digital printing. Most recently, the fifth wave is about recent innovations in managing information, such as electronic discovery systems for legal documents. Similar technologies will be applied for medical, business, government and banking documents. To continue to innovate in the area of information handling, Van Iperen announced the founding of the Océ Document Services Valley which will start in 2008.

Verwaayen concluded the Symposium with a lively talk about the challenges of being an innovator in today’s global marketplace. His inspirational speech gave examples of lessons learned from innovators like Samsung, Google and InfoSys. Innovation is a matter of technology, changing business models and comfort zones, according to Verwaayen. He said that globalization has changed how companies compete with each other and access new talent. He concluded by saying that Océ has the right culture to succeed as an innovator. His final advice to Océ, “If you’re willing to use your past to be an exploration to the future, you have a fantastic opportunity.”

A highlight of the Symposium was when Van Iperen presented Olav van der Grinten, the great grandson of Océ founding father Lodewijk van der Grinten, with the first copy of “Océ Innovative by Nature”. This special book tells the rich 130 year history of Océ. Van der Grinten was the final member of the van der Grinten family to serve on the Océ Board of Directors. Members of the family actively participated in the day-to-day running of the company for many decades. Van der Grinten, himself, oversaw the writing of the previous history of Océ. He was very surprised and touched by the massive tome that was presented to him. He expressed his pride in the accomplishments of Océ and his confidence that the company would continue on its successful path.

Besides the people present in the Maaspoort Theater, the Van der Grinten Symposium was broadcast to an audience of students on the campus of Maastricht University, one of the sponsors of the event. Océ and the City of Venlo were the other co-sponsors. Members of the Limburg Symphony Orchestra provided an elegant classical note during and after the Symposium. Participants discussed the ideas raised by the speakers during the cocktail hour after the event.