Dr Arie Buijs
Arie Buijs (1949) studied Applied Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University Utrecht. Afterward he was associated with the Economics Faculty of the University of Amsterdam and from 1975 with the Nyenrode Business University. He worked as visiting Professor in the USA, China and Zuid-Afrika. From 1994 to 1996 he was a full-time professor Business Management at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in Port Elizabeth (South Africa). Currently he is still a guest lecturer and external examiner at the NMMU. Since 2001 he is Full Professor in Finance at the University Utrecht, and has the special task to develop en coordinate management education for students in natural sciences and biomedicine. Prof. Buijs wrote several books, inter alia Statistiek om mee te werken (in 7th edition, 2003) and Kwantitatieve Toepassingen in de Bedrijfskunde (in 4th edition, 2006). As director of Utrecht Center for Education in Management and Entrepreneurship (UCEME) his currently most important tasks are to expand entrepreneurship and management courses to all students of the Utrecht University.

Arie Buijs

Dr Sjaak Brinkkemper
Sjaak is full professor of organisation and information at the Institute of Information and Computing Sciences of the Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He leads a group of about ten researchers specialized in product software enterpreneurship. The main research themes of the group are methodology of product software development, implementation and adoption, and business-economic aspects of the product software industry. He is chairman of the Platform for Product Software, a knowledge exchange forum for product software companies in the Netherlands. He also established Netherware, the incubator supporting students to start their own software company. Before, he was a consultant at the Vanenburg Group and a Chief Architect at Baan Development where he conducted software process improvement initiatives in Requirements Management, Architecture and Design for various companies. Before Baan he held academic positions at the University of Twente and the University of Nijmegen, both in the Netherlands, and visiting positions at the University of Texas at Austin (USA) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan). He served on the program committees of numerous conferences and workshops (CAiSE, ICSOC, ECIS, WITS, OOIS, REFSQ, WICSA). He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Requirements Engineering Journal, Journal of Database Management, and Journal on Information Systems and e-Business Management. He is a member of IFIP Working Group 8.1 on the "Design and Evaluation of Information Systems", of the ACM, of the Computer Society of the IEEE, and of the Netherlands Society for Informatics.

Sjaak Brinkkemper

Dr David B. Audretsch
David B. Audretsch is the Ameritech Chair of Economic Development, Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, Director of the Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group at the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany, and is a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London). Audretsch's research has focused on the links between entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development and global competitiveness. He has consulted with the World Bank, National Academy of Sciences, U.S. State Department, United States Federal Trade Commission, General Accounting Office and International Trade Commission as well as the United Nations, Commission of the European Union, the European Parliament, the OECD, as well as, numerous private corporations, state governments, and a number of European Governments. He is a member of the Advisory Board to a number of international research and policy institutes, including the Zentrum fuer Europaeisch Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW, Centre for Economic Research), Mannheim, the Hamburgisches Welt-Wirtschafts-Archiv (HWWA, Hamburg Institute of International Economics) and the Swedish Foundation for Research on Entrepreneurship and Small Business. His research has been published in over one hundred scholarly articles in the leading academic journals. He has published thirty books including, Innovation and Industry Evolution, with MIT Press. He is co-founder and co-editor of Small Business Economics: An International Journal. He was awarded the 2001 International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research by the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research.

David Audretsch

Salem Samhoud
Salem Samhoud (1960) is a successful entrepreneur and founder of his own consultancy firm &Samhoud. Samhoud started his enterprise with his vision in mind: to achieve breakthroughs by inspiring and interconnecting people. Samhoud believes that to truly achieve change, the ability to connect and to inspire people is key.

Samhoud works with 60 consultants on change management projects in various sectors. Most clients can be found in the financial, governmental and health care sector. &Samhoud has offices in Spain and The Netherlands and works in Spain, The Netherlands and Germany. Besides managing the organisation Samhoud works as a top coach, facilitator and consultant in change and strategy. Samhoud has consulted a large number of prominent companies and organisations, including the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, AMB Generali Gruppe, Swiss Life, Rabobank, Achmea/Eureko, Municipality of Barcelona, Dutch National Railways, Corporate Express, Interpolis. Prior to founding &Samhoud, Samhoud started and owned his own transportation company and was a leading consultant in the area of public transportation. Samhoud also worked as marketing manager for Unilever in Africa.

Samhoud is the author of various books and publications and is a renowned speaker at conferences. His most recent book Kus de Visie Wakker (Kissing the Vision Awake), 2007, reveals the keys to rendering organisational success through implementing a vision. Other bestsellers are Plezier en Prestatie (Fun & Achievement), 2003, about how organisations can increase their success by keeping their employees happy, and Eigen Doel (Your own Goal),1998, on the secrets of success, quick choices and being bold enough to say “no”.

In 2006 Samhoud started an initiative to contribute to the social cohesion of his own country, by taking on the huge challenge of creating a vision for The Netherlands in the year 2021. With this initiative, Vision21, Samhoud mobilised thousands of people to co-create a vision for their country. In 2007 and in the years to come, Samhoud is committed to work on realising the vision by initiating various projects that contribute to a better society (such as an educational program, a youth cabinet, a coaching project for teen mums and many more).

Salem Samhoud

Dr Utz Weitzel

Utz Weitzel obtained a Bachelor in Economics and Business Administration in Germany and a Master's degree in 'International Business and Economic Development' in the UK. He earned a PhD at the Humboldt University in Berlin and was a post-doc at the Kellogg Business School in Chicago. After that he worked as consultant for the Bayer AG together with The Boston Consulting Group, worked as a silent partner in a private research company, and participated in a management buy-out of a media service provider, of which he is still a shareholder and member of the board of directors. Since 2003 Utz is an Assistant Professor at the Utrecht School of Economics and since 2007 part of the UCEME team. He teaches 'Mergers and Acquisitions' as well as 'Introduction to Organization and Strategy' and does research in M&A, innovation, entrepreneurship and firm growth, as well as networks and alliances.

Utz Weitzel