Yesterday, our Junior Marketeer Claudia Lita attended the 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐝: 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐞, 𝐁𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐣𝐟𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐧 𝐎𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐣𝐬 at TU/e Campus Eindhoven. The event was organised by Summa, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, and VLM - Vereniging Logistiek Management, and focused on an important question: how can Defence, industry, and education work together to strengthen national resilience?
One message came back strongly throughout the event: 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, or 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐝 in Dutch, is about more than military readiness. It is about the ability of society as a whole to prepare for disruption, respond under pressure, and recover when systems are challenged. That includes Defence, logistics, healthcare, infrastructure, education, businesses, supply chains, and citizens.
A few key takeaways stood out:
𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧.
Preparing for uncertainty starts with people. Students and professionals need to be trained to think about complex systems, crisis situations, logistics, and resilience.
𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.
Defence cannot build resilience alone. Strong cooperation with companies, universities, universities of applied sciences and regional partners is becoming increasingly important.
𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬.
Companies, startups, and scale-ups can bring valuable solutions, but working with Defence also requires reliability, security, delivery capacity, and long-term commitment. At the same time, processes need to become faster and smarter where possible.
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲.
Uncertainty is closer than many people realise. Building resilience means investing now in skills, networks, supply chains, partnerships, and the ability to act when circumstances change.
For us, it was a valuable opportunity to better understand how collaboration between Defence, business, and education is taking shape in practice, while also supporting Claudia’s thesis research. Events like this show that resilience is not built in isolation. It is built through cooperation, trust, shared responsibility, and the willingness to connect different parts of society around a common challenge.
A big thank you to the speakers and contributors for sharing their insights: Johan Ribberink – Summa Vice Admiral Jan Willem Hartman – Commander, Materiel and IT Command (COMMIT) Lieutenant-General Jan-Willem Maas – Commander, Defensie Ondersteuningscommando (DOSCO) Marcel Roosen – Manager Centre of Expertise HTSM-GreenTechLab, Fontys University of Applied Sciences dr. Roland Slegers-Leijsten EMIM– Day chair
