New employees at Dialogic

Wouter Boon
With my feet in the mud, that's what I want. After working in various roles at the university for a number of years, I felt the need to participate in concrete projects related to innovation policy, innovation management, with a special interest in user involvement. In short, Dialogic is the perfect organisation for this purpose.

The roles I took on at 'the academy' included being a student assistant, research assistant, PhD candidate, and in the past few months, a lecturer-researcher, which led me to three universities in Delft, Utrecht, and Amsterdam. During my studies in Science and Innovation Management at Utrecht University, which seems to be a good breeding ground for Dialogic employees, I worked as a student assistant. Specialising in mobility and infrastructure, I ended up at the traffic and transport department of RIVM. After my studies, I followed the department head to Delft, where he had become a professor at the department of Transport Policy and Logistics. There, I was involved in teaching and developing education programs and several research projects.

However, the path led me back to Utrecht University because an exciting PhD project emerged there on the role of users in innovation processes within the pharmaceutical world. I wanted to delve more into innovation sciences, and a study on the user's role seemed exceptionally interesting to me. Apart from the major project, I also initiated and carried out several short-term research projects.

This project ended in the summer of 2008, although the defence took place in October of that year. I started as a lecturer-researcher at the Athena Institute on August 1, focusing on research into innovations in life sciences. Besides teaching, I was involved in various projects on topics such as patient participation and sustainable agriculture. I still hold this position, but now only one day a week. On the other days, I work at Dialogic, where I aim to develop myself as a researcher and consultant in the field of innovation policy and management. For more information, feel free to email me.

Maarten Strijers
The telecommunications sector is a fast-moving and dynamic market that is constantly evolving. Technological advancements happen rapidly and need to be closely monitored. Therefore, regular assessments are made to determine if the current telecommunications regulations are still adequate. In 2007, the European Commission launched a revision of the existing regulatory framework. Once this new framework is adopted at the European level, it will have to be incorporated into national legislation. The expectation was for the new regulatory framework to be implemented by 2010, but it has been announced that there will be delays due to a deadlock between the Council of Telecom Ministers, the European Parliament, and the European Commission.

The new regulatory framework, known as the 'New Regulatory Framework' (NRF), will impact the telecom industry. The NRF aims to:

• Promote competition in telecom markets where it is currently insufficient;
• Regulate the market more effectively, intervening only when necessary;
• Strengthen the 'internal' (European) market by establishing a European regulatory body;
• Enhance consumer protection in terms of privacy data protection and universal (European) services.

My thesis project, for the Master's in Technology and Policy at Eindhoven University of Technology, involves analysing the changes that the new European regulatory framework will bring about and their implications for the Dutch telecom industry. To do this, an analysis will first be conducted on the economic principles underlying competition law. Subsequently, the evolution of telecom legislation into the new regulatory framework will be examined. The analysis will assess how well the regulatory framework aligns with economic principles, extracting the key underlying principles for the Netherlands, focusing on 'Digital Dividend' and 'Broadband Access'. The final part involves analysing the expected implications of these underlying principles on the Dutch telecom industry, verified through quantitative research among the stakeholders affected by the NRF implementation.

The research aims to forecast the future developments in the Dutch telecom market in the coming years and critically assess the framework and its implementation. For inquiries, please contact via email.