16 | access | winter

From the invention of the electrocar-

diograph (ECG), the audio cassette and

compact disc, and the introduction of

the world’s first traffic enforcement

camera (not so popular that one),

the Dutch have cottoned on to digital

opportunities faster than most.

However, with CDs now being replaced

by MP3s and streamed music channels,

and the Dutch multinational, Philips,

pulling back from the production of

televisions due to competition from

the far East – is the Netherlands still

a pioneering digital force? The answer

is “yes”, of course.

Digitisation is one of the most

useful and popular innovations

in recent years – taking real

world images, sounds and

scenarios and turning them into

electronic representations – and

the netherlands has been at the

forefront from the start.

Cover story

BY CAthY Leung

the Digital

Dutch

access | winter | 17

Mobile Dutch

The Dutch don’t sit still for long, that

we know; nipping about on bicycles,

playing lots of sports, circumnavigating

the globe, etc. And mobile people

demand mobile digital productivity so

it’s no wonder that the Netherlands

has more than its fair share of mobile

developers. Is it odd that a country

with comparatively short road dis-

tances boasts one of the worlds’ most

popular satellite navigation brands,

TomTom? Not once you take into

account that old Dutch knack of foster-

ing creative, technical applications.

Augmented reality

One of the newest areas of mobile devel-

opment, augmented reality (AR), has

been the source of many global firsts for

Dutch innovators. Described as “a way

viewing digital information which has

been superimposed – or augmented –

onto a live view of the physical, real-

world environment around you”, AR

buffs are often pointed to the Netherlands

for the latest news, such as:

• the world’s first AR architecture app

from, UAR by the Netherlands

Architecture Institute, with 3D

models showing past, unrealised and »

18 | access | winter

Cover story | the Digital Dutch

tions. Use a real estate geo layar, for

example, if you’re walking along a nice

street in the The Hague’s Archipelbuurt

and wouldn’t mind moving there, or

NUwerk.nl’s geo layar for job vacancies

near the very spot you’re standing in.

There’s even a Lost-and-Found Pets

geo layar (a lizard was recently found

in IJselbuurt, by the way).

Digital infrastructure

Just think, of all the Internet activity

that goes on across the world, a dis-

proportionately high percentage of

that data could well be processed on

servers in the Netherlands. The non-

profit Internet hub AMS-IX, for exam-

ple, is one of the world’s largest and

most stable digital exchange platforms.

Interestingly, geography is cited as one

reason for the Dutch dominance in

this sector with UK internet hosting

provider, Host1plus, referring to the

Netherlands’ coastline as an advantage;

its “sea borders and ... several tubes of

fibre optics”. Whereas, the American

data centre company Equinix recently

lauded the “green hosting” credentials

of the region as a factor for locating

their new data centre in Amsterdam’s

Science Park. (That and the fact that

80% of European customers can be

reached within 50 milliseconds.)

future buildings in the urban land-

scape (2009)

• the world’s first AR flashmob which

turned the crowd into superheroes,

zombies, etc (2010)

• the world’s first postage stamps

utilising AR (2011).

Indeed, the global market leader in AR

is the Amsterdam-based start-up Layar

– creator of the world’s first mobile

augmented reality browser. Layar’s

mobile app displays digital “layers”

on your smartphone’s camera view,

enhancing your view of the real world

with links, videos and useful informa-

tion. This could be a scanned link from

printed media that leads you to extra

digital goodies, or a “geo layar” – a

geographical scanning of your current

environment with all sorts of applica-

Digital Dutch facts

• The Netherlands has the highest number of Internet users in the EU, and 94% of Dutch households have broadband Internet access.

• The Netherlands is at the top of the EU for online banking. 79% of the Dutch aged 16-75 engaged in Internet banking in 2011 and nearly 4 in 5 Dutch people aged 16-75 do their banking online.

• Twitter: Every day, more tweets are sent in Dutch than in Chinese, Arabic and Korean.

• Almost half of all Dutch patent applications originate in Brainport, Eindhoven.

access | winter | 19

Feature header

Serious games

Besides such silliness, a significant

portion of the sector concerns ‘serious

games’, where entertainment is sec-

ondary to another purpose, for example,

educational, social or commercial.

Rotterdam company Ranj are known

for their business game Sharkworld,

which tests players’ project manage-

ment skills as they oversee the con-

Video games

One of the fastest growing industries

in the Netherlands, computer games

contribute about €1 billion a year to the

Dutch economy, with Utrecht emerging

as the central hub and the base for

Dutch Game Garden, a business centre,

network and games industry event

organiser. (See our Utrecht travel article,

page 28.) Popular Dutch-developed

games include Awesomenauts (Ronimo

Games), and Killzone (Guerrilla Games),

but the cheekiest by far has to be the

new release, Save Harry (MijnGame.nl) –

in which players have to help a naked

Prince Harry escape a Las Vegas party.

“ games stimulate the learning of facts and skills, strategic thinking and creativity”

Did you know... Children who play computer games are quicker learners

»

20 | access | winter

Cover story | the Digital Dutch

to the emergency room, complete with

different player levels – let’s just hope

that they all made it to the top level.

Political games

There’s also strong representation

from the Dutch in digital politics.

In 2008 Dutch liberal

MEP Toine Manders was

responsible for drafting

a pro-video game report

on behalf of a European

parliament’s commit-

tee. In the report, con-

trary to fears about the

violent reputation of

some games, he

extolled the virtues of

video games, saying

that they “can stimulate

learning of facts and

skills such as strategic

thinking, creativity,

cooperation and inno-

vative thinking, which

are important skills in the information

society.” The biggest Dutch name in

digital politics, however, is Steely

Neelie, aka Neelie Kroes. European

Commissioner for the Digital Agenda

since 2010, she is a strong advocate for

open source software and tweets regu-

larly on digital developments.

struction of a shark aquarium in

China. More recently, in 2012 the

Dutch hospital Erasmus MC started

using a serious game to help train staff

in the introduction of a new medical

standard. In ABCDE-Sim players get 15

minutes to stabilise a patient admitted

“ Besides such silliness, a significant portion of the sector concerns ‘serious games’”

access | winter | 21

for tram and bus transport that replaced

the much-loved strippenkaart, is widely

known to be vulnerable to hacking (to

enable free travel).

Indeed the National Cyber Security

Centre admits “it is a challenge to put

into place effective ... measures to

ensure that the Netherlands becomes

more resilient to threats in the digital

world” and admits that a “wide range of

incidents feature in day-to-day reality.”

Holland’s hackers

And so a more controversial breed of

pioneers has thrived in the Netherlands:

hackers. Often judged critically for

malicious disruption to commerce and

communication (see above), it’s per-

haps characteristic of the Netherlands

that the hacker community also dem-

onstrates a benevolent side.

Hacker Ron Gonggrijp, for example,

has used his knowledge of field access

Digital data security

With all of this widespread digitisation

comes some risks. Indeed it can seem

that never a month goes by without a

new digital data security scare. The

Dutch company DigiNotar was bank-

rupted in 2011 when hackers gained

access to the website security certifica-

tion. Several administrative functions

of the Dutch government also used

these systems – including the DigiID,

the Belastingdienst (Department of Tax

& Customs), the RDW (Department of

Road Transport), and the Kadaster

(Land Registry) – leading to a disrup-

tion in access to services.

The security of digital medical records

in the healthcare industry, particularly,

has led to several high-profile news

stories; from a badly protected com-

puter discovered at the Groene Hart

Hospital in Gouda in October 2012 and

the revelation in Februrary 2012 of lax

data storage procedures in the Dutch

pharmacy industry.

Although hackers don’t appear to have

rushed to download all this apparently

accessible healthcare data, they have

acted on another digital data opportu-

nity. The Dutch technology behind the

new OV-Chipkaart, the smart card used

Organisations

• PKIoverheid (Dutch government Public Key Infrastructure): logius.nl/english

• National Cyber Security Centre: ncsc.nl• Ron Gonggrijp, blog (in English): rop.gonggri.jp• The Hague Mobile Academy: thma.nl/en

»

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access | winter | 23

Cover story | the Digital Dutch

technology to help provide Internet

access at challenging locations such

as the Ter Apel refugee camp in

Groningen, and the Occupy Camp in

Beursplein, Amsterdam, in 2011.

Gonggrijp also founded one of the

earliest Dutch Internet service provid-

ers, XS4ALL (now owned by KPN),

which, in December 1996, enabled

online access to the Belgrade radio

station, B92, after the jamming of its

broadcasts by Slobodan Miloševic,

and more recently in 2011 provided

dial-in Internet access for use by

Libyian civilians cut off by political

developments.

Attracting innovators

It seems that this innovative and cre-

ative environment also attracts digital

pioneers from overseas. Appsterdam,

for example, was a project started by

American and ex Apple employee,

Mike Lee, after he grew frustrated by

expensive healthcare and attitudes in

Silicon Valley. He toured the world

looking for the just the right place to

start a hub for app developers and all

the peripheral skills that they would

need. He chose Amsterdam. (And of

course the culture of financial invest-

ment is here too – his Dutch backer

provided him with the funds.)

At the same time there is noteworthy

investment in the education of the next

generation of digital Dutch developers.

Utrecht University was the first Dutch

university to offer an MSc in Game and

Media Technology, but there are now

several schools and universities here

offering video game development as a

specific study. One municipality has

recognised the need for greater skills

to feed the mobile developers industry

too, and a new initiative, The Hague

Mobile Academy, will welcome its first

students in January 2013. (See page 38)

Let’s keep up

Hopefully you’ll find it exciting to be

living in one of the most technically

advanced and innovative countries in

the world. Maybe you’ll get to know

your neighbourhood better through

one of the many AR applications, or

retrain as a video games developer.

But at least remember to thank the

digital Dutch when you’re streaming

your favourite TV show from back

home on one of the world’s fastest

bandwidths. «

About the author:

Cathy is a freelance writer and radio presenter on www.englishbreakfast.nl. Follow her on Twitter @cathycentral.