CIODAY2024 had an extensive program with plenary and breakout sessions. During the opening session, our own Ronald Verbeek, director of CIO Platform Nederland, was on stage, together with Focco Vijselaar, director of VNO-NCW, and Emilie Glastra, chairman of NLdigital. Ronald shared the need to pay more attention to talent development and AI to increase labor productivity. He also emphasized the risks of European dependence on technology suppliers from outside Europe, especially given geopolitical developments. Finally, he pointed out the opportunities that new regulations offer to innovate and to transform cooperation between European suppliers and business users. This is also desirable given the geopolitical circumstances.

The common thread in the plenary program revolved around AI and people. A serious note came from Defense, which called for alertness and assistance, because the security of the Netherlands is threatened through Cyber. During the day, some members of our association shared their insights, such as Aart Rupert's team from Damen Shipyards. The IT complexity of a ship was explained. The importance of the why for the change is paramount, to get the people within the organization on board. The organization of the IT team contributes to collaboration and has been greatly simplified in recent years. It was emphasized that Damen works on ships, leadership, craftmanship, etc. This is a vision that they want to convey in the DNA of the organization. For this change, the acronym ADKAR (Aware, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement) is used.

During the plenary meeting, Burce Gültekin (Friesland Campina), among others, shared her vision on CIO tasks with the metaphor of being able to sail well. This requires good sailors and good equipment. People and Tech must be in balance. She also asked us what good Tech Leadership should look like. Corry Wouters (MinVWS) talked about her CIO values ​​as CIO at Viecurie and guided the debates during the very interesting debate tables.

During the award ceremony, Ing Yan Ong, Global CIO of member organization Heineken, was declared winner of the CIO of the Year Award 2024. CIO Platform Nederland congratulates Ing Yan on this great award. He owes the award to the broad-based transformation towards standardization and harmonization of the brewer's digital landscape, in which he is one of the most important pioneers. Ing Yan has improved the business with the aim of becoming the "best connected brewer". Part of this involves a large-scale investment in a joint backbone and a switch to more joint action in the digital field between the OpCos. This not only makes the platform clear, but also makes money with the B2B connection with customers. In addition to the sale of the beer itself, digital services are now a source of income for Heineken.

In addition to the winner, Ipek Ozsuer (dsm-firmenich) and Mario Suykerbuyk (TenneT) were nominated for the title. Like Ing Yan Ong, they were characterized by a strong focus on people and results. Ipek and Mario, congratulations also on your nomination and performance! 

The Tech Hero Award was presented to Mews, maker of a modern and easy-to-use software platform for the hotel industry. In addition to Mews, ASML, maker of lithographic machines for semiconductor manufacturers, and Nearfield Instruments, which manufactures metrological solutions for the same industry, were also nominated for the prize, which was awarded for the second time this year.