Opening Academic Year 2025-2026

FEB and the region – opportunities for cooperation and regional development

With our knowledge and talents, FEB has strong ties with the Northern region. We are pleased to welcome a diverse group of expert speakers who will share their own perspectives on the importance of FEB’s cooperation with different stakeholders in the North. They will also engage with each other and the audience to explore opportunities for further development.

Speaker Femke Cnossen

Femke Cnossen holds a PhD in Economics from FEB and is currently appointed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences. Her areas of expertise include labour economics, with a focus on technological change and labour markets, work and well-being, regional labour markets, and the transition from (vocational) education to the labour market. As a researcher she is part of the Talent in the Region project in the North of the Netherlands.

Speaker Joyce Walstra

Joyce Walstra is director of Oranjewoud Export Academy, a platform where high-quality knowledge and ambitious entrepreneurs come together to share knowledge, and to enable international growth. In addition, she is the chair of the Northern branch of MKB-Nederland (MKB Noord), the largest entrepreneurs’ association of the Netherlands. Joyce Walstra recently joined the advisory board of FEB.

Speaker Henk Nijboer

Henk Nijboer is an economist, who graduated from FEB, and a former politician. He is the social agenda coordinator for Groningen and North Drenthe for the “Nij Begun” programme for recovery of Groningen and North Drenthe as a result of gas extraction. He was previously a member of the national parliament for eleven years. Before that, he was a member of the Groningen Provincial Council. 

Speaker Marco de Jong

Marco de Jong is a graduate of FEB who has worked in various entrepreneurial roles in the digital economy, before becoming an investment manager at NOM. NOM is the regional investment and development company that aims to strengthen the economy in the Northern Netherlands by investing in companies and supporting entrepreneurs with their growth plans. 

Chair: Evelien Croonen

Evelien P.M. Croonen is assistant professor at FEB, and former programme coordinator of the MSc BA in Small Business & Entrepreneurship and the Honours Bachelor (Business Stream). Her main fields of interest include entrepreneurship, small business strategy, innovation, and the governance of inter-organizational networks. She regularly engages in research projects with local businesses, and she adopts teaching methods to facilitate networking among students and local businesses, such as ‘Northern Business Safaris’.

Workshop FEB and the region: connecting knowledge and international talent in the North 

Prior to the opening of the academic year, we will organize a workshop for business partners from the Northern ecosystem and FEB colleagues. Various current examples of regional cooperation will be presented here, and we will explore new opportunities to further strengthen each other. More information can be found on this webpage.