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Innovation

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.

Innovation often takes place through the development of more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, art works or business models that innovators make available to markets, governments and society.

Innovation is related to, but not the same as, invention: innovation is more apt to involve the practical implementation of an invention (i.e. new / improved ability) to make a meaningful impact in a market or society, and not all innovations require a new invention.

Technical innovation often manifests itself via the engineering process when the problem being solved is of a technical or scientific nature. The opposite of innovation is exnovation.

Definition
Surveys of the literature on innovation have found a variety of definitions. In 2009, Baregheh et al. found around 60 definitions in different scientific papers, while a 2014 survey found over 40. Based on their survey, Baragheh et al. attempted to formulate a multidisciplinary definition and arrived at the following:"'Innovation is the multi-stage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete and differentiate themselves successfully in their marketplace'" In a study of how the software industry considers innovation, the following definition given by Crossan and Apaydin was considered to be the most complete. Crossan and Apaydin built on the definition given in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Oslo Manual: "Innovation is production or adoption, assimilation, and exploitation of a value-added novelty in economic and social spheres; renewal and enlargement of products, services, and markets; development of new methods of production; and the establishment of new management systems. It is both a process and an outcome." American sociologist Everett Rogers, defined it as follows:"'An idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption'" According to Alan Altshuler and Robert D. Behn, innovation includes original invention and creative use. These writers define innovation as generation, admission and realization of new ideas, products, services and processes.

Two main dimensions of innovation are degree of novelty (i.e. whether an innovation is new to the firm, new to the market, new to the industry, or new to the world) and kind of innovation (i.e. whether it is process or product-service system innovation). Organizational researchers have also distinguished innovation separately from creativity, by providing an updated definition of these two related constructs:"Workplace creativity concerns the cognitive and behavioral processes applied when attempting to generate novel ideas. Workplace innovation concerns the processes applied when attempting to implement new ideas. Specifically, innovation involves some combination of problem/opportunity identification, the introduction, adoption or modification of new ideas germane to organizational needs, the promotion of these ideas, and the practical implementation of these ideas."

Peter Drucker wrote:

"Innovation is the specific function of entrepreneurship, whether in an existing business, a public service institution, or a new venture started by a lone individual in the family kitchen. It is the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth-producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth."

Creativity and innovation
In general, innovation is distinguished from creativity by its emphasis on the implementation of creative ideas in an economic setting. Amabile and Pratt in 2016, drawing on the literature, distinguish between creativity ("the production of novel and useful ideas by an individual or small group of individuals working together") and innovation ("the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization").

Economics and innovation
In 1957 the economist Robert Solow was able to demonstrate that economic growth had two components. The first component could be attributed to growth in production including wage labour and capital. The second component was found to be productivity. Ever since, economic historians have tried to explain the process of innovation itself, rather than assuming that technological inventions and technological progress result in productivity growth.

The concept of innovation emerged after the Second World War, mostly thanks to the works of Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) who described the economic effects of innovation processes as Constructive destruction. Today, consistent neo-Schumpeterian scholars see innovation not as neutral or apolitical processes. Rather, innovation can be seen as socially constructed processes. Therefore, its conception depends on the political and societal context in which innovation is taking place. According to Shannon Walsh, "innovation today is best understood as innovation under capital" (p. 346). This means that the current hegemonic purpose for innovation is capital valorisation and profit maximization, exemplified by the appropriation of knowledge (e.g., through patenting), the widespread practice of Planned obsolescence (incl. lack of repairability by design), and the Jevons paradox, that describes negative consequences of eco-efficiency as energy-reducing effects tend to trigger mechanisms leading to energy-increasing effects.

Types
Several frameworks have been proposed for defining types of innovation.

Sustaining vs disruptive innovation
One framework proposed by Clayton Christensen draws a distinction between sustaining and disruptive innovations. Sustaining innovation is the improvement of a product or service based on the known needs of current customers (e.g. faster microprocessors, flat screen televisions). Disruptive innovation in contrast refers to a process by which a new product or service creates a new market (e.g. transistor radio, free crowdsourced encyclopedia, etc.), eventually displacing established competitors. According to Christensen, disruptive innovations are critical to long-term success in business.

Disruptive innovation is often enabled by disruptive technology. Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani define foundational technology as having the potential to create new foundations for global technology systems over the longer term. Foundational technology tends to transform business operating models as entirely new business models emerge over many years, with gradual and steady adoption of the innovation leading to waves of technological and institutional change that gain momentum more slowly. The advent of the packet-switched communication protocol TCP/IP—originally introduced in 1972 to support a single use case for United States Department of Defense electronic communication (email), and which gained widespread adoption only in the mid-1990s with the advent of the World Wide Web—is a foundational technology.

Four types of innovation model
Another framework was suggested by Henderson and Clark. They divide innovation into four types;
 * Radical innovation: "establishes a new dominant design and, hence, a new set of core design concepts embodied in components that are linked together in a new architecture." (p. 11)
 * Incremental innovation: "refines and extends an established design. Improvement occurs in individual components, but the underlying core design concepts, and the links between them, remain the same." (p. 11)
 * Architectural innovation: "innovation that changes only the relationships between them [the core design concepts]" (p. 12)
 * Modular Innovation: "innovation that changes only the core design concepts of a technology" (p. 12)

While Henderson and Clark as well as Christensen talk about technical innovation there are other kinds of innovation as well, such as service innovation and organizational innovation.

Non-economic innovation
As distinct from business-centric views of innovation concentrating on generating profit for a firm, other types of innovation include: social innovation, religious innovation, sustainable innovation (or green innovation), and responsible innovation.

Open innovation
One type of innovation that has been the focus of recent literature is open innovation or "crowd sourcing." Open innovation refers to the use of individuals outside of an organizational context who have no expertise in a given area to solve complex problems.

User innovation
Similar to open innovation, user innovation is when companies rely on users of their goods and services to come up with, help to develop, and even help to implement new ideas.

History
Innovation must be understood in the historical setting in which its processes were and are taking place. The first full-length discussion about innovation was published by the Greek philosopher and historian Xenophon (430–355 BCE). He viewed the concept as multifaceted and connected it to political action. The word for innovation that he uses, kainotomia, had previously occurred in two plays by Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BCE). Plato (died c. 348 BCE) discussed innovation in his Laws dialogue and was not very fond of the concept. He was skeptical to it both in culture (dancing and art) and in education (he did not believe in introducing new games and toys to the kids). Aristotle (384–322 BCE) did not like organizational innovations: he believed that all possible forms of organization had been discovered.

Before the 4th century in Rome, the words novitas and res nova / nova res were used with either negative or positive judgment on the innovator. This concept meant "renewing" and was incorporated into the new Latin verb word innovo ("I renew" or "I restore") in the centuries that followed. The Vulgate version of the Bible (late 4th century CE) used the word in spiritual as well as political contexts. It also appeared in poetry, mainly with spiritual connotations, but was also connected to political, material and cultural aspects.

Machiavelli's The Prince (1513) discusses innovation in a political setting. Machiavelli portrays it as a strategy a Prince may employ in order to cope with a constantly changing world as well as the corruption within it. Here innovation is described as introducing change in government (new laws and institutions); Machiavelli's later book The Discourses (1528) characterises innovation as imitation, as a return to the original that has been corrupted by people and by time. Thus for Machiavelli innovation came with positive connotations. This is however an exception in the usage of the concept of innovation from the 16th century and onward. No innovator from the renaissance until the late 19th century ever thought of applying the word innovator upon themselves, it was a word used to attack enemies.

From the 1400s through the 1600s, the concept of innovation was pejorative – the term was an early-modern synonym for "rebellion", "revolt" and "heresy". In the 1800s people promoting capitalism saw socialism as an innovation and spent a lot of energy working against it. For instance, Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) saw the spread of social innovations as an attack on money and banks. These social innovations were socialism, communism, nationalization, cooperative associations.

In the 20th century, the concept of innovation did not become popular until after the Second World War of 1939–1945. This is the point in time when people started to talk about technological product innovation and tie it to the idea of economic growth and competitive advantage. Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950), who contributed greatly to the study of innovation economics, is seen as the one who made the term popular. Schumpeter argued that industries must incessantly revolutionize the economic structure from within, that is: innovate with better or more effective processes and products, as well as with market distribution (such as the transition from the craft shop to factory). He famously asserted that "creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism". In business and in economics, innovation can provide a catalyst for growth when entrepreneurs continuously search for better ways to satisfy their consumer base with improved quality, durability, service and price - searches which may come to fruition in innovation with advanced technologies and organizational strategies. Schumpeter's findings coincided with rapid advances in transportation and communications in the beginning of the 20th century, which had huge impacts for the economic concepts of factor endowments and comparative advantage as new combinations of resources or production techniques constantly transform markets to satisfy consumer needs. Hence, innovative behaviour becomes relevant for economic success.

Process of innovation
An early model included only three phases of innovation. According to Utterback (1971), these phases were: 1) idea generation, 2) problem solving, and 3) implementation. By the time one completed phase 2, one had an invention, but until one got it to the point of having an economic impact, one did not have an innovation. Diffusion was not considered a phase of innovation. Focus at this point in time was on manufacturing.

A prime example of innovation involved the boom of Silicon Valley start-ups out of the Stanford Industrial Park. In 1957, dissatisfied employees of Shockley Semiconductor, the company of Nobel laureate William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, left to form an independent firm, Fairchild Semiconductor. After several years, Fairchild developed into a formidable presence in the sector. Eventually, these founders left to start their own companies based on their own unique ideas, and then leading employees started their own firms. Over the next 20 years this process resulted in the momentous startup-company explosion of information-technology firms. Silicon Valley began as 65 new enterprises born out of Shockley's eight former employees.

All organizations can innovate, including for example hospitals, universities, and local governments. The organization requires a proper structure in order to retain competitive advantage. Organizations can also improve profits and performance by providing work groups opportunities and resources to innovate, in addition to employee's core job tasks. Executives and managers have been advised to break away from traditional ways of thinking and use change to their advantage. The world of work is changing with the increased use of technology and companies are becoming increasingly competitive. Companies will have to downsize or reengineer their operations to remain competitive. This will affect employment as businesses will be forced to reduce the number of people employed while accomplishing the same amount of work if not more.

For instance, former Mayor Martin O'Malley pushed the City of Baltimore to use CitiStat, a performance-measurement data and management system that allows city officials to maintain statistics on several areas from crime trends to the conditions of potholes. This system aided in better evaluation of policies and procedures with accountability and efficiency in terms of time and money. In its first year, CitiStat saved the city $13.2 million. Even mass transit systems have innovated with hybrid bus fleets to real-time tracking at bus stands. In addition, the growing use of mobile data terminals in vehicles, that serve as communication hubs between vehicles and a control center, automatically send data on location, passenger counts, engine performance, mileage and other information. This tool helps to deliver and manage transportation systems.

Still other innovative strategies include hospitals digitizing medical information in electronic medical records. For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOPE VI initiatives turned severely distressed public housing in urban areas into revitalized, mixed-income environments; the Harlem Children's Zone used a community-based approach to educate local area children; and the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfield grants facilitates turning over brownfields for environmental protection, green spaces, community and commercial development.

Sources of innovation
Innovation may occur due to effort from a range of different agents, by chance, or as a result of a major system failure. According to Peter F. Drucker, the general sources of innovations are changes in industry structure, in market structure, in local and global demographics, in human perception, in the amount of available scientific knowledge, etc.

In the simplest linear model of innovation the traditionally recognized source is manufacturer innovation. This is where a person or business innovates in order to sell the innovation.

Another source of innovation is end-user innovation. This is where a person or company develops an innovation for their own (personal or in-house) use because existing products do not meet their needs. MIT economist Eric von Hippel identified end-user innovation as the most important source in his classic book on the subject, "The Sources of Innovation".

The robotics engineer Joseph F. Engelberger asserts that innovations require only three things:
 * 1) a recognized need
 * 2) competent people with relevant technology
 * 3) financial support

The Kline chain-linked model of innovation places emphasis on potential market needs as drivers of the innovation process, and describes the complex and often iterative feedback loops between marketing, design, manufacturing, and R&D.

In the 21st century the Islamic State (IS) movement, while decrying religious innovations, has innovated in military tactics, recruitment, ideology and geopolitical activity.

Facilitating innovation
Innovation by businesses is achieved in many ways, with much attention now given to formal research and development (R&D) for "breakthrough innovations". R&D help spur on patents and other scientific innovations that leads to productive growth in such areas as industry, medicine, engineering, and government. Yet, innovations can be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice, through exchange and combination of professional experience and by many other routes. Investigation of relationship between the concepts of innovation and technology transfer revealed overlap. The more radical and revolutionary innovations tend to emerge from R&D, while more incremental innovations may emerge from practice – but there are many exceptions to each of these trends.

Information technology and changing business processes and management style can produce a work climate favorable to innovation. For example, the software tool company Atlassian conducts quarterly "ShipIt Days" in which employees may work on anything related to the company's products. Google employees work on self-directed projects for 20% of their time (known as Innovation Time Off). Both companies cite these bottom-up processes as major sources for new products and features.

An important innovation factor includes customers buying products or using services. As a result, organizations may incorporate users in focus groups (user centered approach), work closely with so-called lead users (lead user approach), or users might adapt their products themselves. The lead user method focuses on idea generation based on leading users to develop breakthrough innovations. U-STIR, a project to innovate Europe's surface transportation system, employs such workshops. Regarding this user innovation, a great deal of innovation is done by those actually implementing and using technologies and products as part of their normal activities. Sometimes user-innovators may become entrepreneurs, selling their product, they may choose to trade their innovation in exchange for other innovations, or they may be adopted by their suppliers. Nowadays, they may also choose to freely reveal their innovations, using methods like open source. In such networks of innovation the users or communities of users can further develop technologies and reinvent their social meaning.

One technique for innovating a solution to an identified problem is to actually attempt an experiment with many possible solutions. This technique was famously used by Thomas Edison's laboratory to find a version of the incandescent light bulb economically viable for home use, which involved searching through thousands of possible filament designs before settling on carbonized bamboo.

This technique is sometimes used in pharmaceutical drug discovery. Thousands of chemical compounds are subjected to high-throughput screening to see if they have any activity against a target molecule which has been identified as biologically significant to a disease. Promising compounds can then be studied; modified to improve efficacy and reduce side effects, evaluated for cost of manufacture; and if successful turned into treatments.

The related technique of A/B testing is often used to help optimize the design of web sites and mobile apps. This is used by major sites such as amazon.com, Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Procter & Gamble uses computer-simulated products and online user panels to conduct larger numbers of experiments to guide the design, packaging, and shelf placement of consumer products. Capital One uses this technique to drive credit card marketing offers.

Goals and failures of innovation
Scholars have argued that the main purpose for innovation today is profit maximization and capital valorisation. Consequently, programs of organizational innovation are typically tightly linked to organizational goals and growth objectives, to the business plan, and to market competitive positioning. Davila et al. (2006) note, "Companies cannot grow through cost reduction and reengineering alone... Innovation is the key element in providing aggressive top-line growth, and for increasing bottom-line results". One survey across a large number of manufacturing and services organizations found that systematic programs of organizational innovation are most frequently driven by: improved quality, creation of new markets, extension of the product range, reduced labor costs, improved production processes, reduced materials cost, reduced environmental damage, replacement of products/services, reduced energy consumption, and conformance to regulations.

Different goals are appropriate for different products, processes, and services. According to Andrea Vaona and Mario Pianta, some example goals of innovation could stem from two different types of technological strategies: technological competitiveness and active price competitiveness. Technological competitiveness may have a tendency to be pursued by smaller firms and can be characterized as "efforts for market-oriented innovation, such as a strategy of market expansion and patenting activity." On the other hand, active price competitiveness is geared toward process innovations that lead to efficiency and flexibility, which tend to be pursued by large, established firms as they seek to expand their market foothold. Whether innovation goals are successfully achieved or otherwise depends greatly on the environment prevailing in the organization.

Organization-internal innovation failures
Failure of organizational innovation programs has been widely researched and the causes vary considerably. Some causes are external to the organization and outside its influence of control. Others are internal and ultimately within the control of the organization. Internal causes of failure can be divided into causes associated with the cultural infrastructure and causes associated with the innovation process itself. David O'Sullivan wrote that causes of failure within the innovation process in most organizations can be distilled into five types: poor goal definition, poor alignment of actions to goals, poor participation in teams, poor monitoring of results, and poor communication and access to information.

Environmental and social innovation failures
Innovation is generally framed as an inherently positive force, delivering growth and prosperity for all, and is often deemed as both inevitable and unstoppable. In this sense, future innovations are often hailed as solutions to current problems, such as climate change. This business-as-usual approach would mean continued and increased globalization as well as quick innovation cycles which supposedly will maximize the competitiveness of processes, in the end leading to Eco-economic decoupling or Green growth. Yet, it is unclear whether innovative solutions will be capable of solving the climate crisis: According to Mario Giampietro and Silvio Funtowicz (2020), this positive framing of innovation "demonstrates [a] lack of understanding of the biophysical roots of the economic process and the seriousness of the sustainability crisis". This is due to the fact that innovation can be understood in its specific historic and cultural context: The prevailing hegemonic view on innovation, as emphasized by Ben Robra et al. (2023), aligns closely with capitalist mode of production, shown by the mantra of 'innovate or die.' From this viewpoint, innovation is primarily driven by the imperative of capital accumulation, serving the sole purpose of increasing returns, neglecting societal needs such as a clean environment or social equality and in general the biophysical limits of our planet.

Diffusion

Diffusion of innovation research was first started in 1903 by seminal researcher Gabriel Tarde, who first plotted the S-shaped diffusion curve. Tarde defined the innovation-decision process as a series of steps that include:
 * 1) knowledge
 * 2) forming an attitude
 * 3) a decision to adopt or reject
 * 4) implementation and use
 * 5) confirmation of the decision

Once innovation occurs, innovations may be spread from the innovator to other individuals and groups. This process has been proposed that the lifecycle of innovations can be described using the 's-curve' or diffusion curve. The s-curve maps growth of revenue or productivity against time. In the early stage of a particular innovation, growth is relatively slow as the new product establishes itself. At some point, customers begin to demand and the product growth increases more rapidly. New incremental innovations or changes to the product allow growth to continue. Towards the end of its lifecycle, growth slows and may even begin to decline. In the later stages, no amount of new investment in that product will yield a normal rate of return.

The s-curve derives from an assumption that new products are likely to have "product life" – i.e., a start-up phase, a rapid increase in revenue and eventual decline. In fact, the great majority of innovations never get off the bottom of the curve, and never produce normal returns.

Innovative companies will typically be working on new innovations that will eventually replace older ones. Successive s-curves will come along to replace older ones and continue to drive growth upwards. In the figure above the first curve shows a current technology. The second shows an emerging technology that currently yields lower growth but will eventually overtake current technology and lead to even greater levels of growth. The length of life will depend on many factors.

Measuring innovation
Measuring innovation is inherently difficult as it implies commensurability so that comparisons can be made in quantitative terms. Innovation, however, is by definition novelty. Comparisons are thus often meaningless across products or service. Nevertheless, Edison et al. in their review of literature on innovation management found 232 innovation metrics. They categorized these measures along five dimensions; i.e. inputs to the innovation process, output from the innovation process, effect of the innovation output, measures to access the activities in an innovation process and availability of factors that facilitate such a process.

There are two different types of measures for innovation: the organizational level and the political level.

Organizational-level

 * The measure of innovation at the organizational level relates to individuals, team-level assessments, and private companies from the smallest to the largest company. Measure of innovation for organizations can be conducted by surveys, workshops, consultants, or internal benchmarking. There is today no established general way to measure organizational innovation. Corporate measurements are generally structured around balanced scorecards which cover several aspects of innovation such as business measures related to finances, innovation process efficiency, employees' contribution and motivation, as well benefits for customers. Measured values will vary widely between businesses, covering for example new product revenue, spending in R&D, time to market, customer and employee perception & satisfaction, number of patents, additional sales resulting from past innovations.

Political-level

 * For the political level, measures of innovation are more focused on a country or region competitive advantage through innovation. In this context, organizational capabilities can be evaluated through various evaluation frameworks, such as those of the European Foundation for Quality Management. The OECD Oslo Manual (1992) suggests standard guidelines on measuring technological product and process innovation. Some people consider the Oslo Manual complementary to the Frascati Manual from 1963. The new Oslo Manual from 2018 takes a wider perspective to innovation, and includes marketing and organizational innovation. These standards are used for example in the European Community Innovation Surveys.

Other ways of measuring innovation have traditionally been expenditure, for example, investment in R&D (Research and Development) as percentage of GNP (Gross National Product). Whether this is a good measurement of innovation has been widely discussed and the Oslo Manual has incorporated some of the critique against earlier methods of measuring. The traditional methods of measuring still inform many policy decisions. The EU Lisbon Strategy has set as a goal that their average expenditure on R&D should be 3% of GDP.

Indicators
Many scholars claim that there is a great bias towards the "science and technology mode" (S&T-mode or STI-mode), while the "learning by doing, using and interacting mode" (DUI-mode) is ignored and measurements and research about it rarely done. For example, an institution may be high tech with the latest equipment, but lacks crucial doing, using and interacting tasks important for innovation.

A common industry view (unsupported by empirical evidence) is that comparative cost-effectiveness research is a form of price control which reduces returns to industry, and thus limits R&D expenditure, stifles future innovation and compromises new products access to markets. Some academics claim cost-effectiveness research is a valuable value-based measure of innovation which accords "truly significant" therapeutic advances (i.e. providing "health gain") higher prices than free market mechanisms. Such value-based pricing has been viewed as a means of indicating to industry the type of innovation that should be rewarded from the public purse.

An Australian academic developed the case that national comparative cost-effectiveness analysis systems should be viewed as measuring "health innovation" as an evidence-based policy concept for valuing innovation distinct from valuing through competitive markets, a method which requires strong anti-trust laws to be effective, on the basis that both methods of assessing pharmaceutical innovations are mentioned in annex 2C.1 of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.

Indices
Several indices attempt to measure innovation and rank entities based on these measures, such as:
 * Bloomberg Innovation Index
 * "Bogota Manual" similar to the Oslo Manual, is focused on Latin America and the Caribbean countries.
 * "Creative Class" developed by Richard Florida
 * EIU Innovation Ranking
 * Global Competitiveness Report
 * Global Innovation Index (GII), by INSEAD
 * Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) Index
 * Innovation 360 – From the World Bank. Aggregates innovation indicators (and more) from a number of different public sources
 * Innovation Capacity Index (ICI) published by a large number of international professors working in a collaborative fashion. The top scorers of ICI 2009–2010 were: 1. Sweden 82.2; 2. Finland 77.8; and 3. United States 77.5
 * Innovation Index, developed by the Indiana Business Research Center, to measure innovation capacity at the county or regional level in the United States
 * Innovation Union Scoreboard, developed by the European Union
 * innovationsindikator for Germany, developed by the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie) in 2005
 * INSEAD Innovation Efficacy Index
 * International Innovation Index, produced jointly by The Boston Consulting Group, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and its nonpartisan research affiliate The Manufacturing Institute, is a worldwide index measuring the level of innovation in a country; NAM describes it as the "largest and most comprehensive global index of its kind"
 * Management Innovation Index – Model for Managing Intangibility of Organizational Creativity: Management Innovation Index
 * NYCEDC Innovation Index, by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, tracks New York City's "transformation into a center for high-tech innovation. It measures innovation in the City's growing science and technology industries and is designed to capture the effect of innovation on the City's economy"
 * OECD Oslo Manual is focused on North America, Europe, and other rich economies
 * State Technology and Science Index, developed by the Milken Institute, is a U.S.-wide benchmark to measure the science and technology capabilities that furnish high paying jobs based around key components
 * World Competitiveness Scoreboard

Rankings
Common areas of focus include: high-tech companies, manufacturing, patents, post secondary education, research and development, and research personnel. The left ranking of the top 10 countries below is based on the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index. However, studies may vary widely; for example the Global Innovation Index 2016 ranks Switzerland as number one wherein countries like South Korea, Japan, and China do not even make the top ten.

Rate of innovation
In 2005 Jonathan Huebner, a physicist working at the Pentagon's Naval Air Warfare Center, argued on the basis of both U.S. patents and world technological breakthroughs, per capita, that the rate of human technological innovation peaked in 1873 and has been slowing ever since. In his article, he asked "Will the level of technology reach a maximum and then decline as in the Dark Ages?" In later comments to New Scientist magazine, Huebner clarified that while he believed that we will reach a rate of innovation in 2024 equivalent to that of the Dark Ages, he was not predicting the reoccurrence of the Dark Ages themselves.

John Smart criticized the claim and asserted that technological singularity researcher Ray Kurzweil and others showed a "clear trend of acceleration, not deceleration" when it came to innovations. The foundation replied to Huebner the journal his article was published in, citing Second Life and eHarmony as proof of accelerating innovation; to which Huebner replied. However, Huebner's findings were confirmed in 2010 with U.S. Patent Office data. and in a 2012 paper.

Innovation and development
The theme of innovation as a tool to disrupting patterns of poverty has gained momentum since the mid-2000s among major international development actors such as DFID, Gates Foundation's use of the Grand Challenge funding model, and USAID's Global Development Lab. Networks have been established to support innovation in development, such as D-Lab at MIT. Investment funds have been established to identify and catalyze innovations in developing countries, such as DFID's Global Innovation Fund, Human Development Innovation Fund, and (in partnership with USAID) the Global Development Innovation Ventures.

The United States has to continue to play on the same level of playing field as its competitors in federal research. This can be achieved being strategically innovative through investment in basic research and science".

Government policies
Given its effects on efficiency, quality of life, and productive growth, innovation is a key driver in improving society and economy. Consequently, policymakers have worked to develop environments that will foster innovation, from funding research and development to establishing regulations that do not inhibit innovation, funding the development of innovation clusters, and using public purchasing and standardisation to 'pull' innovation through.

For instance, experts are advocating that the U.S. federal government launch a National Infrastructure Foundation, a nimble, collaborative strategic intervention organization that will house innovations programs from fragmented silos under one entity, inform federal officials on innovation performance metrics, strengthen industry-university partnerships, and support innovation economic development initiatives, especially to strengthen regional clusters. Because clusters are the geographic incubators of innovative products and processes, a cluster development grant program would also be targeted for implementation. By focusing on innovating in such areas as precision manufacturing, information technology, and clean energy, other areas of national concern would be tackled including government debt, carbon footprint, and oil dependence. The U.S. Economic Development Administration understand this reality in their continued Regional Innovation Clusters initiative. The United States also has to integrate her supply-chain and improve her applies research capability and downstream process innovation.

Many countries recognize the importance of innovation including Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research; and the Ministry of Science and Technology in the People's Republic of China. Russia's innovation programme is the Medvedev modernisation programme which aims to create a diversified economy based on high technology and innovation. The Government of Western Australia has established a number of innovation incentives for government departments. Landgate was the first Western Australian government agency to establish its Innovation Program.

Some regions have taken a proactive role in supporting innovation. Many regional governments are setting up innovation agencies to strengthen regional capabilities. Business incubators were first introduced in 1959 and subsequently nurtured by governments around the world. Such "incubators", located close to knowledge clusters (mostly research-based) like universities or other government excellence centres – aim primarily to channel generated knowledge to applied innovation outcomes in order to stimulate regional or national economic growth.

In 2009, the municipality of Medellin, Colombia created Ruta N to transform the city into a knowledge city.

Counter-hegemonic views on innovation
Innovation in the prevailing hegemonic view today mostly refers to 'innovation under capital', due to the prevailing capitalist nature of the global economy. In contrast, Robra et al. (2023) propose a counter-hegemonic view on innovation. This alternative lens revises the centrality of capital accumulation as the primary goal of innovation. Instead of being solely driven by profit motives, a counter-hegemonic understanding sees innovation as a means to create user-value, with a focus on satisfying societal needs. This view on innovation is underpinned by open access to knowledge, adaptability, repairability, and maintenance of products as well as Eco-sufficiency, defining progress not by efficiency but by staying within planetary boundaries, thereby challenging the hegemonic belief in limitless growth. This perspective is exemplified by commons-based peer production (CBPP), offering an alternative vision of innovation that prioritizes conviviality over relentless competition. In essence, this counter-hegemonic view describes a more socially and ecologically conscious approach to innovation, striving for a balance between technological progress and human wellbeing.

title: Innovation


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Almelo

Almelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek.

Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle of the rolling countryside of Twente, with the industrial centres of Enschede and Hengelo as close neighbours but also with tourist towns like Ootmarsum, Delden and Markelo only a bicycle ride away.

Almelo received city rights in 1394. Within the city limits lies the castle of the Counts of Almelo. Located in the city centre is Huize Almelo, a castle that in its current form dates back to 1662 (This castle is not open to the public).

There are mosaics which decorate the walls of the tunnel close to the railway station.

The city is also known for its local association football club Heracles Almelo, which plays in the Eredivisie, the highest football league in the Netherlands. The club uses the Erve Asito.

History
At the end of the 19th century textile emerged as a major employer and drew many workers to Almelo, at first from within the Netherlands. Since the 1960s workers from Spain and Turkey came to Almelo. The first mosque of the Netherlands was built in Almelo in 1976 for the Turkish population of the city. Almelo also has a sizeable number of Armenians who built their own Armenian Apostolic Church in 2003.

In the 1970s the industry dwindled and most factories were relocated to countries with cheaper labour. Some factories remain in the city centre and are now in use for apartments or offices.

Topography
Topographic map of Almelo, Sept. 2014

Economy
Currently, a major employer in Almelo is Urenco Nederland. This is a uranium enrichment plant which uses the gas centrifuge method and produces uranium with about five percent U-235, for nuclear reactors. An industrial bakery, Bolletje, Malvern Panalytical, the Stichting Ziekenhuisgroep Twente (a hospital) and the regional court are also major employers.

Demographics
As of 2020, Almelo has a total population of about 73,107. The city has a significant Turkish population.

Transport
Almelo has 2 railway stations:

 * Almelo railway station
 * Almelo de Riet railway station

The main station is Almelo and offers links to Hengelo, Enschede, Amersfoort, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Utrecht, Gouda, Rotterdam, The Hague and Zwolle. There is also a train every 2 hours into Germany serving cities such as Osnabrück, Hannover and Berlin.

Football
Heracles Almelo, a professional football club playing in the Eredivisie is based in Almelo.

Cycling
Since 1983 Almelo has organised the Profronde van Almelo, an elite men's and women's professional road bicycle racing event.

Notable people

 * Catharina Julia Roeters van Lennep (1813–1883) a Dutch artist
 * Bertha Tideman-Wijers (1887–1976) composer
 * Izaak Kolthoff (1894–1993) an analytical chemist and chemistry educator
 * Judith Ledeboer OBE (1901–1990) architect
 * Evert Willem Beth (1908–1964) philosopher and logician
 * Gerritdina Benders-Letteboer (1909–1980) an active member of the Dutch Resistance
 * Wubbo Ockels (1946–2014) a physicist and astronaut of the European Space Agency
 * Herman Finkers (born 1954) comedian, known for his friendly, dry-witted humour
 * Tom Egbers (born 1957) a Dutch English journalist, writer and TV presenter
 * Liesbeth van Tongeren (born 1958) a Dutch politician, Director of Greenpeace Netherlands 2003–2010, grew up in Almelo
 * Hero Brinkman (born 1964) a police officer and former Dutch politician
 * Jos de Blok (born 1960) founder and CEO of Buurtzorg
 * Michiel Veenstra (born 1976) Radio-dj on KINK
 * Ilse de Lange (born 1977) a Dutch country and pop rock singer-songwriter
 * Loes Haverkort (born 1981) a Dutch movie, TV and theater actress
 * Azra Akın (born 1981) Miss Turkey World 2002 and Miss World 2002

Sports

 * Kea Bouman (1903 – 1998) female tennis player; only Dutch female tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament
 * Lex Mullink (born 1944) a retired rower, bronze medallist at the 1964 Summer Olympics
 * Hendrie Krüzen (born 1964) football midfielder, over 500 club caps
 * Brian van Loo (born 1975) retired soccer goalkeeper, 261 club caps
 * Marnix Smit (born 1975) retired soccer player, 231 club caps with Heracles Almelo
 * Arnold Bruggink (born 1977) retired soccer player, 447 club caps
 * Mark Looms (born 1981) soccer player, 329 club caps
 * Kirsten Wild (born 1982) track and road race cyclist; multiple National Champion
 * Marc Höcher (born 1984) a Dutch football player with over 350 club caps
 * Dennis Kuipers (born 1985) a Dutch rally driver
 * Anouk Dekker (born 1986) a Dutch footballer with over 250 club caps
 * Fabian Roosenbrand (born 1988) a Dutch professional darts player
 * Maret Balkestein-Grothues (born 1988) a Dutch volleyball player
 * Maud Roetgering (born 1992) a football defender 184 caps with FC Twente Vrouwen
 * Bent Viscaal (born 1999) a Dutch racing driver

Twin towns — Sister cities
Almelo is twinned with:

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Almelo


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Bathmen

Bathmen is a village and former municipality in the east of the Netherlands. The municipality was merged with her larger neighbour of Deventer on 1 January 2005 as part of a national effort to reduce bureaucracy in the country. Its main population centres were Apenhuizen, Bathmen, Dortherhoek, Loo, Pieriksmars and Zuidloo.

It was first mentioned in 1284 as Batmen. The etymology is unclear. In 1840, it was home to 1,507 people. In 1997, Deventer tried to annex Bathmen, but failed.

title: Bathmen


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Borne, Overijssel

Borne (Tweants: Boorn) is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, in the region of Twente. Its inhabitants also have the nickname Melbuul (flour bag in Twentsch).

History
The earliest traces of inhabitation in Borne are archeological finds at the "Stroom Esch" and "Zuid Esch" of substantial settlements dating from the late Iron Age and the Roman period. Finds from around 800 CE., the remains of two farmhouses and the grave of a man buried with his armour, a sword, lance and 16 silver denarii coined by Charlemagne near two farmhouses of the same age suggest inhabitation in the ninth century. The first historical mention of Borne, under the name Borghende dates from 1206 in a document which transfers churches in Steenwijk and Borne and their possessions by Fredericus, the abbot of the monastery in Ruinen to the bishop of Utrecht, Dirk van Are in return for possessions in Drenthe.

The earliest phases of Borne center around the Meijershof, which came into possession of the abbot of Ruinen in 1142.

Until the beginning of the industrial age, Borne was an agricultural community, characterised by plaggen soil and extensive cattle farming. The main crops were rye and buckwheat. Several landweren, defensive earthworks consisting or earthen walls overgrown with blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) and blackberries are still visible in the landscape.

Borne was originally the richterambt (judicial district) Borne, made up of the Marke Senderen (Zenderen) and Bi den Broeke (lit. "by the brook", Bornerbroek) and the hamlet of Hertme. In 1655 Hertme has evolved into an independent marke.

Population centres

 * Azelo (partly)
 * Borne
 * Hertme
 * Zenderen

Bornerbroek, historically part of Borne, is since 2001 part of the Almelo municipality. Borne borders the municipalities of Hengelo, Hof van Twente, Dinkelland, Almelo and Tubbergen.

Topography

Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Borne, June 2015.

Twin town
The sister city of Borne is

Transportation

 * Borne railway station
 * Borne is served by two motorways. The and the

Notable people

 * Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld (1928 in Borne - 2017) a physician-scholar who taught and published work on Indology
 * Henk Nieuwkamp (born 1942 in Borne) a retired Dutch cyclist, competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics
 * Pieter Omtzigt (born 1974 in The Hague, grew up in Borne), a Dutch politician
 * Henny Kroeze (born 1952 in Zenderen) a retired Dutch motorcycle racer who competed in speedway
 * Rob Hornstra (born 1975 in Borne) a Dutch photographer and self-publisher of documentary work about the former Soviet Union
 * Marleen Veldhuis (born 1979 in Borne) a retired swimmer, multiple medal winner at four Summer Olympics from 2008 to 2012
 * Mats Wieffer (born 1999 in Borne) a Dutch professional footballer who plays in the Dutch national team
 * Wout Weghorst (born 1992 in Borne) a Dutch professional footballer with over 230 club appearances

title: Borne, Overijssel


text:
Dalfsen

Dalfsen (Dutch Low Saxon: Dalsen) is a municipality and a town in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. The municipality of Dalfsen was increased to its current size on 1 January 2001 through the amalgamation of the municipalities of Nieuwleusen and Dalfsen. A variety of Sallands is spoken here by segment of the population.

History
The name first appears in documents in 1231. Due to the closeness of Kasteel Rechteren, Dalfsen is one of several towns along the Overijssel section of the Vecht river never to have received city rights.

In 2015, archaeologists found a burial ground dating from the TRB-period (3000-2750 BC) containing 141 burial pits. The TRB dates back to the last phase of the Middle Neolithic period, which is known for its megalithic monuments in northern Europe.

Population centres
• Ankum, Netherlands

• Dalfsen

• Dalfserveld

• Dalmsholte

• De Marshoek

• De Meele

• Emmen

• Gerner, Netherlands

• Hessum

• Hoonhorst

• Lemelerveld

• Lenthe

• Leusenerveld

• Nieuwleusen

• Oudleusen

• Oudleusenerveld

• Rechteren

• Strenkhaar

• Welsum

Notable people

 * Willem Lodewijk de Vos van Steenwijk (1859 – 1947), Dutch politician
 * Peter Nijkamp (born 1946), economist
 * Ilse Warringa (born 1975), actress

Sports

 * René Eijkelkamp (born 1964 ), footballer and coach
 * Erben Wennemars (born 1975), speed skater
 * Manon Nummerdor-Flier (born 1984), volleyball player
 * Korie Homan (born 1986), wheelchair tennis player, gold medalist at the 2008 Paralympics
 * Maikel Kieftenbeld (born 1990), professional footballer

title: Dalfsen


text:
Dinkelland

Dinkelland is a municipality in the eastern Netherlands. For a short time it was known as Denekamp (one of its component towns) until it was renamed in 2002.

Population centres
• Breklenkamp

• Denekamp

• Deurningen

• Dulder

• Gammelke

• Groot Agelo

• Het Stift

• Klein Agelo

• Lattrop

• Lemselo

• Noord Deurningen

• Noordijk

• Nutter

• Ootmarsum

• Oud Ootmarsum

• Rossum

• Saasveld

• Tilligte

• Volthe

• Weerselo

Notable people

 * Johan Jongkind (1819 in Lattrop – 1891) a Dutch painter and printmaker
 * Theo Budde (1889 in Ootmarsum - 1959) a watchmaker, jeweler, antique dealer and poet
 * Ton Schulten (born 1938 in Ootmarsum) a Dutch painter who mainly paints landscapes
 * Roméo Dallaire (born 1946 in Denekamp) a Canadian humanitarian, author, statesman and retired senator and general
 * Marcha (born 1956 in Lattrop) a Dutch singer and TV presenter, took part in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest
 * Han Polman (born 1963 in Ootmarsum) a Dutch politician
 * Tanja Nijmeijer (born 1978 in Denekamp) a Dutch former guerrilla fighter in Colombia and English teacher

Sport

 * Felix von Heijden (1890 in Weerselo – 1982) a footballer team bronze medallist at the 1920 Summer Olympics; & Mayor of Rosmalen 1923–1955
 * Hennie Kuiper (born 1949 in Denekamp) a former professional road racing cyclist, gold medallist at the 1972 Summer Olympics
 * Jos Lansink (born 1961 in Weerselo) an equestrian, team gold medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
 * Marieke Westerhof (born 1974 in Denekamp) a retired rower, team silver medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics
 * Elles Leferink (born 1976 in Weerselo) a volleyball player, competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics

title: Dinkelland


text:
Haaksbergen

Haaksbergen is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Twente region.

The Buurserbeek flows through the municipality of Haaksbergen.

Population centres
• Boekelo

• Brammelo

• Buurse

• Den Braam

• Eppenzolder

• Haaksbergen

• Harmöle

• Holthuizen

• Honesch

• Langelo

• St. Isidorushoeve

• Stepelo

Topography

Dutch Topographic map of Haaksbergen (town), June 2014.

Haaksbergen monstertruck accident
On 28 September 2014 a monster truck crashed into the attending crowd. Three visitors were reported dead, amongst them one child. According to Hans Gerritsen, mayor of Haaksbergen at the time, twelve people were injured.

Notable residents

 * Paul Ulenbelt (born 1952) a Dutch politician and former trade unionist and academic
 * Angelien Eijsink (born 1960) a Dutch politician
 * Han ten Broeke (born 1969) a Dutch politician
 * Thomas Berge (born 1990) a Dutch singer

Sport

 * Andy Scharmin (1967–1989) a Surinamese-Dutch footballer
 * Erik ten Hag (born 1970) former footballer with 336 club caps and current manager of Manchester United
 * Niki Leferink, (born 1976) retired footballer with 350 club caps
 * Bram Tankink (born 1978) former cyclist
 * Shirley van der Lof (born 1986) a racing driver

title: Haaksbergen


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Hellendoorn

Hellendoorn (Tweants: Heldern or Healndoorn) is a municipality and town in the middle of the Dutch province of Overijssel. As of 2019, the municipality had a population of 35,808.

There is an amusement park near the town of Hellendoorn called Avonturenpark Hellendoorn. At the outskirts of the town there is an ice cream factory from Unilever, where Ben & Jerry's is produced for the European market.

Population centres
The municipality comprises:

Towns:
 * Nijverdal (where the town hall is located)
 * Hellendoorn (town)

Hamlets:
 * Daarle
 * Daarlerveen
 * Eelen en Rhaan
 * Egede
 * Haarle, Hellendoorn
 * Hancate
 * Hulsen (Overijssel)
 * Marle, Hellendoorn
 * Noetsele (former hamlet, now an integrated part of Nijverdal)

Topography

Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Hellendoorn, June 2015

Geography
The central part of the municipality consists of a hilly and sparsely populated area that extends south into the municipality of Rijssen-Holten, called the Sallandse Heuvelrug (Salland Ridge). The highest point lies at about 70 m above sea level and is part of the Noetselerberg. A large chunk of the area is covered by forest, but there are also heathlands. This scenery is now part of the Sallandse Heuvelrug National Park.

Originally part of the region of Salland, Hellendoorn is now administratively considered part of Twente; a fact reflected in the inclusion of Hellendoorn in the city region of Twente (Kaderwetgebied Regio Twente) as defined by the Dutch government.

History
The municipality of Hellendoorn is the only place in the Netherlands where gold mining took place.

The Germans operated a V-2 launching platform near the town of Hellendoorn during World War II, harassing the city of Antwerp.

On March, 22nd 1945, Nijverdal was severely bombed by allied bombers who were targeting the German Reichskommissar of Austrian origin Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Seyss-Inquart was fleeing the advancing Allied forces and had set up his temporary headquarters in the Reformed School in Nijverdal, but had already left town at the time of the bombing. Over 70 people were killed, mainly at the Grotestraat.

A small part of the film A Bridge Too Far was filmed near Hellendoorn.

In 1955, part of the municipality of Wierden was annexed (Eversberg, Konijnenbelt, Slettenhaar and Lochter) which is the only part of the municipality located on originally Twente soil. In the late-1970s the quarter of 'het Lochter' arose here.

Notable residents

 * Ernst Bakker (1946 in Hellendoorn – 2014) a Dutch politician
 * Douwe Draaisma (born 1953 in Nijverdal) a Dutch psychologist and academic
 * Herman Ponsteen (born 1953 in Hellendoorn) Dutch track cyclist who won silver at the 1976 Summer Olympics
 * Derk van Egmond (born 1956 in Hellendoorn) a Dutch track cyclist, competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics
 * Wim Woudsma (1957 in Nijverdal – 2019) a Dutch footballer with 395 club caps

title: Hellendoorn


text:
Hengelo

Hengelo (Tweants: Hengel) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the province of Overijssel. It is part of a larger urban area that also includes Enschede, Borne, Almelo and Oldenzaal.

Due to its geomorphology, being situated relatively low in the landscape, Hengelo is a place where streams converge. By consequence, it became a crossroad, inhabited early on in history, which has made it into an infrastructural hub and an industrial centre today. For the 19th century industry, water was needed for bleaching textile, while factories also needed water for their steam engines, and for cooling. Over time, Hengelo became known as metaalstad, for its machine factories and electrical engineering companies. In addition, salt mining developed into an important industry too, which also led to the production of chemical derivatives.

Due to its strategical importance, Hengelo was bombed during World War II. Afterwards, a reconstruction plan was developed that made it into a modern city, partly at the cost of still remaining historical structures. Well-known Dutch planners and architects have left their traces inside and outside the city. Among their most notable efforts are several residential areas, being inspired by the principles of the garden city movement. Due to the vicinity of University of Twente and ArtEZ University of Arts, in Enschede, many students and graduates have come to live and work in Hengelo. Besides economic growth, this has also contributed to the city's development in regard to arts and culture.

Population centres

 * Beckum
 * Hengelo
 * Oele

History
In what is known as the historical centre of Hengelo, archaeologists have found a camp site for hunters and gatherers, indicating that the location was inhabited during the Mesolithic, between 12,000 and 5,000 years BP. The area has most likely been continuously inhabited ever since. On the same site, finds from the Iron Age and Roman times have been excavated too. Different settements, moreover, existed within the current municipality. Recent archaeological research in the north of Hengelo has led to the discovery of a prehistoric grave field, as well as another settlement from Roman times, with pottery and other artefacts corresponding to the Weser–Rhine Germanic tradition.

In the mid 13th century, an estate was built, called Huys Hengelo, which existed till 1826, when it was demolished. A village grew around the estate, including a church and a cemetery. During the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands, Huys Hengelo was the centre of several fights and revolts.

The municipality of Hengelo was founded in 1802, which by then consisted of a few hundred farms and agricultural workers' houses.

Hengelo was never granted city rights, as it was a village until its expansion in the 19th century during the industrial revolution. In that period, however, various landmark buildings were erected, especially the Waterstaatskerk (1839), and the Lambertusbasiliek (1890), a Roman Catholic basilica built in 1890 devoted to Saint Lambert.

After the construction of its railway station, in 1866, industrial development accelerated, with a focus on technology: Stork B.V., Hazemeyer, N.V. Heemaf (now part of France's Alstom, Brush HMA, Brush-Barclay, Eaton Corporation, Essent, Heemaf BV, Vattenfall, and Wabtec), KHZ (now AkzoNobel), and Hollandse Signaal Apparaten (now part of the Thales Group). Especially Stork played an important role in the development of Hengelo, building garden village Tuindorp 't Lansink (1910s), with housing for its personnel, while also contributing to building public facilities in the city centre, such as a library.

Hengelo was also the home town of Hengelo Bier, a local brewery. Nowadays, the beer brand Twents is produced in Hengelo, brewed by De Twentse Bierbrouwerij. This brewery was founded in 2007 and was, until 2019, located in the monumental factory complex Hazemeijer.

During World War II, the city was bombed by the Allies because of the presence of the railways and the war industry activities of local factories that served the occupier. The heart of the town was accidentally destroyed during the bombing of Hengelo on 6 and 7 October 1944, killing several hundreds of people.

In addition, after World War II, the synagogue that had survived the war, an entire block called De Telgen, a monastery at the Thiemsbrug, the farm dating from the 17th century where Wolter ten Cate was born, and the 19th-century town hall, were all demolished. This has also left the city without much of an historical centre. However, the reconstruction plan of Hengelo, including its town hall (1958-1963, J. F. Berghoef), received critical acclaim and is nowadays considered as an important example of post-war city planning in the Netherlands. By extension, Hengelo also became a reference for modern architecture, with innovative housing designs, such as Klein Driene I & II (1945-1965, C. Pouderoyen & W.R. van Couwelaar ), Housing Hengelose Es (1962-1968, Van den Broek & Bakema), and De Kasbah (1969-1973, Piet Blom).

Transport
Hengelo is a major transportation hub in the region, which encompasses various modalities.

Car

 * Hengelo sits along the motorway A1 (from Amsterdam to the Dutch-German border), and the E30 (from Cork, Ireland, to Omsk, Russia).
 * The A35/N35 motorway from the German border begins as a two-lane expressway leading to the southern side of Enschede, then transitions into a highway that runs along the city's western side until Wierden, after that, it reverts to a two-lane expressway and continues as a standard two-lane road towards Zwolle.

Train

 * Hengelo Railway Station is part of the Amsterdam – Berlin train service. There are international trains daily to Bad Bentheim, Rheine, Osnabrück, Hannover, and Berlin.
 * From Hengelo there are direct services to cities across the Netherlands, among them Almelo, Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam-Zuid, Apeldoorn, Deventer, Enschede, Gouda, Hilversum, Oldenzaal, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Zutphen, Zwolle. For travel information, visit Hengelo railway station or the website of Dutch Railways.
 * Besides the main station, there are two local train stations, Hengelo Oost, giving access to a residential district and leisure facilities, and Hengelo Gezondheidspark, giving access to the city's main health care complex (including a hospital).

Bus

 * Within the city, one can travel by train and bus, which are services provided by Arriva. Within the urban transport network are several bus lanes, specifically built for buses to travel faster.

Bike

 * Within and outside the city, there is an extensive network of cyclepaths. Part of it is the so-called Bicyle Highway F35 (Fietssnelweg F35), connecting Nijverdal, Wierden, Almelo, Borne, Hengelo and Enschede.

Boat

 * The Twentekanaal (canal) connects the Twente region with the river IJssel. The canal is mainly used for cargo transportation, as Hengelo has a relatively large harbour with various industries.

Climate
Like most of the Netherlands, Hengelo features an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen classification); however, winters tend to be less mild than the rest of the Netherlands due to its inland location. Summer is also warmer than places near the coast. Although the former military airport is derelict and plans to revive the place were canceled in 2012, the weather station of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute is still located there.

Notable events

 * On February 11, 1992, a Dutch F-16 crashed into the district Hasseler Es.
 * The Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip mention Hengelo in their song "At the Hundredth Meridian", where they "remember Hengelo" after a glorious gig in Metropool (concert hall in Hengelo).
 * The British indie rock band Spring Offensive on their first studio album "Young Animal Hearts" mention Hengelo in their song "Hengelo".

Twin cities
Hengelo is twinned with:

Education
Hengelo has seven high schools. These high schools are the Montessori College Twente, Bataafs Lyceum, Twickel College, Avila College, Gilde College, Grundel Lyceum, and the Grundel Parkcollege.

There is also an MBO school, ROC of Twente.

The Tio Business School (HBO, University of Applied Sciences) is also located in Hengelo.

Notable residents

 * Grada Hermina Marius (1854–1919), Dutch writer and painter
 * Donald Zilversmit (1919–2010), U.S. nutritional biochemist, researcher and educator
 * Herman Krebbers (1923–2018), Dutch violinist
 * Theo Wolvecamp (1925-1992), avant-garde Dutch painter, member of Cobra
 * Ernst van de Wetering (1938–2021), Dutch art historian and expert on Rembrandt
 * Jacqueline de Jong (born 1939), Dutch painter, sculptor and graphic artist
 * Ad Kolnaar (born 1942), Dutch economist and academic
 * Deniz Kuypers, writer
 * Hans Achterhuis (born 1942), philosopher and academic
 * Sir Maarten Wevers, (born 1952), New Zealand civil servant and diplomat
 * Henk Kamp (born 1952), retired Dutch politician
 * Fra Paalman (1945-2020), artist, graphic designer
 * Edward Reekers (born 1957), singer and voice actor, member of Kayak
 * Willem Tanke (born 1959), organist and recitalist
 * Ronald Ophuis (born 1968), Dutch artist
 * Wim Meulenkamp (born 1973), Dutch politician

Sport

 * Jan van de Graaff (born 1944), retired Dutch rower, bronze medallist at the 1964 Summer Olympics
 * Jan Olde Riekerink, (born 1963), football coach and former professional player
 * Kirsten Vlieghuis (born 1976), Dutch freestyle swimmer, won two bronze medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics
 * Niels Oude Kamphuis (born 1977), retired Dutch footballer, 278 club caps
 * Joris Keizer (born 1979), Dutch butterfly swimmer, competed at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics
 * Gert-Jan Bruggink (born 1981), Dutch show jumping equestrian, competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics
 * Joost Posthuma (born 1981), retired professional road bicycle racer
 * Ninos Gouriye (born 1991), Assyrian-Dutch footballer
 * Lucas van Foreest (born 2001), Dutch chess grandmaster, 2019 Dutch Chess Champion

title: Hengelo


text:
Hof van Twente

Hof van Twente is a municipality in the region Twente, in the province Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality was established January 1, 2001, as the result of the merger of the municipalities of Diepenheim, Goor, Markelo, Ambt Delden, and Stad Delden.

Population centers
The larger places are printed in bold types. • Achterhoek near Markelo

• Azelo

• Bentelo

• Delden

• Deldenerbroek

• Deldeneresch

• Diepenheim

• Dijkerhoek

• Elsen and Elsenerbroek, near Markelo

• Goor, where the town hall is

• Hengevelde

• Herike near Markelo

• Markelo

• Markelosebroek

• Markvelde

• Pothoek, and Stokkum, near Markelo

• Stokkumerbroek near Markelo

• Wiene

• Zeldam

History
Goor (Dutch for: low, swampy land) achieved city rights in 1263. However, it never became an important city. The "Drost" (a kind of mayor) of the Twente region, who ruled this area on behalf of the bishop of Utrecht, had in the late Middle Ages his residence in Goor. In its surroundings some castles were built, among them the house of the important Heeckeren family in 1412. Goor had a small harbour along the river Regge (which flows to the Vecht near Ommen), but when the Twente canal was opened in 1936, a new industrial port was built there. The factory Eternit, that produces building materials containing asbestos, brought Goor unwillingly into trouble. For decades, everyone in Goor was permitted to use production refuse containing asbestos in order to pave their own paths and roads. Not earlier than about 1990, it was known in Goor that especially small particles of this material can cause cancer. In major parts of the city the soil had to be removed and either cleaned or replaced by non-polluted material.

Delden achieved its city rights in 1333. Its circle-shaped centre was surrounded by earthen walls. It came into existence thanks to the Twickel castle, situated less than one mile north of Delden. This castle, that in its present form dates from the 17th century, is still inhabited by a German noble family (Zu Castell - Rüdenhausen). In 1886, near this castle, salt was discovered under the ground. This led to the exploration of this material, still going on in the nearby city of Hengelo.

In Markelo, prehistoric mounds "tumuli", containing graves have been excavated.

Economy
Hof van Twente is situated in the heart of the province Overijssel: south-west of Almelo, north-east of the Achterhoek region (Prov. Gelderland) and south-east of Rijssen-Holten. The small cities of Goor and Delden have some important industry (cement, metallics, plastics). Goor has a small harbour along the Twente Canal (Zutphen - Enschede). Permess International is one of the world's leading producers of high-quality interlinings offering a complete range of products for the textile and allied industries. The motorway A35 has a junction between Delden and Hengelo (distance to both towns 2 km). Agriculture and tourism (see below) are of economic importance as well.

Sights

 * All through the Hof van Twente ("Garden of Twente") it is possible to wander around on foot or bicycle. The municipality has many small woods, old water mills, beautiful country houses and small castles with their parks and small lanes winding themselves through the countryside. Therefore, many tourists visit this rural area. They stay in small hotels, holiday resorts, on camping sites and even at farms.
 * The Twickel castle near Delden can only be observed from the outside, but the major part of its parks and woods (60 square km) are freely accessible.
 * Castle Warmelo near Diepenheim, that was built in 1315, and was afterwards devastated and rebuilt several times, is in private use as well. Princess Armgard, the mother of Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, who was Queen Juliana's husband, lived there until her death in 1971. Its famous gardens are open to the public every summer.
 * Castle Weldam, between Markelo and Goor, is inhabited by the German noble family of Zu Solms-Sonnenwalde. The beautiful gardens of this castle can be visited. Castle's forest is freely accessible as well.
 * In Delden you can visit the Gothic Saint Blasius Church (built in the 15th century).
 * Delden has the Dutch Salt Museum (Zoutmuseum), about salt, its history, use and mining.

Public thinking & public service

 * Maria van Beckum (before 1510 in Markelo – 1544) a Dutch noblewoman and Anabaptist executed for heresy
 * William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland KG, PC (1649 in Diepenheim – 1709) a Dutch and English nobleman
 * Unico Wilhelm, Count van Wassenaer Obdam (1692 in Delden - 1766) was a Dutch nobleman, diplomat and composer
 * Klaas Annink (1710 in Bentelo – 1775) a notorious Dutch serial killer in Twente
 * Jean Pierre Moquette (1856 in Goor – 1927) a bookkeeper in Sidoarjo and stamp and coin dealer in Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies
 * Henk van Dongen (1936 in Delden – 2011) an organizational theorist, policy advisor and academic
 * Simon C. Dik (1940 in Delden – 1995) a linguist, developed the theory of functional grammar
 * Henk Kamp (born 1952 in Hengelo) a retired Dutch politician
 * Annie Schreijer-Pierik (born 1953 in Diepenheim) a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament
 * Wijnand Duyvendak (born 1957 in Markelo) a former Dutch politician

The arts

 * Rutger Kopland (1934 in Goor – 2012) a Dutch poet
 * Hannie Rouweler (born 1951 in Goor) a Dutch poet
 * Tommy Wieringa (born 1967 in Goor) a Dutch writer
 * Lodewijk Fluttert (born 1991 in Markelo) known as Bakermat, is a Dutch DJ and music producer

Sport

 * Erik Cent (born 1962 in Goor) a track cyclist, competed in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics
 * Moniek Kleinsman (born 1982 in Bentelo) a Dutch speed skater, competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics
 * Hinkelien Schreuder (born 1984 in Goor) a butterfly, freestyle and backstroke swimmer, gold medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympics and bronze medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics
 * Ellen Jansen (born 1992 in Markelo) a Dutch female international footballer

title: Hof van Twente


text:
Kampen, Overijssel

Kampen is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. A member of the former Hanseatic League, it is located at the lower reaches of the river IJssel.

The municipality of Kampen had a population of 0 in and covers an area of undefined km2. Kampen is located in the North West of Overijssel and is the largest city in this region. The city of Kampen itself has around 37,000 inhabitants.

Kampen has one of the best preserved old town centres of the Netherlands, including remains of the ancient city wall (of which three gates are still standing) and numerous churches. Also notable are the three bridges over the IJssel which connect Kampen with IJsselmuiden and Kampereiland, the agricultural area between the branches which form the IJssel delta, and a windmill (d' Olde Zwarver – the Old Vagabond). Since November 2018, the town and some communes are on a river island. Between the 14th and 16th century it was one of the biggest towns in the Northern Netherlands (modern day European Netherlands). The town is about 90 kilometer northeast of Amsterdam.

Traditionally people in Kampen speak a variation of the Sallands dialect, known as Kampers.

Middle Ages
By 1150, there were already wooden buildings on the site where Kampen is currently located. The name Kampen, however, is not mentioned until 1277. The city has had city rights since 1236. As a result of its convenient location on the busy trade route between the Zuiderzee and the Rhine, Kampen quickly developed from simple settlements into a prosperous trading town, to become one of the most powerful and leading cities of northwestern Europe. In the 14th century, Kampen exchanged with the bishop of Utrecht, Jan van Arkel, the Mastenbroek polder against the right to increase the IJsseldelta.

The silting up of the IJssel brought a gradual end to the prosperity of Kampen from 1430 on. For a long time Kampen did not want to sign a union and make economic and political concessions to other cities, as was usual in the Hanseatic League. When the County of Holland went to war with the Hanseatic League this situation came to an end: the city was forced to choose a side in the war. Kampen was originally more oriented toward the Baltic trade and commerce with the hinterland of the Rhine, and therefore in 1441 formally joined the Hanseatic League. The city had much influence in the League; despite loud protests from the other towns in lower reaches of the IJssel and from other Hanseatic cities, the League agreed in 1448 to build a bridge over the river. This project was accomplished in just five months. With this bridge Kampen hoped to be able to develop closer relationships with the hinterland.

Post-Medieval
On 11 August 1572 Kampen was conquered from the Spaniards by Willem van den Bergh, a brother of William of Orange. After the massacre of Zutphen on 15 November, the city voluntarily surrendered to the Spanish. In 1578, the city changed ownership again after the Siege of Kampen, led by George van Lalaing. Due to its right to increase the IJsseldelta, Kampen was owner of the growing Kampereiland. From 1500 the islands were leased. The rents were so large that the city did not need to raise taxes.

In October 1670, Kampen was the first of four Dutch cities to raise capital by issuing a Tontine.

The Franco-Dutch War, fought by the Republic of the United Netherlands against the Kingdom of France, Sweden, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Kingdom of England, marked a definitive end to the enormous power of the city.

Kampen only became well known again in the 19th century. The city was difficult to reach from the sea, because the surrounding wetlands became silted up and shallow. During the preceding centuries, the watercourse of the river IJssel was dredged several times, but the costs were relatively high and within a few years, the river silted up again. As the IJssel had several delta-like mouths here, the main route of the river shifted several times. In the 19th century, a new strategy was put in place to counter this problem: some watercourses were dammed to allow for more water at a higher speed through one or two main routes. This had the advantage that less sand and silt were deposited and resulted in a river course that "swept itself clean". A key figure in this story is city architect Nicolaas Plomp, who, besides his work for the current IJssel front of the city of Kampen, was also involved in hydraulic engineering. Due to the emerging industry in the 19th century and the importance of roads and railways for the economy, highways and paved roads were constructed to replace transportation over sand and mud roads.

Geography
Kampen is part of the province of Overijssel ('Over-IJssel' i.e. (mostly) trans-/across the river IJssel, as seen from the perspective of the bishopric of Utrecht by which it was held until 1528) in the Eastern part of The Netherlands, situated between the provinces of Gelderland, Flevoland, Drenthe and Friesland.

The city of Kampen is situated at the mouth of the river IJssel. Opposite Kampen, along the IJssel, lies IJsselmuiden, which is the second largest residential nucleus of the municipality Kampen.

The municipality of Kampen has five other population centers: Grafhorst, 's-Heerenbroek, Kamperveen, Wilsum and Zalk.

Historical buildings and other landmarks
Kampen has a large number of old to very old buildings, including remains of the ancient city wall (whose city gates are still standing) and the Church of St Nicholas (Bovenkerk). The structure of the walled fortress city is still visible in the streets.

Significant structures include:
 * The Koornmarktpoort: a city gate located near the river IJssel which probably dates from the 14th century. In the 15th century two squat towers were added at the outer corners.
 * The Broederpoort: a rectangular city gate with four slender towers, originally from 1465, rebuilt in Renaissance style in 1615
 * The Cellebroederspoort: a rectangular city gate, flanked by two heavy round towers, originally from 1465, rebuilt in 1617 in Renaissance style
 * The Stedelijk Museum Kampen: located in the former town hall of Kampen, which dates from the late 14th century
 * The Gotisch huis: built around 1500. This was the location of the Stedelijk Museum Kampen before it moved to its current location in the old town hall.
 * The Nieuwe Toren: a tower with a carillon designed by Philips Vingboons and dating from 1648 to 1664
 * The Church of St. Nicholas (Bovenkerk): a great Gothic basilica dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The interior of the church houses an early-Renaissance choir screen (1552), a stone pulpit (circa 1500) and a monumental organ from 1670 to 1676.
 * The Broederkerk: a 14th-century church which originally belonged to a Franciscan monastery
 * The Buitenkerk: a 14th-century church
 * The Burgwalkerk: a neoclassical 19th-century church
 * A windmill called d'Olde Zwarver, built in 1842
 * A monastery gate dating from 1665 called Linnenweverspoortje
 * The city auditorium (Stadsgehoorzaal), dating from 1891
 * An old tobacco factory, De Olifant, where cigars are still made with 19th-century equipment. De Olifant cigars are sold in the shop and guided tours are available.

Throughout the town of Kampen, there are colorful murals which are in fact old commercials for now-defunct business in Kampen. These murals, which include Art Nouveau influences, were made by local artists and are now referred to as "frescoes of the middle class". As a result of current municipal policy, wherever these murals are discovered under old plaster, they are restored to their former glory.

A number of better or lesser known people with a certain connection with Kampen is honoured with a commemorative stone bearing their name and a single-sentence characterization of their personality or achievements, incorporated into the pavement of the Oude Raadhuisplein (formerly Koeplein), the square in between the old town hall, the former Post Office and Nieuwe Toren.

Festivals and events
An annual festival during the summer months is the Kamper ui(t) day. The name is derived from a series of folk tales in which the inhabitants of Kampen were portrayed as stupid. Another summer event is the Full Color Festival, which is organized annually. Every third Saturday of August, a comics event, called the Kamper Stripspektakel, is organized with over 100 booths.

Once every three years Sail Kampen takes place, a sailing spectacle with (old) sailing ships.

A weekend before Christmas Christmas in Oud Kampen is organized. There is street theater, where pieces of famous musicals are played, and mid-nineteenth-century characters are walking around the city.

Sports
Kampen is the home of football team Go Ahead Kampen and its rivals Dos Kampen, KHC Kampen, VV Kampen and IJVV.

Twin towns
Kampen is twinned with:

Transportation
The Kampen railway station opened in 1865 as terminus of the Kamperlijntje branch from Overijssel's capital city Zwolle. It is served by a non-stop diesel service on a single track. The line was renovation in summer 2017 to be electrified. From December 2017, Keolis Nederland takes over the line, after Nederlandse Spoorwegen had lost the line in a tendering process. There is an alternative railway connection with Zwolle via the Hanzelijn, which links Zwolle with Amsterdam via Dronten, Lelystad and Almere. It was inaugurated by Queen Beatrix in December 2012. Kampen Zuid railway station was built a few kilometers south of Kampen near the junction of the national roads N50 and N764, where a new residential development is planned. Somewhat confusingly there has been a Kampen Zuid railway station in existence before, between 1 October 1913 and 15 May 1934. This was the terminus of the Kampen–Hattem railway line, which connected with the Zwolle–Apeldoorn service via Wapenveld and Heerde. Regular passenger services on this line ceased in 1934. Other roads connecting the city include N760, N763, N765 and N307.

Education
Kampen had two theological universities: the Theological University of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PThU) and the theological college of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands (TUK).

The arts

 * Hendrick Avercamp (1585 – 1634 in Kampen) a painter of small winter landscapes
 * Barent Avercamp (1612 in Kampen – 1679) a Dutch painter
 * Jacob Eduard van Heemskerck van Beest (1828 in Kampen – 1894) a Dutch painter
 * Coen Hissink (1878 in Kampen – 1942) a Dutch film actor of the silent era
 * Ida Gerhardt (1905 in Gorinchem – 1997) Dutch poet and classicist.
 * Gerard Hengeveld (1910 in Kampen – 2001) pianist, harpsichordist and composer.
 * Sybren Polet (1924 in Kampen – 2015) a Dutch prose writer and poet
 * Gait L. Berk, Dutch Wiki (1927 in Kampen – 2006) writer and film maker about boats and trees
 * Henk van Ulsen (born 1927 in Kampen – 2009 ) actor
 * Klaas Jan Mulder, Dutch Wiki (1930 in Kampen - 2008) Dutch organist, pianist and conductor.
 * Wim Ramaker, Dutch Wiki (1943 in Kampen – 1992) Dutch broadcaster, writer and poet
 * Harry van der Kamp (born 1947 in Kampen) bass-baritone, bass-soloist and ensemble singer

Public thinking & public service

 * Albert Pighius (ca. 1490 in Kampen - 1542) a Dutch Roman Catholic theologian, mathematician and astronomer.
 * Jacob van Deventer (ca.1500/1505 in Kampen – 1575) a Dutch cartographer
 * Andries Hudde (1608 in Kampen – 1663) landowner and colonial official of New Netherland
 * François Adriaan van der Kemp (1752 in Kampen – 1829) a Dutch radical leaders of the Patriots
 * Jan Willem de Winter (1761 in Kampen – 1812) a Dutch admiral of the Napoleonic Wars
 * Pieter Hendrik van Zuylen van Nijevelt (1782 in Kampen – 1825) a Dutch count and baron and Army general
 * Francina Broese Gunningh (1783 in Kampen - 1824) a Dutch soldier
 * Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar (1811 in Kampen – 1880) a Belgian architect
 * Hendrik Tonneboeijer (1814 in Kampen – 1837) a Dutch colonial officer in Dutch Gold Coast
 * Lucien von Römer (1873 in Kampen - 1965), a Dutch physician, botanist and writer
 * Jan Joseph Godfried, Baron van Voorst tot Voorst Jr. (1880 in Kampen – 1963) commander of the Dutch armed forces during WWII and strategist
 * Haicke Janssen (1885 in Kampen – 1915) a sailor and World War I spy for the German naval intelligence; executed in the Tower of London
 * Klaas Schilder (1890 in Kampen – 1952) Reformed theologian and professor in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
 * Adriaan Schuurman, Dutch Wiki (1904 in Kampen – 1998) organist and Protestant church musician
 * Wiert Berghuis, Dutch Wiki (1911 in Kampen - 1989) Mayor of Kampen 1952–1970, chairman of the Anti-Revolutionary Party
 * Dr. Willem Johan Kolff (1911 in Leiden – 2009) physician at the former municipal hospital, pioneer of haemodialysis.
 * G. A. den Hartogh (born 1943 in Kampen) a Dutch moral, legal and political philosopher

Sport

 * Benjamin Leussen (1876 in Kampen - 1924) chess player
 * Petra van Staveren (born 1966 in Kampen), swimmer, golden medallist at the 1984 Summer Olympics
 * Jaap Stam (born 1972 in Kampen), retired football player with 415 club caps
 * Reinder Nummerdor (born 1976) a Dutch volleyball player, competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics
 * Robert de Wilde (born 1977 in Kampen), BMX World Champion, competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics
 * and
 * Aalt Mondria (born 1957 in Kampen - 2011) a Dutch criminal and serial killer

title: Kampen, Overijssel


text:
Losser

Losser is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. It is at the eastern end of the A1 motorway.

Population centres
• Beuningen

• De Lutte

• Glane

• Losser

• Overdinkel

Losser
The oldest known reference to Losser dates from the tenth century. Originally, the village consisted of two separate parts. Both were almost completely destroyed when on 21 September 1665, troops from Münster set fire to them.

One of the town's oldest buildings is the Martinustoren (St. Martin's Tower), dating from around 1500 and the only remaining part of a church demolished in 1903.

Geography
A few kilometers west of De Lutte, close to the border with Oldenzaal, lies the Tankenberg, a hill the top of which (85 m) is the highest point in the province. (For myths of the Tankenberg, see Tanfana.)

The municipality's most important body of water is the river Dinkel.

Sister cities
Losser is twinned with:

Notable people

 * Pi de Bruijn (born 1942 in Losser) a Dutch architect
 * Kim Kötter (born 1982 in Losser) a Dutch director, model and beauty pageant titleholder
 * Moniek Nijhuis (born 1988 in Overdinkel) a Dutch swimmer, competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics

title: Losser


text:
Oldenzaal

Oldenzaal (Tweants: Oldnzel) is a municipality and a city in the eastern province of Overijssel in the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Twente and is close to the German border.

It received city rights in 1249. Historically, the city was part of the Hanseatic League as a subsidiary city of the fellow Hanseatic city of Deventer.

Located on the A1 motorway from Amsterdam to Germany, Oldenzaal also has a rail connection to Hengelo and Bad Bentheim.

As of December 2022 Oldenzaal has a population of 31,958 people.

In the Netherlands, Oldenzaal is well known for its carnival festivities. During the carnival season Oldenzaal is known as "Boeskool-stad" which is a local dialect of the word Cabbage-town. During the main carnival weekend over 100,000 people come for the big parade showing high and mighty carnival trucks.

Transportation
The town is served by the Oldenzaal railway station.

Notable residents

 * Balderic of Utrecht (897–975) Bishop of Utrecht, 918 to 975
 * Henri Max Corwin (1903–1962) a Dutch businessman, philatelist and humanitarian; shielded Jewish victims of the Nazis in WWII
 * Mieke Telkamp (1934–2016) a Dutch singer and TV personality
 * Hedy de Graas (born 1988) artist name: 'Ame Bibabi', a Dutch rapper and an internet personality
 * Zoraya Ter Beek (1995-2024) autistic advocate for euthanasia and disability rights.

Sport

 * Theo Pahlplatz (born 1947) a Dutch retired footballer; 468 caps with FC Twente
 * Wilfried Brookhuis (born 1961) a retired football goalkeeper with 404 club caps
 * Raimond van der Gouw (born 1963) a Dutch former football goalkeeper with 493 club caps
 * Ellen van Langen (born 1966) a Dutch former middle-distance runner, gold medallist in the 800 m. at the 1992 Summer Olympics
 * Rudie Kemna (born 1967) a former Dutch racing cyclist
 * Björn Kuipers (born 1973) a Dutch FIFA listed football referee
 * Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (born 1978) a Dutch former footballer with 438 club caps
 * Tim Breukers (born 1987) a Dutch professional footballer with over 250 club caps
 * Wout Droste (born 1989) a Dutch professional footballer with over 250 club caps
 * Nathalie Timmermans (born 1989) a Dutch softball player, competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics
 * Jules Reimerink (born 1989) a Dutch professional footballer with over 250 club caps
 * Alexander Bannink (born 1990) a Dutch professional footballer with over 220 club caps
 * Sanne Wevers (born 1991) a Dutch artistic gymnast, gold medallist at the 2016 Summer Olympics
 * Lieke Wevers (born 1991) a Dutch artistic gymnast, won four medals at the 2015 European Games
 * Jill Roord (born 1997) a Dutch midfield footballer
 * Erik ten Hag (born 1970) former footballer with 336 club caps and coach. Current head coach for Manchester United

title: Oldenzaal


text:
Olst-Wijhe

Olst-Wijhe is a municipality in the province of Overijssel, eastern Netherlands. It borders the Overijssel municipalities of Zwolle to the north, Raalte to the north and east and Deventer to the south; and the Gelderland municipalities of Voorst, Epe and Heerde to the west.

History and economic activities
Both of the municipality's main towns, Olst and Wijhe, are old towns. Olst, which is believed to have been founded in the 7th century, is first mentioned in chronicles in 947 (as "Holsto"), Wijhe in 960 (as "Wie"). Traditionally, agriculture (fruit and cereals), cattle, meat processing and the production of bricks in open-air brickworks along river IJssel were the prime sources of income in the area.

Nowadays, Olst and Wijhe are mainly commuter residences for people working in Deventer and Zwolle respectively; both towns have had a railroad station on the Zwolle–Nijmegen main line (route 3600) since 1866. The surrounding land still relies heavily on agriculture. There is some small industry in Olst (machinery manufacturing) and Wijhe (meat processing).

Merger of municipalities
The present municipality was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the two former municipalities of Olst and Wijhe as part of a nationwide bid to reduce administrative overhead on the municipal level. The newly merged municipality retained the name of its largest constituent part, Olst, pending approval of a definitive new name. After proposed neutral names containing neither "Olst" nor "Wijhe" met with little enthusiasm, it was decided to simply name the municipality Olst-Wijhe as of 26 March 2002.

A new town hall is being built on the southern outskirts of Wijhe.

Geographical features
Olst-Wijhe is dominated by river IJssel, which partly flows through it and partly forms the border between the provinces Overijssel and Gelderland. Although this border largely runs along river IJssel, there are two left-bank exclaves opposite the towns of Olst and Wijhe, in which the villages of Welsum and Welsumerveld (south exclave) and Marle (north exclave) are situated. There are cable ferries between Olst and Welsum and between Wijhe and Vorchten in the municipality of Heerde (there is no direct connection between Marle and the rest of Overijssel).

Olst-Wijhe is part of the low-lying Salland region. The one metre above mean sea level contour line runs roughly parallel to the river; the municipality's interior is characterised by flat or gently rolling grasslands and woodlands at about 10–15 metres above mean sea level.

Apart from river IJssel, several more streams flow through the municipality's territory. They are called wetering ("drainage waterway") and are amalgamations of natural streams gradually channelised from the 18th century onwards and specifically dug canals . From west to east, these are Zandwetering, Soestwetering, Groote Vloedgraven, Oude Wetering and Nieuwe Wetering. All these streams flow in a south–north direction and come together at one point or other to eventually form the Zwarte Water river near the city of Zwolle. On the left side of river IJssel, near the exclave of Welsum, there are several more wetering streams, all but one of them on the Gelderland side of the border; the exception being the easternmost of these, the Terwoldsche Wetering, which forms the border between Olst-Wijhe and Voorst.

Population centres
The municipality consists of the following statistical areas (2010 population figures with difference from 2009 figures):
 * Boerhaar (765, +33)
 * Boskamp (1,265, +174, includes Hengforden)
 * Den Nul (890, +322, includes Fortmond and Duur)
 * Eikelhof (340, +45)
 * Elshof (765, +292)
 * Herxen (415, +95)
 * Marle (75, −1)
 * Middel (350, +137)
 * Olst (5,225, +111)
 * Welsum (605, +/-0, includes Welsumerveld)
 * Wesepe (1,155, −51)
 * Wijhe (5,690, −414)

Transportation

 * Railway stations: Olst, Wijhe

Mansions and windmills
There are numerous mansions and country houses strewn around the municipality, most of them built in the 18th century. These include Groot Hoenlo, Klein Hoenlo, Nijendal, De Haere, Wijnbergen, De Hei and Nijenhuis. The mansions themselves are generally still inhabited or used for commercial purposes and so cannot be visited, but their grounds are open to visitors to stroll around.

The mansion of Nijenhuis (near the border with Raalte) has been converted into an art gallery (a.o. Permeke, Van Gogh) with sculpture garden (a.o. Zadkine). There are windmills at Welsum, Olst (two), Boskamp, Wesepe, Marle and Wijhe (two). Of these, the ones at Welsum, Olst (one), Marle and Wijhe (one) are still fully functional.

Eikelhof

 * The murder cross, erected in medieval times to commemorate/atone for a highway murder and source of many apocryphal mythical stories. It bears the legend:

INT JAER UNSES HEREN MCCCC EN XCIII STIERF HIER JOHAN LUCKENS BID VOER DE SELE (In the year of Our Lord 1493 | Johan Luckens died here | pray for the soul)

 * A small museum of regional geology halfway between Eikelhof and Boskamp

Fortmond

 * The Fortmond Natural Reserve along the IJssel river

Olst

 * A Romanesque Protestant church completed in 1264, partly built from its predecessor's sandstone, otherwise from brick
 * Het Baken van Overijssel ("The Overijssel Beacon"), an installation of modern art made of aluminium at the eastern bank of river IJssel, signifying the entrance to Overijssel province

Welsum

 * Welsum has a saddle-roofed Protestant church (19th-century nave, 16th-century steeple)

Notable people

 * Harmen Jansen Knickerbocker (ca. 1648 – ca. 1720) a Dutch colonist in New Netherland
 * Jean Jacques Rambonnet (1864 in Wijhe – 1943) a Dutch naval officer, politician and Chief Scout
 * Gerrit Berkhoff (1901 in Wijhe – 1996) a Dutch chemist and academic
 * Conny Stuart (1913 in Wijhe – 2010) a Dutch actress, singer and cabaretière
 * Danique Kerkdijk (born 1996 in Olst) a Dutch footballer who plays for Brighton & Hove Albion WFC

title: Olst-Wijhe