Our ecosystem

From the very beginning, TNO-ESI has been built on strong partnerships. Many of our industrial and academic partners have been involved since the early days of ESI, and continue to play a vital role in shaping our strategic direction and research agenda.

TNO-ESI-Network-header-3

Together with our partners, we form a unique ecosystem where knowledge, expertise, and innovation flow across disciplines and domains. Our network represents a unique platform for open innovation that facilitates research cooperation and knowledge exchange across stakeholders. The core of this network is formed by the Dutch companies and universities represented in the TNO-ESI partner board.

Strategic collaboration with impact

TNO-ESI’s research programme is defined in close consultation with the ESI Partner Board, where all partners are represented. Each partner contributes financially and benefits from the collaboration in three key ways:
  • Knowledge multiplier
    Insights and methodologies developed in joint research projects with one partner are shared across the network, enabling reuse, refinement, and broader impact.
  • Ecosystem multiplier
    Partners gain access to each other’s supplier and knowledge networks, enriched by ESI’s international academic and industrial connections.
  • Financial multiplier
    Through public-private partnerships, ESI helps unlock public research funding that complements private investments, accelerating innovation with direct industrial relevance.

Industry-as-a-lab: embedded collaboration

A defining feature of our approach is the “industry-as-a-lab” model. TNO-ESI researchers work on-site with our industrial partners four days a week, deeply embedded in their environments. This close collaboration ensures that research is grounded in real-world challenges and that solutions are immediately applicable. It’s a distinctive way of working, setting us apart from other organisations.

A growing network

While some former partners have stepped back (often due to organisational changes) we continue to value those relationships and remain open to future collaboration. Our ecosystem is dynamic and expanding, and we welcome new partners who share our ambition to tackle complexity in high-tech systems.
Interested in joining our network? We’d love to explore how your organization can contribute to - and benefit from - collaborative research and innovation at TNO-ESI.

The powerful TNO-ESI ecosystem

Managing the complexity of highly digitalised systems requires the building and application of knowledge across disciplines, application domains, value and supply chains, stakeholders, regions and technology readiness levels.

TNO-ESI organises and sits at the heart of an ecosystem of renowned (multi-)national high-tech enterprises, SMEs, public organisations and leading academic research groups. Our network represents a unique platform for open innovation that facilitates research cooperation and knowledge exchange across stakeholders.

Archimedes

The Archimedes initiative unites four leading systems engineering centers to accelerate innovation through shared expertise.
Archimedes

HTSM

The High Tech Systems and Materials programme brings researchers and companies together to develop knowledge for breakthrough innovations.

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SIGs

TNO-ESI hosts a number of Special Interest Groups (SIGs), professional communities defined around specific professional topics.

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