Dr. René Penning de Vries (LinkedIn) is an experienced and accomplished director in the semicon industry. We are proud to have his advice on strategy, partnerships and development roadmap so that we can establish a leadership position in the emerging quantum industry.

René was educated as a Physicist at the Radboud University and completed a PhD in Device Physics at the University of Twente.

After his studies, he held several positions in R&D in The Netherlands, France, the USA and Singapore. In 2001, he became Chief Technology Officer at Philips Semiconductors/NXP. In this role as CTO, he led the R&D branch of the company, consisting of over 5000 physicists, engineers and developers. In 2006, he also took up the role of Chief Executive Officer at NXP Netherlands.

Since 2012 René has taken up various roles with the aim of fostering innovation, by connecting companies in the public-private domain, scientific research and governments. In the past decade, René has acted as Chairman for many Dutch initiatives, such as Dutch Digital Delta, Health Valley and PhotonDelta, which oversees the national initiative on Integrated Photonics.

In 2021, René got an exceptional recognition for his merits to society, by being named Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, a Dutch order of chivalry.