Economic Development and Entrepreneurship Promotion in the Region of Twente

Hundred years ago, the Dutch region of Twente was the largest textiles agglomeration in the world after Manchester. With its countless factories the area was a power house of economic development. Fifty years ago, the industrial success story started to crumble and a heavy economic crisis set in. Gradually, most regional clothing factories closed with the result that many workers lost their jobs. Although Twente still copes with remnants of the crisis, as a whole the region is on the move. Especially in the field of entrepreneurship, the area does score. What is the story of Twente and how has entrepreneurship contributed to its renewal?

Against this historical background, the article focuses on the economic development of Twente and in particular on the role of entrepreneurship promotion in this process. To set the scene, we start with an overview of the economy (section 2) and the policy environment (section 3) of Twente, resulting in a short regional SWOT-analysis. Then the article moves to the TOP-programme, an entrepreneurship promotion programme for which the region is widely known (section 4). After that, we deal with other mechanisms of entrepreneurship promotion that can be found in Twente (section 5). The article ends with a short conclusion.