Much of the work done by Wagemakers and his team remains invisible. Yet it is indispensable. “As a team, we are involved a little bit everywhere and in between,” says the Managing Director Business Insights & Control at the Brabant Development Agency (BOM). “We play a connecting role across the organisation, across competencies.”
He refers to his department as “the back end of the organisation where everything comes together”: the financial administration, the processing of investments and projects, and the incoming administrative flow. “A great deal happens below the surface to ensure that everything here runs as if by itself.”
According to him, this position at the heart of the organisation is precisely what makes the work so interesting. “You sit at the hub. You can step in anywhere, and everything has something engaging about it. As a result, you gain a broad perspective on BOM and its environment.”
Three worlds coming together
BOM operates with three clear competencies: investing, developing and internationalising. According to Wagemakers, these are not separate domains. They increasingly intersect and require coherence. He sees this reflected in his agenda, which ranges from regional energy systems to defence-related issues. “And in between, we still have to deliver the monthly figures.”
It is precisely this breadth that makes the work both intensive and interesting. “It goes in all directions. That requires overview, agility and reliable information.”
AI: a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of questions
One aspect of Wagemakers’ work that is receiving increasing attention is artificial intelligence. Wagemakers sees the enormous potential of AI, but also prefers to keep expectations realistic. “We don’t want AI for the sake of AI,” he says. “I notice there is a need, but when I ask, ‘what exactly do you want?’, I still don’t always get a clear answer.”
At the same time, AI is high on the agenda at BOM. Wagemakers also clearly sees opportunities. Investment analysts, for example, have to gather large amounts of information from public sources. “That could potentially be automated. We are now exploring whether we can bundle and prepare that information, so that an analyst no longer has to do all of that themselves.”
He also sees opportunities within finance. “Our funds are growing. We are running more and more subsidy projects. If we can further automate the information flows, we can manage the workload better as a team. That allows us to focus on analysing information rather than producing it.”
The ultimate goal is for AI to develop into a kind of smart assistant that takes routine work off people’s hands. This gives BOM employees more room for what really matters: helping Brabant-based entrepreneurs whose innovations are driving major societal transitions forward.
However, Wagemakers emphasises that BOM is still in an exploratory phase. “We still have many things to discover and experience.” AI holds great promise, he says, but requires precision, experimentation and clear choices.
From data to insight
At the core of good and reliable AI lies good and reliable data. And the volume of data available to BOM is growing rapidly. Wagemakers wants to translate that information into usable insights. “In the future, we want to move more towards providing insights. With all the data we collect, we can create valuable insights that people can genuinely use.”
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One example is the regional dashboard, which provides an overview of all activities per municipality or region. “Per competency — investing, internationalising and developing — we can provide insight into what we have done in a particular area and how that relates to the totality of our activities.”
This information proves valuable not only within BOM, but also beyond it. “When someone from BOM visits a mayor, we can show — with just two clicks — where and in what way BOM has been active. They often ask whether we can leave that information behind. That clearly shows it is appreciated. Unfortunately, this is not always possible due to the confidentiality of the information.”
Looking ahead together
In the future, BOM also aims to better support entrepreneurs with data-driven insights. But that requires certain conditions to be in place. To make better use of data, BOM is working increasingly closely with other regional development agencies (RDAs). “We are exploring how we can improve the existing national data infrastructure of the RDAs and make greater use of it,” says Wagemakers. “That should make it possible to predict trends and developments more accurately.”
He sees particular opportunities in relation to funds. “If, for example, we have an indication of the expected cash flow over a number of years, that tells us something about our future investment capacity. That is valuable information. But at present, our own datasets are too limited for that. Other RDAs can help with this.”
According to Wagemakers, this movement is still at an early stage. “In five years’ time, we will have taken many steps. By then, we will be much more of a data-driven organisation and will steer even more strongly on impact.”
Measurable impact
According to Wagemakers, achieving more measurable insight into impact — what BOM contributes to the Brabant economy and how it does so — is the ultimate goal. This concerns tangible results: how many jobs are created, which innovations are accelerated, how projects contribute to sustainability, and how the regional economy is strengthened.
Making that impact visible requires data, systems and innovation, but above all people who know how to work with them. “Technology supports us, but it is people who make the difference,” says Wagemakers.
His team is building the foundation needed to substantiate investments, justify decisions and further support entrepreneurs. He sums it up matter-of-factly: “We ensure that everything here runs as if by itself behind the scenes, so that the organisation can do its work without friction.”