Van der Grinten Lecture 2010:

Sustainability and shareholder value go hand in hand

The annual Van der Grinten Lecture took place Monday february 1, for the fifth year in succession. Organized by Océ and the Venlo municipal council, the Lecture is named after Lodewijk van der Grinten, a Venlo pharmacist who founded our company in 1877. This year's Lecture attracted Euregional representatives from the world of politics, science, industry and society at large. Keynote speaker was Hans Wijers, chairman of the Board of Management of AkzoNobel. He drew on his extensive international experience to comment on the intrinsic relationship between innovation, sustainability and shareholder value. "Companies that hold sustainability in high regard create much more shareholder value," concluded the former Dutch minister of Economic Affairs.

Venlo mayor Hubert Bruls discussed the various innovative and sustainable initiatives undertaken this year, accentuating the balance between economy and ecology in Océ's hometown. And Océ CEO Rokus van Iperen highlighted the role that our company will play in the compelling combination with Canon, assuming all goes ahead as planned and expected. "Océ headquarters remain in Venlo, our brand name remains intact and applied in relevant markets, and we continue to direct our own R&D and M&L activities from homebase Venlo."