
Wow, time has flown. It has been a crazy ride over the past two years as president of the EIT Digital Alumni. I still remember the moment I got elected in spring 2023 and had the first calls with the other candidates. I have to say, it has been an honour to represent this amazing community.
However, I still feel that I’m not done yet — and that’s what made me decide to reapply for the president position. I believe we’ve made great progress in further professionalising our association and creating more space for bottom-up activism. Still, I feel I can put the EIT knowledge I’ve gained over the past two years to good use to help take our association to the next level. And finally, I remain highly motivated to continue putting as much energy into our community as I do now.
I have three major goals for the coming two years: focusing on local events, becoming an opportunity hub, and further professionalising our association.
I want to focus more on local event engagement. We have a great local rep community, and throughout the year, we organise several events all around the world. However, I believe these local events can become more professional and attract more alumni. In my opinion, these events are our key local connection points for alumni, yet I still notice that some alumni are unaware of them. In recent months, as a pilot we’ve hosted Data & Pizza events in Amsterdam and Paris. These events attracted around 30 alumni on average, including some attending for the first time. This shows a lot of potential, and in the coming two years, I want to collaborate closer with local reps to experiment with different concepts to better connect and engage alumni locally.
Secondly, I feel we are not fully leveraging our amazing network of digital innovators. We have such a strong community with many digital experts. I want us to become an opportunity hub — by alumni, for alumni. By this, I mean we should proactively identify and share opportunities within our community. These could include joining an DigitalEU project with EIT Digital, or collaborating on freelance projects with companies like Bosch. I previously worked for a Dutch think tank, where I was involved in similar projects, and I would love to adapt and implement that model within our community.
Finally, I want to further professionalise the association using the funds we receive. I believe we can optimise our marketing and business development processes. Ultimately, this should help us communicate more clearly with our alumni, while also better involving our sponsors and other partners.
I am very motivated to continue and work further on this amazing association
I have the experience to be part of the EIT Digital Alumni board and I understand the EIT ecosystem
I have an entrepreneurial mindset and want to use this to improve our association; e.g. the pilot Data & Pizza events
I have started my EIT Digital Alumni journey as a coach during the kick-off in Trento in 2019.
During my studies I have been involved as a student ambassador.
I have helped organising local and annual events for the EIT Digital Alumni
I have been part of the previous board
Any questions, feel free to reach out to me
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-brinkman/
Instagram: @iamtimb1
Telegram/Whattsapp: +31651530671