Paul Korting new Chairman of the Board at ECN

As of 1 December 2010, Paul Korting (56) succeeds Ton Hoff as the new Chairman of the Board at the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). Until recently Paul Korting was the General director of Industry & Technology at TNO.

The new chairman of the board built up a long career at TNO. Originally, he was an aeronautical engineer, and as of 2001 he was responsible for organisation development, commercial cooperation and growth, holding various management positions at the Prins Maurits Laboratory and in the core areas Defence, Security and Safety and Industry and Technology.

Paul Korting considers the recently announced cut for 2011 to offer opportunities for ECN as well: “ECN holds a leading position in the areas of solar- and windenergy, biomass, process engineering and policy studies. In order to maintain those leading positions in the future, more attention and money must be given to these areas. This involves making choices that result in some research areas having to be discontinued. To me it is very important to have a link between research and the economic profit it must yield to society. Moreover, all parties involved will have to join efforts to draw up a Dutch energy agenda. I look forward to working together with the colleagues and everyone outside of ECN who plays a role in the field of sustainable energy technology.

Ton Hoff will leave ECN as of 1 January 2011 after a period of about eight years in which the international position of the energy research centre and collaboration with trade and industry were significantly strengthened. “When I joined ECN in 2002 I envisaged a period of about five years. This has turned out to be nearly eight years. I enjoyed working at ECN and in this period ECN developed into an internationally acknowledged player with strong interactions with trade and industry. The technologies developed by ECN are steadily finding their way to the market. I wish I could leave ECN under different conditions and that Paul Korting did not have to start in such a difficult situation. Nevertheless, I am fully confident that Paul will be able to effectively guide ECN through this period and enhance the position of ECN as a leading research institute in the field of energy issues.”


Paul Korting, new Chairman of the Board at ECN

Note for the editor
For more information and a hi-resolution picture of Paul Korting, please contact Florentine de Maar and via 0031- 224 564050. Request for interviews with Paul Korting can be submitted as of April 2011.

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