Divisions
DGA Division Entertainment
"We don’t have a lack of talented developers and studios, but we deserve more break-out commercial success stories."
Laurens Rutten - Division Manager Entertainment
Laurens Rutten is our Division Manager Entertainment. Laurens is founder and CEO of casual games studio CoolGames and a regular speaker at industry events. Within the DGA, Laurens focusses on the commercial side of entertainment games, and especially on the growing pains of mid-size to larger game studios.
Among other things, Laurens tries to aid the Dutch games industry by:
- Organizing regular DGA Talks with national and international guest speakers, about the latest industry trends and new game platforms
- Advising game companies on fundraising and M&A, and share hard lessons learned
- Keep an eye on the plain commercial interests of the games industry within the DGA
Come join the Dutch Games Association and become a member here!
DGA Division Indie
"I’m proud to be a part of the blooming Dutch indie scene, renowned across the world."
Bertine van Hövell - Division Manager Indie
Bertine van Hövell is our Division Manager Indie. She's a senior Game Writer and Designer with 10+ years of experience. She's worked with AAA-property as well as with indie studios.
Bertine: “Hello! I’ve been an indie game developer for most of my career and I’m proud to be a part of the blooming Dutch indie scene, renowned across the world. But as a long time professional I’m also quite familiar with the reality of being an indie creator in the Netherlands. As such, in my position I’m focussing on the following:
- To assure independent creators have access to funds and opportunities
- To assure we have a healthy and sustainable ecosystem for independent creators
- To assure the voices, concerns and priorities of independent creators are heard
Come join the Dutch Games Association and become a member here!
DGA Serious Games Division
"The Netherlands has one of the best Serious Games industries in the world."
Sjoerd Wennekes - Division Manager Serious Games
Sjoerd Wennekes is our division manager Serious Games. Sjoerd’s biggest claim to fame is that as co-founder of Tover, the company behind the Tovertafel. At launch, the world’s only scientifically validated serious games solution for people with late stage dementia. He has specialized himself in internationalization, by successfully launching Tovertafel in 16 countries. Currently, Sjoerd works freelance to help other companies with their international strategy. He is an enthusiastic keynote speaker on various entrepreneurial topics.
As board member, Sjoerd will focus on lifting the serious games industry to its next level. There is a lot of hidden and unused potential in the Netherlands. Big societal challenges such as the ageing population, climate change, urbanization & transport, the energy transition, rearming the defence forces, and many others can benefit from serious game innovations. The three main pillars will be:
- Connect key stakeholders and problem owners of the aforementioned big societal challenges, with serious games developers.
- Unify the industry and make sure we present ourselves and our examples on an international stage.
- Share knowledge in round tables and industry drinks.
The serious game sector is an important part of the Dutch Game Industry, so please join us!
NB. Want to be up to date with the latest news, developments, and events related to serious games? Sign up for our Serious Games Newsletter!
Awards
Awards for Serious Games
Serious and applied games often have their own awards category. Check the list down below to see what awards there are and how you can apply!
Dutch Game Awards
The Dutch Game Awards have their own category for applied Games. It is awarded to the best game developed not for the primary purpose of entertainment, but for education, training, medical appliance, therapy, etc. Criteria include the achieved impact and general excellence in concept and execution.
The SAGANET Award
SAGANET, The Dutch association for serious games, gives out their own yearly award as a stimulus for newcomers in the field of serious game design.
Serious Games Showcase & Challenge
The primary purpose of the Challenge is to advance the concept of using games as a training/education medium. There are multiple awards to be won.
Serious Play Conference
The Serious Play Conference honors outstanding digital and board/tabletop games used for training or education and other game-based learning programs through their International Serious Play Awards.
DGA Education & Research Divisions
DGA Division Research
"Dutch games have often been praised for their quality, creativity and innovation, and justly so."
Rafael Bidarra - former Division Manager Research
Rafael Bidarra was our Division Manager Research. He leads TU Delft's game technology research lab, and supervises numerous MSc and PhD projects in this area. He also teaches and supervises several courses and projects on video games, including the pioneer (MSc) project Building Serious Games.
Rafael Bidarra: “Dutch games have often been praised for their quality, creativity and innovation, and justly so. To sharpen this competitive edge at all levels (conceptual, technological, experimental, etc.), the synergy between game studios and researchers can be instrumental.
In my role, I focused on creating opportunities to facilitate and promote a healthy collaboration between studios and research institutions. This includes e.g.:
- Enabling game studios to find or apply state-of-the-art knowledge developed by researchers;
- Enabling students and researchers to find and approach challenging problems currently faced by game developers."
DGA Division Education
"Game Education is taken quite seriously in The Netherlands"
Henriët Eilander - former Division Manager Education
Henriët Eilander was our Division Manager Education. She is Programme manager Creative Media & Games Technologies en Master Digitale Technologie at Hanzehogeschool Groningen.
Henriët Eilander: “In the Netherlands Game Education is taken quite seriously. At different levels (vocational, bachelor, master) and with different focus areas such as game artist or game programmer and in different sizes (minors, 1-4 year programmes). The DGA aims to support the development of the game industry in the Netherlands in combination and constant discussion with the educational institutes. My job as board member for Education was to stimulate contacts and engagement from both sides.”