Today, Dell hosted leaders from 20 Netherlands-based companies and the State of Texas to discuss how to strengthen ties between Austin and Amsterdam. The visit marked the start of a week-long trip through Austin, Arlington and Fort Worth. 

 What's the connection between Austin and Amsterdam? Both have high levels of broadband penetration (according to Forrester, Amsterdam has the highest broadband penetration in Europe and Austin, as of 2005, was the Most Wired City in America ), both have a history of supporting small business and fostering entrepreneurs, and both are home to leading research institutions like Amsterdam's National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI) and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics (NIKHEF) and Austin's University of Texas IC² Institute, the Texas' Emerging Technology Fund and the planned Southwest Academy of Nanotechnology.

Part of the visit featured a wide-ranging panel discussion with:

• Bill Morrow, Chairman, Texas Emerging Technology Committee; CEO, CSIdentity
  
• Pike Powers, Partner, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
• Kevin Kettler, Dell Chief Technology Officer
• Dr. Walter Hoogland, Amsterdam Science Park

Later in the afternoon, I caught up with Dr.Hoogland to ask him some questions about the Amsterdam Science Park that I'll post next week.