Multitouch.nl blog 3 years old

Little did I know that when, on February 19th 2007, I wrote my first blogpost here at multi-touch.nl, as a fourth year Communication, Multimedia & Design student from Holland, that my life would be completely different in 3 years from then.

4 Months before that, in October 2006 (this was before Microsoft had announced Surface and before Apple introduced the iPhone, googling back then on the word “multitouch” gave 3 URLS as a result), the exciting research into multi-touch technology started for me, after having been inspired by Jeff Han’s TED talk.

On a side note I’m still very thankful to Jeff, for this great source of inspiration that made me a passionate fan (and together with me thousands of others) of multi-touch technology.

Within two weeks after having seen the TED video, I built my own multi-touch hardware prototype.

Skelleftea, Sweden
During the process of keeping track of our multi-touch research here on multitouch.nl, on which I was working with one fellow student and two of my teachers, I got invited to the Lulea Technical University (LTU) in Skelleftea, by assistant professor Dr. Johannes Hirche, for a thesis project aimed at multi-touch technology.

Dr. Hirche was in the process of assembling a research group, that would focus a project on multi-touch technology, with the purpose of developing a multi-touch software framework and multi-touch hardware prototype, aimed at education, to innovate and improve the way students learn.

As I had a subconscious pre-love for Sweden and because of my love for different cultures, languages and travel, I decided to jump in head first.

That is how I ended up in the coolest place on this planet (it was -35 Celsius 4 weeks ago) Skelleftea in April 2007, expecting to stay there for 3 months max, boy was I wrong.

Starting NUITEQ
During the thesis project we received an incredible commercial interest from research institutes, government institutes and Fortune 100 companies, that visited this blog.

This above fact in combination with our passion and love for multi-touch technology and the urge to literally want to change the world, with this research group, we decided to start a commercial company NUITEQ.

We channeled our personal visions into the company, making the following vision a part of NUITEQ’s DNA: Change the way people interact with technology, through the mission of making the interface between users and technology more natural.

Privilege
I feel very privileged to be part of the multi-touch ecosystem and I’m honored to work with the amazing colleagues at NUITEQ.

This job has allowed me to travel the world, going to places like San Jose, San Antonio, New York, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Barcelona, Paris, London etcetera.

During these travels I met exciting people from the multi-touch technology industry and I’m still very delighted that at an event in Malmo where I was speaking, I ended up in the same hotel as and had the pleasure to dine with, Interaction Design Guru Don Norman.

Our products have been sold and demonstrated worldwide covering South America, North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Australia and we are working with government institutes and Fortune 100 companies.

Products
The products that we offer are;
* our standard off the shelf multi-touch software product Snowflake Suite (which is compatible with Windows XP/Vista and 7 and works on many multi-touch technology hardware platforms like 3M, N-trig, NextWindow, Nexio, dreaMTouch, PQLabs etcetera)
* Snowflake Suite combined with multi-touch hardware solutions, as a complete solution
* Furthermore we offer the service of developing customized multi-touch software applications

It has been an amazing experience and I’m looking forward to continue to work with HCI technology for the next 40 years.

Special thanks
I want to thank a lot of people, companies and organizations for making this possible, these include:

Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden - My university that allowed to study there and earn my Bachelor of Multimedia degree
LTU Skelleftea - For giving the opportunity to work with them on a project that changed my life
My parents- for coping with me and supporting me
Other family and friends
Erika - My Swedish fiancee, who has supported me from day one (its not easy to have a boyfriend/fiancee that travels sometimes 3 times a month and sometimes works 70 hours a week)
My step children Emelie and William - for entertaining me
Founders, board of directors and colleagues at NUITEQ - Without them there wouldn’t be a company, they are working their asses off for quality and customer satisfaction
Our bank Nordea in Skelleftea and our investor
Our clients and partners, they are our #1
Skelleftea’s entrepreneurial network for being so engaging and open
Jeff Han and others that inspire
The people I network with and meet at events, thanks for the interesting talks.
Media and bloggers - for featuring our company and our works, including: Wired, CNN, Dagens Industri, Computer Sweden, Norran, Folkbladet, Ny Teknik, Reuters, Business Week, TV stations, VentureBeat, BBC etcetera
Award programs - thanks for having nominated and awarded NUITEQ for different awards, its great for companies to receive recognition for their hard work.