Against this background, a new structure has been developed within the industry, comprising chains of (medium and small-sized) businesses:

• OEMs, which concentrate on a few technical core competences, integration and marketing
• first-tier suppliers, which supply complete subsystems. They are taking on an increasing portion of innovation and integration.
• second-tier suppliers, which mostly focus on a single discipline, supplying products manufactured using state-of-the-art technology. Their innovation concerns the refinement and improvement of the (make and design) discipline.
• knowledge suppliers (universities of technology, TNO, etc.), that become involved in various aspects of the above structure with a focus on innovation and education.

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