This book brings together the opening addresses of the first four professors of the Centre of Applied Labour Market Research and Innovation at Hanze University Groningen, the Netherlands. The Centre started in 2008.

This booklet was published as a result of the inaugural lectures by Johan Wempe and Michel van Hulten. Within Saxion, professors cooperate in knowledgecentres, the advantage being that they can set up joint multidisciplinary research lines in addition to their own research.