Rene Bakker
Professor of Inclusive Labour Market, Inclusion and Accessibility
Prof. Dr. Rene Bakker is a professor in the field of inclusion and the inclusive labor market. As a business economist, he maps out something that hardly anyone else does: the economic value of inclusion and accessibility. His motto is that inclusive entrepreneurship is inclusion, but also entrepreneurship. In clear terms, he explains what the business case looks like for employers and entrepreneurs, in terms of both returns and risk. Not a moral argument, but an economic matter backed by figures. In doing so, he weaves in his own story about acceptance, stigma, and belief in personal strength. Born with one arm, he knows from experience what it means to face barriers, and this makes his vision not only well-founded but also deeply felt.
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Biography
Professor and business economist
Rene Bakker (1982) is a professor at Tilburg University and received his PhD in Organizational Sciences. His publications have been repeatedly awarded and cited thousands of times. His expertise spans inclusion, the inclusive labor market, inclusive entrepreneurship, business models, and neurodiversity.
Inclusion as an economic issue
Where conversations about inclusion are usually conducted on moral grounds, René approaches it as a business economist. His mission is to make entrepreneurs, companies and government realize that inclusion is ultimately an economic issue. Once that insight is there, and concrete tools come along with it, organizations can actually get to work with it.
Science and the Workplace
Rene combines his academic work with practical experience at organizations such as ASML and various government institutions. He speaks the language of business without losing the nuance of his field of expertise, which allows his message to resonate with both executives and HR teams and policymakers.
His Own Story
Born with one arm, Rene knows better than anyone what it means to face barriers and deal with stigma. He processes this experience in his lectures, alongside the figures and research. It makes his vision on inclusion both scientifically grounded and deeply human.
Expertise
Calculate the business case
René's distinctive contribution is that he frames inclusion and accessibility in economic terms. What does it deliver in terms of talent, productivity, and market reach, and what risks does an organization run by neglecting it? This translation is missing from virtually every inclusion conversation, and that's precisely why good intentions usually stop at the declaration of intent. With figures, it becomes an investment decision.
Invisible Barriers in the Labour Market
Much talent remains invisible, not through unwillingness but because of barriers that no one consciously built in: in job descriptions, selection procedures, buildings and habits. Rene maps out these obstacles and shows which ones you can remove most quickly. His own experience with these barriers makes the argument concrete.
Stigma, Bias and the Brain
How does a stigma arise, what does it do to people's opportunities, and why do unconscious biases persist despite good intentions? Rene explores the mechanisms behind these phenomena and is candid about what science shows does and doesn't work to break them. The latter saves organizations investments in measures that demonstrably yield no results.
Inclusive Entrepreneurship
Inclusive entrepreneurship is inclusion, but also entrepreneurship. Rene works with organizations on the question of how to structurally anchor inclusion in your business operations instead of placing it alongside your core mission: in recruitment, in product design, in customer approach, and in the way you organize work.
Themes
The Economic Value of Inclusion
What inclusion and accessibility concretely deliver to an organization, and what risks you run when you do nothing about it.
Inclusion as a Business Model
How to build organizations where everyone can participate, and why that's not a cost but a way of doing business.
Stigmas in the Workplace
How stigmas arise, what they cost people and organizations, and how to break through them.
Unconscious Bias
How implicit bias works in recruitment, evaluation, and collaboration, and what science tells us about what can be done about it.
Neurodiversity and Hidden Talent
How to reach talent that remains invisible today, from people with disabilities to neurodivergent professionals.
Inclusion and our brain
What happens in our minds when we encounter difference and categorization, and why good intentions are rarely enough.
Why Rene
He speaks the language of the boardroom
René approaches the conversation about inclusion in terms of returns, risk, and business model. This way, it reaches people who disengage from moral appeals.
Professor, not a peddler of opinions
Award-winning publications, thousands of citations and a professorship at Tilburg University. What he tells is substantiated, and he can show where the evidence comes from.
Science that remains practical
His lectures are well-founded yet always applicable. Management boards and HR teams leave with practical tools instead of insights alone.
Lived through rather than studied
René himself ran into the barriers he investigates. That personal story about acceptance and stigma gives his figures a face.
Experience inside and outside the academy
He worked with organizations such as ASML and government institutions, and therefore knows how inclusion policies fail or succeed in practice.
More versatile than the keynote
Also available as a workshop leader, chairperson of the day, interviewer and discussion moderator, for example for programs where the topic runs throughout the day.
Talks
Inclusion as a business model: building organizations where everyone can participate
45 - 60 minutesInclusive entrepreneurship is also entrepreneurship
That is the motto with which René opens. The conversation about inclusion is usually conducted on moral grounds, and therefore remains stuck in good intentions and declarations of intent. As a business economist, he approaches it differently: he shows what the business case looks like for employers and entrepreneurs, in terms of both returns and risk.
The talent that remains unseen
Many people don't get hired not because they're unsuitable, but because invisible barriers stand in the way—barriers no one has deliberately built: in job descriptions, in selection procedures, in buildings and in habits. Rene maps out these hidden obstacles and shows how to reach untapped talent, from people with disabilities to neurodivergent professionals. Along the way, he shares his own story about acceptance, stigma and self-belief.
Anchoring rather than sidelining
Inclusion succeeds only when it's integrated into business operations, not a separate program. Rene demonstrates concretely what this means for recruitment, work organization, and how you structure your organization, drawing on examples from his collaborations with organizations including ASML and government institutions. Scientifically grounded, yet practical for leadership and HR teams on Monday morning.
Reviews
“René demonstrates that hiring people with distance to the labor market doesn't have to be difficult, and succeeds in convincing employers of this. Through a combination of scientific foundation, interspersed with practical experience and his personal drive.”
“René provided WSD with a clear and substantiated overview of our own field of expertise, offering valuable additions and practical tools to help our organization bring the challenge of inclusive entrepreneurship even more effectively into focus.”
“René Bakker knows how to inspire in an enthusiastic and lighthearted way. With facts, refreshing insights and scientific backing, he makes inclusive entrepreneurship concrete, relevant and valuable. And he gives you food for thought.”
“René is a captivating speaker whose enthusiasm is contagious. René made a strong impression and we keep coming back to his story!”
