Quotes from Frans van Houten

I think of the world as geographical regions, and it excites me to think about the opportunity that Europe can have if we consider it to be the 500-million-people region that it is.

When I became CEO, I was really worried that we were in commoditized segments that were mature and no longer growing. So we made a radical pivot into health technology because that is one of the world's unmet needs.

You need to dismount when your horse is dead. What was relevant 20 years ago is no longer relevant today. Therefore, you need to reinvent yourself.

Great companies need to reinvent themselves. We can do that: we can stay relevant, we can grow, and we can stay successful. It takes courage, but it's a path we've been preparing for carefully.

Engagement with young people is always a refreshing break with routine. It's also a reminder of how we need to constantly keep our thinking agile and unencumbered by traditional rules.

It has not escaped us that other competitors have also identified health as an attractive marketplace.

Lumileds is a highly successful supplier of lighting components to the general illumination, automotive, and consumer electronics markets, with a strong customer base.

I am pleased with the response of investors towards Philips Lighting and the successful pricing of the I.P.O. This strategic milestone will allow Royal Philips to focus on the fast-growing health technology market.

Meaningful innovation can be an important catalyst in encouraging resilience in seniors, keeping them independent and engaged.

If we can keep you healthy, that is better. If you fall sick, you go to the hospital. Both sides, Philips is present.

Time may not be on our side, but innovation is.

We undertook a huge internal transformation to sharpen our customer focus, step up innovation, improve productivity to ensure competitiveness, change our culture, and simplify our ways of working so that our size and scale became a competitive advantage rather than a bureaucratic hangover after years of diversification.

Even though we live in a fast-changing world with short term-ism all around, it requires years of determination to transform a company and structurally reap the rewards. Innovation companies need to set their sights on solving unmet needs - but this approach requires focus and long-term tenacity.

We knew we could put the company on the right side of history by decisive transformative action and by redefining our purpose to improving people's lives through innovation.

We have transformed Philips into a focused leader in health technology, delivering innovation to help people manage their health.

Light is one of the basic areas that will give you comfort, but it is undergoing a technological revolution in moving from conventional lighting to semiconductor-based lighting, and as it does that, it is becoming intelligent with the transition from analogue to digital.

By innovating and investing in health technology, we believe that we can really change the future of health.

Health care has to be delivered as an integrated service across the entire continuum of care. This runs from healthy living and prevention to diagnosis and treatment and recovery and homecare.

Indeed, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will greatly lead to increased consumer health awareness and self-management and will enable individualized treatment pathways supported by tele-health care and coaching.

The global healthcare industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, providing significant opportunities for Philips to deliver more integrated solutions across the continuum of care - from prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to monitoring and aftercare.

Should one of your employees have a physical or mental health problem, I would argue that it is as much something for the employer as the individual to contend with.

Government should create the environment and incentives to stimulate investment in sustainable innovation, take away barriers, and accelerate adoption, even in turbulent economic times.

We are addressing duplication and complexity. At the same time, we are investing more in research and development, speeding up the time to market of new innovations, and expanding our sales force in markets where growth is to be found, like Turkey, Russia, the Mideast, China, and southeast Asia.

I came back to Philips and quickly realised that the TV business had a major performance issue and some structural challenges. Rather than try to tweak it and sit things out, we said we had to go for a structural solution.