Chris van der KuylBack to Dundee Ambassadors

Chris is one of Scotland's leading entrepreneurs. CEO of brightsolid Limited, an Internet Service Provider based in Dundee, he is also the Founder of computer games company Vis - best known for its top selling game, State of Emergency. Born in Dundee, Chris has lived his whole life in the city.

Dundee's music scene was one of the reasons I came back to the city. I was studying in Edinburgh but really missed what was going on in Dundee. So after two years at university in the capital, I headed home and finished off my computing science course at the University of Dundee. Music's always been really important to me  - I play piano and keyboard and was in a band called the Big Blue 72 in the 80s.

Dundee's a melting pot of my cultures - as my family proves. During the Second World War, Dundee was home to Europe's largest submarine base. Both my grandfathers ended up here during the war: my Dutch grandfather escaped on a submarine, ended up here and stayed, marrying a Dundee girl. The other was Polish - he escaped at Dunkirk and made his way to Dundee.  

I think Dundee's digital boom was sparked by the accessibility of technology. I've been interested in computers from an early age and that was partly down to being in the right place at the right time. Spectrums were being made at the city's Timex factory when I was young, and they were cheap and readily available. Everyone I knew owned one, and I think a young games programming scene developed out of that.

I think there's a fourth 'J' to add to Dundee's jute, jam and journalism reputation - joysticks.  That's how I came up with the name for 4J Studios  - a game development studio I set up in 2005. The city is already home to a hugely successful games industry but I think it also has the potential to become a real global centre for both digital business and science.

Abertay University should be really proud of what it's done for gaming. They were among the first to establish a games course and I think they've done it better than anyone else - they've created a credible education environment. It's absolutely world class.

There's a view that Dundee's isolated but it's absolutely not the case. I travel a lot, especially up and down to London, and have always found it to be an easy commute. It takes some people who live and have a job in London longer to get to work that it takes me to get down there!

I always miss the local culture when I'm away. I spend a lot of time in North America, in San Francisco and LA. Both are fantastic places and they are spectacular to visit. But the Dundonian way, as well as my family and friends, is what always pulls me back.

There's an innovative spirit in Dundee. I think there's actually a mentality which has been around throughout the history of the city. We work with what we've got. Traders have always come here and exchanged whatever goods they could. Now it seems to me that, through the university's groundbreaking work and the digital industries, we're trading knowledge.

Dundee's universities have true global vision. I think both the University of Dundee and Abertay are leading the way for the city by the fact they're aiming high and investing in their ambitions. I think that vision has the potential to generate real confidence for the city - something that's hugely important for our future. They also provide local businesses with a fantastic pool of talent - it's great to have such phenomenal resources right on our doorstep.

There are lots of opportunities in Dundee.  The city's really changed over the past ten years but there are plenty of prospects for people coming here now. Dundee is on the edge of a transformation. We need to make sure that it's truly world-class and the whole city needs to be behind that. Major transformations tend to start off with a single, strong icon - take the Sydney Opera house for example. The Victoria & Albert outpost could do that for Dundee.