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History of EyeQuestion

Gerben Ernst and Rignald Span

2001|The Beginning

Founders, Rignald Span and Gerben Ernst, worked at a software development company creating tailor-made software for several Dutch companies. In their spare time they started creating a web application to conduct advanced online questionnaires. Initially they called it ‘Question8’ and started sending out demo’s of the new program to Dutch companies that were interested. They quit their jobs to focus solely on Logic8 BV and to develop “Question8” further.

2001-2004|Early Days

During the first 3 years Rignald and Gerben combined working as freelance programmers with developing the software further in their spare time. Having shown immediate enthusiasm for the software package, late Pieter Punter – CEO of OP&P Research and driving force behind the Dutch Sensory Research community – introduced them to the world of sensory and the challenges this type of research was facing. Rignald and Gerben instantly started generating ideas on how things could be improved. The rapid acceleration of internet technology in the late 1990s and early 2000s inspired both developers to somehow incorporate worldwide connectivity to the world of sensory research. The name for the software was changed to EyeQuestion (“I have a Question about…” instead of the “I” the “Eye” was used as one of the five senses).


2005|The First Clients

This was a big year with the first 3 clients starting with EyeQuestion Software. With that, the first office in Utrecht was also a fact as well as participating in our first Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium which was the 6th edition held in Harrogate, England.

2006| Prototype EyeOpenR

The first prototype of EyeOpenR was developed which expanded the software modules to incorporate an advanced analysis and reporting tool. Promoting EyeQuestion Software in the Nordic countries was a goal with lots of travelling and attending conferences with many introductions.


2007-2009|Food Valley Years

The offices moved from Utrecht to Foodvalley in Wageningen to be closer to Wageningen University & Research as well as other innovative food businesses. Travelling to many countries around the world to promote and implement EyeQuestion Software for (potential) clients and where the client portfolio expanded to 35+ clients.

2010|The First Team

Time for the company to grow and added 4 staff members which also means more space was needed for the team. A larger offices in Elst was found and the team could work on the introducing modules: EyeContact and a web-based version of EyeOpenR.


2011-2012|Building a Client Base

More and more clients came on board and the client portfolio grew further globally to 75+ clients. With a small team that worked on all kinds of tasks within all different departments.

2013-2015|Next Level

Quite a few new things happened with a new logo, new website, new marketing collateral and a new office but still in Elst. This also meant an opportunity to extend the team further and have staff dedicated to specialized teams: system management, development, support and sales.


2015|ISO 27001

Working for a while on getting ISO certification for Information Security which was finally achieved in 2015. This remains a priority within our organisation as it is an ongoing task to stay on top of and to get recertified each year.

2016|New Interface

Celebrating 15 years EyeQuestion with a face lift of the interface of EyeQuestion Software for a more clean and simplified look. 

Sensory beer evaluation in Immersive Room

2016-2021|Research & Innovation

Our own research center is opened which includes:

  • Sensory Lab
  • An immersive room
  • Our own local test panel called Blindgetest (“Tested Blind”)

Additionally working on implementing technologies in EyeQuestion:

  • Virtual Reality (VR)
  • Augmented Reality (AR)
  • Scent Machine
  • Text to/from Speech
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)

2021|EyeQuestion Today

Working now with 16 Team Members to support our 170+ clients with their 1,8 Million Product Evaluations a Year. Our focus is on our mission: 

Making Sense of Product Perception

Augmented Pizza’s in Immersive Room