Dutch To Honor Grass Valley’s Peter Centen

Grass Valley’s Peter Centen, who led the company’s camera research and development group in Breda, the Netherlands, for the past nine years, is being awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his significant contributions to Dutch society and the broadcast industry.

Presented on behalf of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, this Order is given to only a limited number of people each year who have distinguished themselves by exceptional artistic achievement, scientific performance, technical innovation or inventive entrepreneurship.

Centen, who recently retired from Grass Valley, had a 34-year career in the broadcast industry designing and building product innovations and technical strategies to advance the development of camera technology.

Grass Valley says his expertise and leadership have been instrumental in a number of advancements that saw Grass Valley being awarded multiple Emmy Awards for technology and engineering. He played a major role in transitioning camera technology from CCD imagers to CMOS sensors — which enabled present-day HD, 4K UHD and HDR imaging. Centen invented HD-DPM technology and has been recognized worldwide for his work in imaging.

“This recognition is incredibly well deserved. Peter is a visionary and was a major asset to us at Grass Valley and the industry as a whole,” said Marcel Koutstaal, general manager and vice president cameras, Grass Valley. “It is incredible to see him being honored for his impactful work, his passion for people and significant contributions to the industry over the last 34 years.”

Centen has published more than 65 international journal and conference articles on image sensor technologies and cameras. He holds a Bachelor of Science, a cum laude Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy from the faculty of electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology.