AMS Business Magazine Issu.5

nr 5 2015
AMS
Amsterdam in
business
The
innovation
issue
The business of
science
Why start-ups thrive
in Amsterdam
Contents
AMS NR 5 – The Innovation Issue
3
4
9
Editorial – Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam
New in Amsterdam – inspiring new businesses, initiatives and organisations
Author and historian Russell Shorto on the DNA of Amsterdam
10 17 18 22 26 Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Amsterdam
Historical ties – the Amsterdam-India connection
Smart City – connecting business, science and government
Electric dreams – Amsterdam is making history in electric transport
KLM cares – the Dutch National Airline is a frontrunner in sustainability
Enabling innovation
29 30 34 40 Life in Amsterdam
Going Dutch – author Colleen Geske on the quirky habits of the Dutch
The Office – how Google’s workspace reflects Amsterdam
Images of Amsterdam
Events in Amsterdam – from cultural must-dos to essential conferences
46 54
60
65
66
The business of science
Shell Technology Center Amsterdam (STCA) – R&D since 1914
Enza Zaden – ‘seed valley’ is just north of Amsterdam
Building bacteria – how Yakult makes use of Dutch milk
Historical ties – the Amsterdam-Japan connection
Amsterdam Science Park – where scientists become entrepreneurs
72
78 86 Start-up city
Interview Kajsa Ollongren – Amsterdam’s ambitious alderwoman of economic affairs
Networks – how start-ups self-organise in Amsterdam
Triple AAA – the Amsterdam canals are the ideal location for international talent
94 100 Building brands
Homegrown brands – from Heineken to G-star
Dutch denim – how Amsterdam became Denim Central
106 113
114 115 The facts
By the numbers – Amsterdam tops all the important lists
Congresses – Amsterdam is a world-class conference destination
What amsterdam inbusiness can do for you
The Expatcenter – your partner in setting up shop in Amsterdam
editorial
Where
creativity
and
commerce
meet
On the cover
Technological innovation meets the arts at
Amsterdam’s premier modern art institution,
the Stedelijk Museum. Opened in 1895, the
Stedelijk soon built a world-class collection
of modern art. By 2000, modernisation was
required, and Amsterdam architecture firm
Benthem Crouwel won the contract to extend
the main building via a giant ‘bathtub’ design
that opened in 2012.
A great work of art in itself, the new façade was
made possible by the engineering expertise of
Japanese/Dutch plastics manufacturer Teijin,
who donated the material: Tenax and Twaron
high-performance fibres in a mix that virtually
cancels out contraction or expansion. The result
is the largest composite building in the world.
www.stedelijk.nl
As Mayor of Amsterdam, I often proudly cite the fact
that the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is home to more
than 2,500 foreign companies. But an entrepreneur from
Silicon Valley recently told me that within ten years, 40%
of Fortune 500 companies will have ceased to exist as a
result of rapid technological developments.
Companies that anticipate these developments have the
potential to grow quickly, but they can also be overtaken
just as quickly by new technologies introduced by a competitor – a competitor that might not even be on their
radar, because it is no longer only multinationals that
pose a threat. It could just as well be the proverbial kid in
a garage or a university spin-off.
Amsterdam Science Park, for instance, brings together
universities and national research institutes under one
roof. The resulting spin-offs have been highly successful.
Euvision Technologies, which was recently acquired by
US communications giant Qualcomm, specialises in software that recognises digital images and videos. Photanol,
meanwhile, has joined forces with AkzoNobel to develop
technology that converts sunlight and CO2 into valuable
organic compounds.
The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs also recognised
Amsterdam’s potential when he chose to headquarter the
StartupDelta here. Neelie Kroes, former European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, has been appointed
to lead the initiative and establish the Netherlands as
Europe’s start-up hotspot.
Whatever their phase of development, however, all these
companies benefit from a robust and dynamic ICT sector, for which Amsterdam is known the world over. Of
course we face competition. London, New York, Beijing
and Singapore are all major ICT centres and significantly
larger than Amsterdam. But we are certainly just as international and our compact size has its own advantages.
According to the entrepreneur from Silicon Valley who
predicted the demise of 40% of Fortune 500 companies,
the future belongs to smaller companies. He readily
agreed when I suggested that the future might then also
belong to smaller cities.
Eberhard van der Laan
Mayor of Amsterdam
AMS
new in
text Cecily Layzell
Inspiring new businesses, initiatives and
organisations. In this issue: record data
centre take-up, the world’s most sustainable
office building and a new HQ for Chanel
© IES Immobilien-Projektentwicklung GmbH
Maritim Group to build
conference hotel
Six hundred new beds meet growing demand
The German hotel chain Maritim Group has announced plans to build one
of Europe’s biggest congress hotels in Amsterdam. Construction of the site,
which will offer 52,000m2 of space and 600 four-star rooms, is expected
to be complete in 2018. The new hotel will be located on the ‘Overhoeks
strip’ next to the A’DAM Tower. The development is part of the regeneration of a business and leisure location across the River IJ, behind Amsterdam Central Station. In addition to the A’DAM Tower, two new towers will
be built. One of them will house the Maritim Hotel, which will significantly
strengthen Amsterdam’s position as an attractive city to host congresses
and events. The second tower will house approximately 220 apartments. www.maritim.com
Strong take-up
of data centres
Amsterdam outperforms larger
European cities
4
AMS
The take-up of Amsterdam data centres in the
first six months of 2014 exceeded that achieved
in the full year of 2013. The volume of data
centres in Amsterdam is also continuing to outperform many larger European locations.
According to a report by real estate consultants
CB Richard Ellis, which studies the European
data centre market, 11.7MW had been sold by
June – the highest total recorded for an opening
six-month period. The report notes that connectivity-led demand continues to be the principal
source of larger transactions, with cloud, telecom
and content providers particularly active. At the
same time, supply has increased. Also in H1, an
additional 8.6MW of new capacity was released in
Amsterdam, the majority coming with the opening of the final phase of Telecity’s AMS 5 facility.
www.cbre.nl
Chanel to open
Amsterdam office
Fashion house sashays into Zuidas
Chanel has purchased an office in Amsterdam. The
building, which is currently under construction, is
expected to be complete in spring 2015 and will be
the French fashion house’s new international headquarters. According to several Dutch media outlets,
Chanel has spent almost €45 million ($51.3 million) on
the space, which is located in the Zuidas, one of Amsterdam’s most popular business districts. Chanel joins
a growing number of multinationals that are basing
themselves there. These include South Stream Transport and CRH, a leader in construction materials.
www.chanel.com
Blippar comes to
Amsterdam
In close proximity to new and existing clients
Blippar, an American company specialising in augmented reality (AR) advertising, is opening an office in Amsterdam. The announcement comes two
months after the company’s acquisition of Layar,
an AR start-up from Amsterdam. According to the
Dutch industry magazine Adformatie, Blippar chose
to set up shop in Amsterdam due to its proximity
to new and existing clients in Luxembourg, Belgium
and the Netherlands.
www.blippar.com
© Mike Roelofs
Peerby raises
€1.7m in foreign
investment
Local borrowing platform poised
for US expansion
Amsterdam properties win in high-end category
Amsterdam offers tourists and business travellers a wide range of
accommodation, among them a great selection of high-end options.
Reflecting the city’s flourishing hospitality sector, two properties
were among the winners of the World Luxury Hotel Awards 2014.
Amsterdam Boutique Apartments were judged the best in the Luxury
Serviced Apartments category, while Sofitel Legend The Grand
Amsterdam (pictured) won in the category Luxury Suite Hotel.
Amsterdam has proven to be a highly attractive location to invest
for hotels operating in the top segment of the market. In 2014, the
legendary Waldorf Astoria opened a 94-room hotel on the prestigious
Herengracht canal. The W Hotel chain is also expected to make its
Dutch debut in Amsterdam in 2015.
www.peerby.com
AMS
World Luxury Hotel Awards
Peerby, an app founded in Amsterdam that connects people wanting to borrow various items with
neighbours willing to lend them,
has raised €1.7 million ($2.1 million)
from a group of international investors. Peerby is currently available in
the Netherlands, Belgium, London,
Berlin and eight US pilot cities.
According to a press statement,
Peerby will invest the money raised
in expanding into 50 US cities. See
also pages 86-93.
5
www.luxuryhotelawards.com
AMS
new in
New base for
future growth
EMEA and regional shared
services centre in Amsterdam
The AllStar Travel Group (ATG), an
international team of travel management companies, has announced
that it has chosen Amsterdam as
the location for its new EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa)
headquarters and regional shared
services centre. In a press release,
ATG’s CEO Tammy Krings said that
the new base in Amsterdam is ‘a
critical component of ATG’s growth
plan and customer service strategy.’
ATG currently operates 51 offices in
50 countries.
www.allstars24.com
Bell Helicopter celebrates
40 years in Amsterdam
Time flies when you’re in the Dutch capital
Bell Helicopter celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Amsterdam supply
centre at the first HeliTech Expo and Conference held in the city in late
2014. The US-based company has been an integral contributor to the
Netherlands’ aerospace cluster for decades. Founded in 1935, Bell Helicopter first specialised in the design and production of fighter aircraft,
before becoming the first company to obtain certification for a commercial helicopter. Now an industry leader, Bell Helicopter has delivered
more than 35,000 aircraft to customers around the world. 6
AMS
www.bellhellicopter.com
Best place to
start a business
Neelie Kroes to strengthen
the Netherlands’ position as a
start-up hotspot
Former EU Commissioner Neelie
Kroes is to strengthen the international position of the Netherlands
as a hotspot for international startups. In her new role as the country’s
‘special envoy’, Kroes will devote
the next 18 months to establishing
the Netherlands, and in particular
Amsterdam, as the best place in
Europe to start a business. As a
veteran diplomat, Kroes will lead
the new StartupDelta initiative, a
collaboration of government bodies, knowledge institutes, start-ups,
financiers and businesses.
www.startupdelta.com
Developing talent for the future
Google has announced that it will donate $1 million to Science
Center NEMO in Amsterdam. The donation is intended to stimulate
and develop young talent in the fields of technology and science.
In partnership with Platform Bèta, Science Center NEMO will implement a programme for primary school students from 2015 to 2019,
focusing on key 21st-century skills such as ICT literacy, creativity and
problem solving. In addition, NEMO will present a new mathematics-inspired exhibition titled Wereld van Vormen (‘World of Shapes’)
with Google as the lead partner. Within the exhibition, children can
learn about the daily applications of maths and how mathematical
techniques can be used to unravel the world around them.
www.e-nemo.nl
Brown-Forman
moves European
HQ to Amsterdam
Consolidated operation supports growing
business
Brown-Forman Corporation, the manufacturer of many wellknown alcoholic beverages, has opened the headquarters of
its European operations in Amsterdam. The new office, located on the famous Keizersgracht canal, merges the company’s
previous European offices in Hamburg and London. In a short
speech at the opening, Thomas Hinrichs, Senior Vice President
and Managing Director of Brown-Forman’s Europe operations,
elaborated on why the company chose Amsterdam, citing its
efficient airport facilities, quality of life and municipal assistance in getting the new office running in a timely manner.
www.brown-forman.com
Payment start-up secures sizeable
investment
Amsterdam-based payment start-up
Adyen has secured €215 million ($245
million) in funding, increasing its value to
€1.3 billion ($1.48 billion). The company
serves as a middleman for major internet
brand names like Facebook, Spotify and
Airbnb, enabling them to accept payments in 187 international currencies.
Additionally, thanks to its omni-channel
platform, Adyen can process payments
made online, in-store or on mobile devices. The company says that it will use the
investment to further accelerate growth,
continue to expand its strong international presence and fuel global adoption
of its platform. According to The Wall
Street Journal, one of the main reasons
behind this sizeable investment is the
belief that cross border e-commerce will
grow substantially over the coming years.
Moreover, investors were impressed with
Adyen’s innovative technology and talent.
Most compelling, however, was the fact
that Adyen has built its own money transfer channels rather than relying on existing third parties.
www.adyen.com
AMS
Google and Science Center NEMO
announce collaboration
7
© DigiDaan
Adyen
adds up for
investors
AMS
new in
Calvin Klein to
build new HQ
Amsterdam as a fashion gateway
Calvin Klein is building a new European
head office in Amsterdam. From this location, which is set to open in early 2016, the
apparel brand aims to strengthen its presence in Europe. Calvin Klein joins a large
pool of international fashion companies,
including Levi’s, Diesel and Tommy Hilfiger,
already doing business in Amsterdam. Various rankings indicate that the Amsterdam
Metropolitan Area remains a leading location for European headquarters. In 2013,
the region attracted 23 headquarters and
53 marketing and sales offices, collectively
creating 1,392 jobs.
www.calvinklein.com
© Ronald Tilleman Photography
World’s most sustainable office building
AMS
Deloitte’s HQ rated ‘Outstanding’
Deloitte’s new corporate headquarters have been certified as the most
sustainable in the world. Called The Edge, the building in Amsterdam’s
Zuidas business district achieved a new construction certification of
‘Outstanding’, with the highest score ever recorded by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the global assessor of sustainable buildings.
Designed by London-based PLP Architecture, the 40,000m2 building
employs a range of smart technologies. Occupants can regulate the light
and climate in their personal workspace with their smartphones, saving
energy costs and generating useful data that drives overall efficiency.
On the outside, all the surfaces of the south-facing facade that are not
windows are covered with solar panels. Furthermore, an aquifer thermal
energy storage (some 130 metres below the ground) generates the energy required to heat and cool the building.
8
www.the-edge.nl
Port of Amsterdam
posts record year
Transhipment of close to
100 million tonnes
The Amsterdam port region, which includes the
ports of Amsterdam,
IJmuiden, Beverwijk and
Zaanstad, realised a record
transhipment of more than
97.4 million tonnes in 2014.
Said Dertje Meijer, the Port
of Amsterdam’s CEO, of
the success: ‘Over the past
year we saw a positive decision be reached with
respect to the new large
sea lock, finalised our
Vision 2030 in collaboration
with our stakeholders and
obtained a number of
environmental permits that
can be an impetus for our
activities by, for example,
providing greater scope for
lighterage within the existing environmental limits.’
The focus in 2015, she
says, will be primarily on
the preparations for SAIL
Amsterdam 2015 (see page
42) and the construction of
the new sea lock.
www.portofamsterdam.com
Russell Shorto
Epicentre of innovation
As they expanded their range, Dutch trading
vessels kept on the lookout for new markets to
exploit. In Baltic ports they discovered that the
raw materials for soap could be had cheaply;
in short order more than a dozen soapworks
came into existence along the Amstel River in
Amsterdam. And, another marketing innovation:
all the city’s soap factories agreed to colour their
soap green, so as to increase the product identity
of Amsterdam soap across Europe.
All of this activity reached a climax in 1602, with
the founding of the Dutch East India Company,
or VOC. The VOC is one of the most influential
companies in history, and possibly its grandest
achievement was an innovation in its structure.
Until that time, a company would dissolve
on the completion of the voyage that was the
reason for its founding. But the VOC would be
permanent. This allowed investors to sell their
shares at a later date, for a profit. The concepts
of shares of stock, and a few years later of a
stock exchange, would themselves further incite
the cycle of innovation.
Amsterdam grew into its Golden Age persona
on the heels of the VOC and the new stock
exchange. As VOC ships brought goods into
the city from the far corners of the earth,
Amsterdam became a hub for entrepreneurs
and migrant workers across the continent.
Soon the medieval city could not contain the
newcomers, so the city fathers set in motion a
grand scheme of urban development that would
increase Amsterdam’s size fivefold. The plan was
to wrap a series of concentric canals around the
Over the ensuing centuries the Dutch used this
innovative spirit to dominate trade and shipping city centre, each of which would be lined with
in much of Europe. First they cornered the mar- canal houses. The canals gave the city the iconic
image it maintains today, neatly reflecting its hisket in herring, thanks to a series of innovations
in shipbuilding, which allowed fishing vessels to tory as a hub of innovation. <
The
DNA of
A’dam
Russell Shorto (1959) is an American author,
historian and journalist, best known for his
book on the Dutch origins of New York City,
The Island at the Center of the World. He
is a contributing writer for the New York
Times Magazine and is the former director
of The John Adams Institute in Amsterdam,
where he lived between 2007 and 2014. In
2009, Russell received a Dutch knighthood
in the Order of Orange-Nassau. His most
recent book, Amsterdam: A History of the
World’s Most Liberal City, was published by
Doubleday in October 2013.
photo Robin de Puy
The city’s knack
for tinkering
until a process
or product goes
from acceptable to
mould-breaking,
has everything
to do with its
geography
AMS
The Dutch provinces, as they became settled,
eschewed the manorial system, for the simple
reason that the land did not suit it. Instead,
settlers in this flat, unstable portion of Europe
found that they had to band together to build
dams and dykes in order to stabilise the land. In
doing so, they created large areas of reclaimed
land. This was not owned by a nobility. Instead,
the individuals who had created it divided it
up among themselves. They began buying and
selling it. A real estate market came into being,
and with it a host of new processes to ease the
way for buyers, sellers and renters. The cycle of
innovation had begun.
sail farther out into the North Sea. Along
with this came innovations in advertising and
marketing, such as labelling casks of fish
‘Holland herring’.
9
The word ‘innovation’ has within it the Latin
word for ‘new’, which may lend the impression
that innovation itself is a relatively recent phenomenon. It is, however, as old as human beings.
It turns out that Amsterdam is one of the historical epicentres of innovation as a phenomenon
that has shaped the modern world. And the
city’s knack for tinkering until a process or product goes from acceptable to mould-breaking, has
everything to do with the city’s geography.
Think of Europe in the Middle Ages. If your
first thought is of knights and castles, that is
probably a fairly representative image. It stands
for what economists call the manorial system:
a system in which the centre of the economy
was a nobleman and his estate, which held sway
across most of medieval Europe. Serfs worked
the estate for the nobleman, and owed fealty to
him, and he in turn owed fealty to the king and
Church. The manorial system was fixed: where
you were born – labourer, nobleman – dictated
where your children and grandchildren would
be born. There was very little occasion for
innovation arising from individual initiative.
TATA CONSULTANCY
‘The
Netherlands
works as
a huge
hub for
innovation’
Tata Consultancy
Services has had
its European HQ
in Amsterdam
for more than 20
years. Benelux
Director Amit
Kapur explains
why
11 AMS
text Matt Farquharson
photography Mike Roelofs
ENABLING INNOVATION
‘The Netherlands
was one of the
first adopters of
a global sourcing
model. So from
that perspective,
it was right to put
our efforts here
and then see if you
can expand into
other markets’
(Amit Kapur,
Benelux Director,
Tata Consultancy
Services)
THE WORLD’S IT DEPARTMENT
If, as has been claimed, India is the world’s IT department, then Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a big part
of the reason why.
Sitting within the giant conglomerate Tata Group, TCS is
India’s largest company by market capitalisation and has
total assets of around $55 billion.
It is one of the main reasons why India is so strong in IT
services, and since 1992 its European HQ has been in
Amsterdam.
‘The Netherlands was one of the first adopters of a global sourcing model,’ says Benelux Director Amit Kapur.
‘So from that perspective, it was right to put our efforts
here and then see if you can expand into other markets.
The Netherlands was one of the driving forces of global
sourcing.’
The ‘global sourcing model’ sees organisations buy their
business services from whomever can offer the best value,
regardless of where they may be. TCS offers more than
just the call centres or junior programmers often associated with outsourcing, and has a full range of high-end
consulting services.
‘If you look at the companies that come from the Netherlands, it makes it easier to engage with them because
they have seen the world beyond their country’s boundary. And the moment you see a world beyond your country’s boundary, you are able to relate to trends in other
markets,’ Kapur says.
12 AMS
A NEW GLOBAL WAY OF WORKING
TCS was one of the first organisations to take advantage
of the new global way of working, and has always been an
innovative organisation (founder Jehangir Tata became
India’s first licensed pilot in 1929).
And it was the innovative nature of the Dutch market
that helped encourage TCS to set up shop in the Netherlands.
‘The Netherlands works as a huge hub for innovation
and for the adoption of newer processes, if you compare
it to some other European markets,’ says Kapur. ‘We
see progress in other markets, but the Netherlands, we
believe, is by far the leader.’
TCS is the head sponsor of the Amsterdam Marathon
TCS is announced as head sponsor of the
Amsterdam Marathon, 2011. © E van Eis
TATA CONSULTANCY
Tata Consultancy Services, in short
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is part of the
vast Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which
dates back to 1868 and is still partly owned by
the Tata family. The combined market capitalisation of all 32 Tata Group companies exceeded $140 billion as of July 2014, of which TCS
contributed about $80 billion. This vast figure
makes TCS India’s largest IT company and
gives it a market capitalisation greater than the
next three IT firms combined. It is estimated
to be one of the four most valuable IT services
brands worldwide, alongside Accenture, HP
and IBM.
Tata’s overseas strategy sees around 58% of its
revenue come from abroad, and the firm set
up its European headquarters in the Netherlands in 1992.
TCS began life in 1968 as a division of what was
then Tata Sons. Early contracts included a reconciliation system for the Central Bank of India
and a card-punching system for a steelworks.
Today, it has 59 subsidiaries and its main product line is application development, followed by
enterprise solutions and process outsourcing.
It has more than 300,000 employees across 46
countries.
www.tcs.com
15 AMS
The firm’s taste for innovation has seen it create partnerships with many of the leading knowledge institutes that
lie within striking distance of its HQ in the cluster of
skyscrapers at Amsterdam Zuid.
‘Some of our managers have engaged with the University
of Amsterdam, and we have gone on courses on strategy
and management with the Amsterdam Business School.
I always feel that you should never stop learning and we
devised a special course with them tailored towards the
business managers of TCS,’ explains Kapur.
Other programmes include sponsorship of the Amsterdam Marathon and supporting the cancer research of the
VU University Amsterdam.
TCS also opens up to students from Rotterdam School
of Management, which has one of the world’s most
highly regarded MBA programmes.
‘We give a real problem to a group of students to research, and they come back without a bias. You tickle the
young brains on what innovative ways you can look at
problems and it brings a complete new line of thinking.
At the same time, it’s an open forum to engage students.’
Engaging those young minds gives TCS some advantage
in the battle for local talent, but given the nature of its
business, ‘local’ tends to have a fairly broad meaning.
‘In the continent of Europe, TCS will have around
20,000 associates servicing the market. Within the
Netherlands, we have close to 3,500 people servicing the
Dutch market,’ says Kapur. ‘Of which around 700 people
will be living in the Netherlands and the rest will be
servicing the market from locations like India, Budapest,
China or wherever the customer calls for it. Some 25%30% of our population is stationed in customer locations
and the rest work from global centres.’
TCS offers more
than just the call
centres or junior
programmers
often associated
with outsourcing,
and has a full
range of high-end
consulting services
ENABLING INNOVATION
16 AMS
‘The Netherlands
works as a
huge hub for
innovation and the
adoption of newer
processes. We see
progress in other
markets, but the
Netherlands, we
believe, is by far
the leader’
(Amit Kapur,
Benelux Director,
Tata Consultancy
Services)
Indian communities in Amsterdam
The Netherlands has the largest number of inhabitants with Indian descent in Europe after Britain. Many arrived via Suriname, formerly a Dutch
colony, where they worked as contract labourers
on sugar, coffee, cocoa or cotton plantations.
After Suriname gained independence in 1975,
almost half of the 300,000 descendants of these
Surinamese Indians travelled to the Netherlands,
settling predominantly in Amsterdam, the neighbouring municipality of Amstelveen, Almere and
The Hague.
Today, 90 Indian companies are located in the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and the Netherlands is one of India’s top trading partners.
Indian expats, who currently number more
than 7,000, make up the fastest growing expat
group. A range of targeted services, including an
India Desk at the amsterdam inbusiness foreign
investment agency, provide assistance with work
permits, taxes and housing. Outside of work,
international schools organise Hindi and other
language lessons and, since 2009, the Diwali festival of light has been celebrated in Amstelveen,
attracting thousands of local and international
residents from across the country.
BRINGING BUSINESS COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
Those that do transfer from Asia to the Netherlands tend
to find acceptance straightforward, says Kapur. ‘Amsterdam has a background of welcoming so many nationalities on a regular basis, I think it automatically becomes
more welcoming. Society is much more absorbing and
you don’t get such surprised reactions to a new face in
town.’
Multicultural programmes run by the city, such as
events around the Indian festival of Diwali, also help, he
believes.
‘The municipalities of Amsterdam and Amstelveen
put together an annual event celebrating this symbolic
festival for the Indian community, and it has become an
event for the larger community,’ Kapur explains.
Beyond that openness, the practicalities of relocating
from one continent to another are made easier for new
arrivals in the city, he says.
‘The first few days are critical for any arrival from India
and experiences like the Expatcenter help to give a positive start: the ability to find the right accommodation, the
ability to find the right societies, to find the right schooling for your kids and family.’
And that openness reaches beyond individual arrivals to
businesses themselves.
‘Entities like amsterdam in business have a unique position in understanding the rules. They’ve been successful
in engaging themselves as an advisor to organisations
with a good degree of neutrality. Amsterdam is very good
at bringing business communities together,’ says Kapur.
‘It means you get a very diverse mix of industries and
communities that engage with each other. Then there
are other forums like the Netherlands India Chamber of
Commerce and Trade, the Business Mission of the Netherlands in India. If you look at the kind of activities that
are keeping the two countries engaged, I think they are
much more frequent than we’ve observed in the past.’
And that growing appreciation looks set to continue for
some years to come.
‘Growth is the only thing on our agenda,’ says Kapur. ‘So
we are here to stay. But we won’t stay just for the sake of
staying. We’re here to grow.’ <
The AmsterdamIndia connection
(Source: India-Amsterdam Historical Ties,
published by the City of Amsterdam,
Amsterdam City Archives, amsterdam in
business and Amsterdam Marketing)
The special bond between India and Amsterdam
goes back centuries. One of the first Dutchmen to
set foot on Indian soil was Jan Huyghen van Linschoten in 1583. During his five-year stay in Goa,
then a Portuguese colony, he amassed an enormous amount of information about trade in Asia
and the sea routes the Portuguese used to travel
from Europe to India. His extensive descriptions
and detailed maps enabled the Dutch to make
the same journey and establish their own trading
venture – the powerful Dutch East India Company
(VOC) – in 1602.
In 1669, Amsterdam nobleman Hendrik
Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakestein was appointed
commander of the VOC in Malabar on India’s
south-western coast. When not occupied with
VOC affairs, he dedicated his time to studying
local tropical plants and compiling a vast work on
those with economic or medical value. Published
between 1678 and 1703 in 12 parts and four languages (Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit and Malayam), his
Hortus Indicus was the first complete document of
the flora of an Asian region.
The VOC was dissolved in 1799, but the commercial and cultural ties between India and the
Netherlands have remained strong. Today, the
Netherlands is one of India’s top trading partners.
Conversely, India is the fifth largest investor in
the Netherlands and Indian companies regard
Amsterdam as a gateway to Europe. Since 2006,
the number of Indian companies to establish
themselves in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
has risen from 15 to 90. The majority of these are
active in the IT sector.
As a result of this long history, several Amsterdam
institutions have Indian heritage items in their collections. Indian miniatures, for instance, enjoyed
immense popularity in the 17th century. The city’s
mayor, Nicolaas Witsen (1641-1717), owned more
than 450 of these portraits. Many of them can
be found in the Rijksmuseum. The painter Rembrandt van Rijn also had a book ‘full of curious
miniature drawings’ from India, which he regularly
used as inspiration for his own work. <
© Rijksmuseum
© Jorrit Lousberg
smart city
Tech
and the
city
Amsterdam
Smart City
is a unique
partnership
between
businesses,
authorities,
research
institutions
and residents.
By fostering
collaboration,
it is enabling
innovative, techdriven solutions
to the most
pressing urban
challenges
text Cecily Layzell
ENABLING INNOVATION
The American
magazine Fast
Co.Exist published
a ranking of
Europe’s ten
smartest cities,
placing Amsterdam
second (after
Copenhagen) for
its innovation in
infrastructure,
technology and
entrepreneurship
FUTURE FOCUSED
The roof of the AMC University Hospital boasts an eyecatching red-and-white sign but, currently, little else. In
the future, it is hoped that this large, underutilised space
will become an important source of solar power, fulfilling
not only a portion of the hospital’s needs but also acting
as an energy interchange for other buildings in the area.
These include Amsterdam ArenA Stadium, which has
irregular but significant energy requirements determined
by football matches and other large-scale events. Called
Energiek Zuidoost, it is just one of dozens of projects initiated by Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) to make Amsterdam a pleasant, future-proof place to live, work and visit.
WHAT IS A SMART CITY?
There are several definitions of a smart city. Economists
Andrea Caragliu and Peter Nijkamp’s is perhaps the
most compelling: ‘A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when
investments in human and social capital and traditional
(transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a
high quality of life, with a wise management of natural
resources, through participatory action and engagement’
(Smart Cities in Europe, 2009).
The growing interest in smart cities is motivated by major challenges that include economic pressures, climate
change and resource scarcity. One of the main drivers,
however, is urbanisation. In the years to 2050, 98%
of global population growth – an estimated 1.8 billion
people – will take place in cities. Already densely populated, Amsterdam is also predicted to grow 12.5% by
2040. Figures like these make it clear that fresh thinking
and long-term planning are needed to maintain and even
improve the quality of urban life.
20 AMS
SMART MATCHMAKING
ASC was established in 2009 by the Amsterdam Economic Board, the Municipality of Amsterdam, grid
operator Alliander, KPN and the Amsterdam University
of Applied Sciences to foster collaboration and facilitate
solutions to these urban challenges. The initiative has
since grown into a platform with more than 70 innovative projects and 100 partners. These include AEB
Amsterdam (waste), Benext (energy management) and
Waternet (the only company in the country that focuses
on the complete water cycle).
Energy Atlas indicating gas and electricity use per city block.
The darker the colour, the higher the usage level
smart city
‘Key to the platform’s success,’ says ASC’s Vivienne GaarlandtBolsius, ‘is a bottom-up approach that encourages active involvement
of citizens and allows partners to test their technologies in a real-life
environment.’
She cites the example of Vehicle2Grid, which will enable owners of
a new model of Mitsubishi electric car in the borough of NieuwWest to use their car battery to store locally produced energy (e.g.
from solar panels). ‘Car owners can then decide what to do with the
energy: use it immediately to power the vehicle or run household appliances, or redirect it to the grid for use at a more convenient time,’
she explains. ‘Currently in the pilot phase, the goal is to develop a
suitable business model and roll out the cars globally.’ Similarly, the
Energy Atlas, an open-data tool that provides information on energy
use per urban area, neighbourhood and housing block, enables residents – and companies
– to monitor their energy consumption and
take action if necessary.
Vehicle2Grid
‘Although we are often dealing with some
Vehicle2Grid aims to advance the large-scale implementation of elecof the most advanced technology around,
tric vehicles, the use of solar energy and the energy independence of
what we do is not rocket science,’ says
households. The three-year pilot project was launched in the AmsterGaarlandt-Bolsius of ASC’s role. ‘It’s a case
dam borough of Nieuw-West in 2014. Residents participating in the
of knowing what the needs of the city or
pilot are able to use the battery in their electric car to store their locally
a certain neighbourhood are and bringing
produced energy (e.g. from solar panels). They can then decide what
together the right partners. It’s all about
to do with that energy: use it immediately, transfer it to the energy grid
smart collaboration.’
or store it for later use to power the car or run household appliances.
Energiek Zuidoost
Energiek Zuidoost was established to reduce the total ecological footprint of the area between Amsterdam ArenA Stadium and the AMC
University Hospital. The Energy Atlas (see below) identified this area
as having significant potential for energy saving and generation. In
collaboration with stakeholders, research is currently being conducted
into possible sustainable development initiatives. These include capturing and using waste heat from the area’s numerous data centres and
office buildings, switching to smart lighting (LED, WiFi, cameras etc.)
and installing solar panels on AMC’s roof.
Energy Atlas
The Energy Atlas is an interactive digital tool that maps energy use.
The tool, which gathers and makes publicly available data from a number of partners, can be used to track electricity and gas consumption
from a citywide level right down to individual housing blocks. The City
of Amsterdam has set the ambitious target of reducing CO2 emissions
by 40% in 2025 (compared to 1990 levels). It hopes that the Energy
Atlas will raise awareness among businesses and residents of energy
use as well as highlighting opportunities for energy conservation and
renewable energy generation.
21 AMS
PRIZE-WINNING INITIATIVE
ASC’s efforts have garnered widespread international attention. In 2011, the initiative
won the European City Star Award for successfully demonstrating sustainable energy
use. City Star is part of the Regio (Regional) Awards. These are handed out annually
in Brussels to projects submitted by member states that serve as a shining example to
other regions. ASC is the first Dutch project
to win the award. A year later, the American
magazine Fast Co.Exist published a ranking of Europe’s ten smartest cities, placing
Amsterdam second (after Copenhagen) for
its innovation in infrastructure, technology
and entrepreneurship. <
In less than
three years,
the number of
electric vehicles
on the streets of
Amsterdam has
increased more
than tenfold.
With innovative
new schemes
taking hold –
from charging
stations to
e-taxis – it seems
the city’s future
is electric
text Megan Roberts
Electric
dreams
Sander Ouwerkerk, CEO The New Motion. © Mike Roelofs
ELECTRIC TRANSPORT
SHARING IS CARING
The electric car industry has, of course, been evangelising
like this for many years, and for most drivers a world of
electric cars may seem no closer now than it did in those
1960s comic books.
But if there is anywhere it might work, it seems Amsterdam
is that place. The fleet of plug-in electric vehicles in the
Netherlands is the second highest per capita in the world
(narrowly beaten again by Norway), at around 1.7 vehicles
per 1,000 people: three times as many as the US and Japan,
the world’s two largest electric vehicle markets by volume.
Amsterdam is a remarkably compact city: within the
Amsterdam ring road, you are never more than 2km from
a public charging point. Along the city’s 400-year-old
canals, electric vehicles silently charging at power points are
becoming as common a sight as the hundreds of bridges
spanning them.
Meanwhile, car manufacturers from around the world –
including Tesla and Nissan – have come here to test and
showcase their latest electric vehicles in a notoriously forward-thinking market. Tesla not only established an assembly plant here in 2013, but also its operational headquarters
and a lavish showroom on Amsterdam’s luxury shopping
street, the PC Hooftstraat. ‘Tesla and the Netherlands share
a similar vision surrounding energy sustainability and a
clean future for generations to come,’ said George Blankenship, Tesla Motors’ former Vice President of Worldwide
Sales & Ownership Experience.
‘The City of
Amsterdam has
realised that clean
air is something
that is important
to society, and
they have been
a great partner
to work with on
the introduction
of electric
vehicles’ (Sander
Ouwerkerk, CEO
The New Motion)
The New Motion, in short
Founded in 2009 by software entrepreneur Alef Arendsen and banker Ritsaart van
Montfrans, The New Motion’s stated aim is to
help drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) ‘to be
able to drive as many kilometres on electricity as possible using, as much as possible,
electricity retrieved from renewable energy
sources, eradicating fossil fuel in everyday
transport’. One of the greatest challenges
for pure electric vehicles is ‘range anxiety’:
the fear that a battery may run dry while on
the road. The New Motion has established
a network of over 15,000 charging stations
across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Its product range is simple. You can buy
a charging point for your home or business
(costs range from €975 to €4,795; $1,100 to
$5,470), which the firm claims is faster and
safer than simply charging from a regular
power outlet. Or, with a charge card from the
firm, drivers can charge up at public charging points across the country and in parts of
Europe (at around €1 per hour or €30 per
hour for a fast charge; $1.14 and $34 respectively). A full regular charge takes from 2.5
to 4 hours, depending on the car model and
charger hours, while a fast charge gets most
EVs up to 80% in less than 30 minutes.
www.thenewmotion.com
23 AMS
VISION OF THE FUTURE
‘My son said the other day, “Daddy, what’s that sound the
camera on your phone makes when you take a picture?”
He’s never seen a normal camera. Our dream is that our
kids also won’t know what it is to drive petrol cars,’ says
Sander Ouwerkerk, CEO of The New Motion and evangelising advocate of electric vehicles (or EVs).
His ideal sounds like a 1960s comic-book vision of the
future, with cars hovering above the streets, emitting nothing worse than the low hum of their electric drive train. But
in Amsterdam, hovering aside, that dream is slowly coming
true. In 2013, 5.3% of all new vehicle registrations in the
Netherlands were either electric or electric-and-petrol
hybrids, the second highest proportion in the world,
narrowly behind Norway.
Part of the reason for that success is the company that
Ouwerkerk runs. The New Motion has helped to create the
network of over 15,000 charging points across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany that keep the electric fleet
running. A green certification plan means that any money
you pay for electricity goes to sustainable energy providers.
Ouwerkerk believes that the infrastructure in place here
could see purely electric vehicles – excluding hybrids –
account for 5% of all new vehicles sales by 2020, ‘and in
the ten years after that, up to possibly 60%’.
ENABLING INNOVATION
Tesla, in short
Founded in 2003 by a group of Silicon Valley engineers, Tesla
Motors launched the Tesla Roadster in early 2008 as a sports
car that can go from 0 to 60mph in 3.7 seconds and travel for
245 miles per charge. The premium sedan Model S arrived in
2012 to universal acclaim, receiving multiple ‘Car of the Year’
accolades. With 6,000 employees, more than 125 service centres and shops worldwide and road presence in 37 countries,
Tesla opened an assembly plant in the Netherlands in 2013,
as well as its operational headquarters. In June 2014, Tesla
CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company would be opensourcing its technology to increase the overall market for
electric vehicles.
www.teslamotors.com
MisterGreen, in short
Founded in 2008, MisterGreen was responsible for introducing
the first electric vehicles to the Netherlands. A brand-independent, low-cost and full-service operational leasing company
for EVs, MisterGreen also owns 25 super-charging locations
next to the main highways between the five largest Dutch cities
– Amsterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Rotterdam and The Hague
– which can be utilised for free by its operational lease clients.
www.mistergreen.nl
24 AMS
Car2Go, in short
A subsidiary of Daimler AG and founded in Germany in 2008,
Car2Go provides car-sharing services across Europe and North
America, with around 12,000 vehicles serving 29 cities and
900,000 customers. In keeping with its reputation as a forwardthinking and efficient test market, Amsterdam was the first city
to be serviced by an entirely electric fleet in November 2011.
Car2Go provides some 300 electric Smart cars, with bookings
managed via a downloadable smartphone app. The cars can
be recharged at any of Amsterdam’s street charging points
and, within the Amsterdam ring road, parking is free. The
hourly rate is €12.90 ($14.70) and the daily rate (24 hours) €39
($44), which includes insurance, taxes, electricity and parking
fees.
www.car2go.com
Taxi Electric, in short
Founded in 2001 by entrepreneurs Edvard Hendriksen, whose
background is in telecoms, and Ruud Zandvliet, a former private equity fund manager, Taxi Electric was the first taxi company in Amsterdam to provide a fully electric fleet. In addition
to minimising the environmental impact of a highly unsustainable industry, Taxi Electric also has a social enterprise element,
helping the over-50s and those long excluded from the job
market back into work. Within the next five years, Taxi Electric
aims to offer its services in all major European cities.
www.taxielectric.nl
COOPERATING FOR SUCCESS
Statistics show that once people start driving electric
vehicles their ‘repurchase intent’ is a staggering 95%. But
for those who remain unconvinced of the benefits of going
electric, Amsterdam’s EV leasing company MisterGreen is
the perfect intermediary step. Responsible for introducing
the first electric vehicles to the Netherlands, MisterGreen
lease drivers travelled 976,000 electric kilometres in 2013.
With conservative CO2 emissions averaging 100 grams per
km – and with a single tree removing an average of 2.6kg of
CO2 per year from the air – MisterGreen calculates that its
drivers effectively planted 76,900 trees that year.
And the Amsterdam municipality is keen to encourage such
green-minded entrepreneurialism: the Amsterdam Climate
& Energy Fund invested €2.5 million ($2.85 million) in
MisterGreen last year, helping the company towards its
ambition to reach 6,000 company car leases by 2016.
Sander Ouwerkerk of The New Motion also confirms that
a large portion of his company’s success is down to cooperation with the municipality: ‘The City of Amsterdam
has realised that clean air is something that is important to
society, and they have been a great partner to work with on
the introduction of EVs.’
TRANSPORT OF TOMORROW, TODAY
But in a compact city like Amsterdam, where most people’s
main – and often only – form of transport is a bike, family
cars aren’t necessarily the biggest polluters. The city’s many
taxis, however, are a different story.
Which is where Amsterdam’s Taxi Electric steps in, offering
a fully electric fleet. And while travelling by aeroplane may
not be the greenest mode of transportation, passengers
landing at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol can at least get
into town under pure electric power. In addition to Taxi
Electric, which offers a full airport service, in late 2014 the
airport introduced 167 Tesla Model S taxis, giving it the
largest fleet of all-electric taxis of any airport in the world.
‘This represents a crucial step in our efforts to reduce CO2
emissions and become one of the world’s most sustainable
airports,’ said Schiphol Group CEO Jos Nijhuis.
Electric vehicle rental scheme Car2Go, meanwhile, straddles the ownership and rental markets. Established in
Germany by automotive behemoth Daimler AG, Amsterdam was the first city to be serviced by Car2Go with an
entirely electric fleet. The city’s 300-odd Smart EVs have a
range that is estimated to be eight to ten times the average
rental duration, effectively factoring ‘range anxiety’ out of
the equation. Ouwerkerk’s electric dreams, it seems, are
becoming more and more tangible. <
Clockwise from top
Tesla Schiphol Taxi
Tesla showroom, PC Hooftstraat
Car2Go
© Elmer van der Marel
ENABLING INNOVATION
A
sustainable
way
to fly
With biofuels
emerging as
an increasingly
popular
alternative to
fossil fuels,
Dutch national
carrier KLM is
demonstrating
its industryleading
clean energy
credentials
text Megan Roberts
26 AMS
A timeline of KLM’s biofuel programme
November 2009: KLM launches the world’s first
successful passenger test flight operating on 50%
traditional kerosene and 50% biofuel.
2009: KLM cofounds SkyNRG together with ARGOS
(North Sea Petroleum) and Spring Associates. SkyNRG is
now the world’s market leader for sustainable kerosene,
supplying more than 15 carriers worldwide.
June 2011: KLM becomes the first airline in the world
to operate a series of 200 commercial flights, carrying
171 passengers, on aviation biofuels between Paris and
Amsterdam.
June 2012: KLM makes the world’s first-ever transatlantic
flight fuelled partly by sustainable biofuels to Rio de
Janeiro. This was the longest distance that any aircraft
had flown on biofuels.
—The launch of the KLM Corporate BioFuel Programme
offers KLM’s corporate customers the option to operate
some of their air travel on sustainable biofuel.
March 2013: KLM launches weekly transatlantic flights
partly powered by biofuel – making the Dutch national
carrier the first airline in the world to do so. The flights
travel from New York’s JFK Airport to Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol every Thursday for a period of six
months.
May 2013: KLM launches a series of biofuel flights to
Aruba and Bonaire.
ENABLING INNOVATION
DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE BIOFUELS
According to Greenpeace, in the ten years between 1990 and 2000,
emissions from aviation doubled. Figures from the Air Transport
Action Group (ATAG), meanwhile, show that the industry produced
705 million tonnes of CO2 in 2013. And while aviation currently accounts for a relatively small proportion of carbon emissions – around
2%-3% – with global air travel expected to expand substantially in
the coming years, that percentage will increase at what is predicted to
be an alarming rate.
‘Aviation will double in size worldwide in the next two decades,’ says
Ignaas Caryn, Director of Innovation at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
‘And because people will continue to fly, we need to take responsibility.’
In order to improve the sustainability of the industry – and its capacity for growth – existing jet fuel (kerosene) needs to be replaced with
an alternative that produces substantially fewer emissions and can
also be used in current aircraft. ATAG calculates that if commercial
aviation were to get 6% of its fuel supply from biofuel by 2020, its
overall carbon footprint would be reduced by 5%.
KLM’s dedication to achieving greater sustainability has been confirmed by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which has ranked KLM
(together with AIR FRANCE) as industry leader in the Transport sector
and the best in the Airline sector for the tenth consecutive year. KLM is
structurally investing in the development of sustainable biofuels.
Part of a short-term goal to integrate 1% of biofuel into all its flights
by 2015 and the larger Climate Action Plan that sees the company
aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% in 2020 compared to
2009 levels, KLM became a joint founder of eco-efficient jet fuel
supplier SkyNRG in 2010.
‘We believed the development of bio jet fuel was important, and
that we couldn’t organise it within the boundaries of KLM, so we
decided to come up with a new venture,’ says Caryn. ‘In the last five
years, SkyNRG has supplied approximately 25 airlines and become
KLM, in short
involved in several biojet projects worldwide.’
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded in 1919,
Yet one of the criticisms levelled against producing biofuels is that
making it the world’s oldest airline still operating
in places where people rely on locally grown crops, it makes food
under its original name.
supplies even less reliable and potentially more expensive. So KLM
In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to form the
and SkyNRG are focusing instead on biofuel that does not create
Air France-KLM Group, producing the strongest
a conflict of interest in terms of the use of land for food or fuel
European airline entity based on two powerful
brands and hubs: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and production. One such sustainable biofuel is sourced from used
cooking oil. It could result in 80% fewer CO2 emissions, KLM
Paris Charles de Gaulle.
In the Netherlands, KLM comprises the core of the estimates, and is among the first examples of the future range of
KLM Group, which further includes KLM Cityhopsustainable alternatives for fossil kerosene. The sole remaining
per, transavia.com and Martinair. KLM serves all
obstacle in developing the market is the price.
its destinations using a modern fleet and employs Biojet fuel is still three to four times more expensive than fossil fuel, in
over 33,000 people around the world.
large part because there’s no continuous production. KLM’s work with
KLM is a leader in the airline industry, offering reliSkyNRG – and SkyNRG’s cooperation with airports around the world
able operations and customer-oriented products
to create supply chains of sustainable jet fuel – should, ultimately, bring
resulting from its policy of enthusiasm and sustain- down the price. ‘With an increase in volume, we could see price parity
able innovation.
with fossil fuels within the next five to ten years,’ says Caryn. <
28 AMS
‘KLM is a frontrunner in the
development and
use of sustainable
biofuel to curb
CO2 emissions in
aviation’
(Johan van der
Gronden, CEO
WWF-NL)
KLM is a member of the global SkyTeam airline alliance, offering customers an extensive worldwide
network. The KLM network connects the Netherlands to every important economic region in the
world and, as such, serves as a powerful driver for
the economy.
www.klm.com
Colleen Geske
Nothing rhymes with orange
One month later I was back in town with two
massive suitcases, a pair of rose-tinted glasses
and endless questions. Over the years, most
of my questions have been answered, but the
Dutch and their unusual cultural quirks
continue to fascinate.
TULIP MANIA
When most people think of the Dutch, they
think of windmills, clogs and tulips. All very
Dutch indeed – apart from the tulip, that is.
The tulip’s colourful presence in the Netherlands is owed to the Ottoman Empire (by
way of trade) and a Flemish botanist who
discovered that the unusual flowers thrived
in the harsh climate of the Lowlands. During
the Golden Age, irrational enthusiasm for the
flowers triggered a speculative frenzy and a
spectacular market crash. Many a Dutch lost
their entire life’s savings during ‘tulip mania’,
yet the popularity of the tulip has stubbornly
persevered.
Herring, on the other hand, is not for the faint
of heart. For those brave enough to give it a
try, it’s important to know that the very act of
eating herring is an art in itself. To go Dutch,
you must grab the fish by its tiny tail, throw
back your head to a slightly uncomfortable
angle and take one large bite. This delightful
little performance has even the most humble
Dutch person brimming with nationalistic
delight.
Of all the edible eccentricities, hagelslag
(chocolate sprinkles) tops my list. In most
countries, sprinkles are reserved for the likes
of children’s birthday cakes. In the Netherlands, however, it is perfectly normal for an
adult to lunch on a piece of bread covered
in chocolate sprinkles. Who says you need to
grow up?
OUTGROWING THE COMPETITION
Even with their interesting eating habits, the
Dutch must be doing something right as they
have literally soared above their competition.
In only a century’s time, the Dutch went from
being one of the shortest nations to being the
tallest people on the planet. Was it a winning
combination of health care, nutrition and
living conditions or an evolutionary reaction
to rising sea levels? One thing is sure: you
will feel much shorter when visiting the
Netherlands!
The cultural quirks of the Dutch certainly
are endearing: keep your eyes and ears open
and chances are you will encounter many an
The country’s most popular dish has also
oddity while in the Netherlands. Prepare to
managed to stand the test of time. Stamppot,
be surprised, bewildered and intrigued as you
potatoes mashed with one or more vegetables experience the beauty of a new culture slowly
and usually served with sausage, is said to be
revealing its true colours. In this case, don’t be
the oldest Dutch dish, originating in the 1600s. surprised if it’s orange. <
The Dutch diet, like stamppot, is a hearty one.
It may not be as refined as its French or Italian
neighbours, but it still knows how to please.
Nothing beats a a mound of stamppot on a
crisp winter’s night.
Going
Dutch
Colleen Geske is the best-selling author of
the book Stuff Dutch People Like, based on
the popular blog of the same name. The
blog’s social community now numbers over
250,000 followers. Colleen is originally from
Winnipeg, Canada and has lived in Europe
since 2004. When not writing, she is a communications and social media consultant.
www.stuffdutchpeoplelike.com
photo Robin de Puy
‘Eating herring
is an art. To go
Dutch, you must
grab the fish by
its tiny tail, throw
back your head
and take one large
bite’
29 AMS
I first arrived in Amsterdam on a cold, wet day
in 2004. I had precisely three days to determine whether I was going to pack up my entire
life in Canada, kiss my family and friends
goodbye and move to the Lowlands for a twoyear contract at an online media company. For
three days straight the rain poured and the
wind howled, yet somehow, stepping out of my
hotel on that second day, I knew the decision
had already been made. Amsterdam had stolen
my heart and it wasn’t planning on giving it
back anytime soon.
life in amsterdam
‘The happiest,
most productive
workplace in the
world’
Just as the Google search engine is geographically
localised, so too are the company’s regional
outposts. Uniting local heritage and the bold,
primary-coloured Google aesthetic, the quirky
Amsterdam office has been designed to reflect and
complement the company’s unique working culture
text Megan Roberts
photography Alan Jensen
32 AMS
life in amsterdam
THE GOOGLE OFFICE AESTHETIC
The world’s most popular search engine may
have started life in a California garage (as did
fellow multimillion-dollar companies Disney,
Amazon, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and, famously, Apple), but it was with Google’s first
campus in Mountain View that a distinctly
‘Google’ office aesthetic was born.
Sprawling and sunny, Google Mountain View
(aka the Googleplex) is a kind of parallel-universe Stanford University – where, incidentally, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin first
met. In the London office, meanwhile, walls
are plastered in Union Jacks and curvy velvet
Chesterfields line the relaxation areas, while
the corridors of the New York office are complete with subway grates and fire hydrants. In
Amsterdam, you know from the minute you
reach the reception desk – which is fashioned
to look like a Dutch carrier bike – that this is
not your average workspace.
This playful office aesthetic may be common
in the creative industries today, but back in
the early Noughties, Google was one of the
first multinationals to recognise – and, crucially, to act upon – the fact that a company’s
performance can be directly linked to how
happy people are in the workplace. Google’s
quirky offices – full of ‘huddle rooms’ to
encourage collaboration, recreational facilities and dedicated meditation areas – not only
support the company’s image but also probably contribute to its success.
In Amsterdam, architecture bureau D/DOCK
was charged with redesigning the company’s
offices in the south of the city. They took as
their inspiration the garage where Page and
Brin began Google, daubing walls with graffiti, hanging cardboard box lights from the
exposed ceilings and adding in a healthy dose
of Dutch heritage.
The whimsy continues – stroopwafels hang
from the canteen ceiling and a meeting room
comes in the guise of a vintage caravan – but
meets functionality in the desk bikes, where
Googlers can exercise muscle and brain
simultaneously.
But behind the wit, ergonomics and sustainability were paramount to the redesign.
D/DOCK exclusively used non-toxic materials and designed the space with a focus on
minimising energy and water consumption,
up-cycling old fittings and furniture wherever possible. Huddled around a central hub
of meeting rooms, micro-kitchens and video
booths, every workstation is adjacent to a
window, so natural light is guaranteed – not to
mention 180-degree city views.
Coen van Dijck, partner at D/DOCK, explains the theory: ‘It is a place that makes the
employee perform better by offering a work
environment that meets their needs. Happiness, comfort, flexibility, relaxation, wellbalanced nutrition, exercise, daylight, fresh air
and visual stimulation are some of the fundamentals that make this office a healthy one.’
Not only healthy, but also productive, as research carried out by the University of Exeter,
UK, into the psychological effects of designled workplaces, confirms. ‘Not only does
office design determine whether people’s
backs ache, it has the potential to affect how
much they accomplish, how much initiative they take and their overall professional
satisfaction,’ says researcher Professor Alex
Hassam.
According to a spokesperson, Google aims
‘to create the happiest, most productive
workplace in the world.’ Given that they’re
consistently named among the world’s best
companies to work for, it seems they’re close
to achieving that aim. <
Google’s quirky
offices not
only support
the company’s
image but
also probably
contribute to its
success
Google, in short
Founded in 1998 and incorporated that same year, Google (a
play on the word ‘googol’, the
mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros) specialises
in internet-related services and
products. These include online
advertising technologies, search,
cloud computing and software.
Google went public in August
2014, and today it has more than
70 offices in over 40 countries,
employing in excess of 40,000
people. Google’s mission statement from the outset was ‘to
organise the world’s information
and make it universally accessible and useful’. The corporation
has been estimated to run more
than one million servers in data
centres around the world (as of
2007), and to process over one
billion search requests and about
24 petabytes of user-generated
data each day (as of 2009). In
October 2014, Interbrand ranked
Google the second most valuable brand in the world (behind
Apple), with a valuation of
$107.4 billion.
www.google.com
life in amsterdam
Life through
a lens
The Amsterdam Canals
Olivares’ latest publication, The Amsterdam
Canals, is a celebration of modern life in the
city’s UNESCO World Heritage-protected
waterways. Viewed through his lens, the history of this 400-year-old marvel of engineering is placed in the background, behind the
stories of the people who live and work here.
http://toalaolivares.com
Above: Bird’s-eye view of the Canal Ring, taken from
near Rembrandtplein, by Cris Toala Olivares
Page 36: Rembrandt Tower; Zuidas by Roel Baeckaert
Page 37: Rijksmuseum by John Lewis Marshall;
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Page 38: Skaters on Keizersgracht, by Cris Toala
Olivares
35 AMS
Ecuadorian-born Cris Toala Olivares (1982)
moved to the Netherlands at age 18 to
study social work. During a volunteer job at
a hospital in Gaza, he discovered the power
of photography and has never looked back.
Since then the award-winning photographer
has travelled the world telling the stories of
the traditionally voiceless.
AMS
events in
Keukenhof
It’s worth the trip out of town to experience this annual theme park of flowers.
Set amid the blazing carpets of tulips in
the province of South Holland, the
Keukenhof is an eye-popping floral fiesta
featuring parades, special shows and
pavilions just waiting for your camera’s
attention. This year’s inspiration is Vincent
van Gogh, who died 125 years ago in July.
20 March-17 May 2015 | www.keukenhof.nl
text Megan Roberts
Self-Portrait with two Circles, 1665-’6
Late Rembrandt
Experimental, uncompromising and
incorporating radical technical advances:
despite falling out of favour, Rembrandt
produced some of his finest, most daring and intimate work in the later years
of his life. In association with London’s
National Gallery, the Rijksmuseum presents its first retrospective of this final,
distinctive phase of the Old Master’s
oeuvre, with more than 90 paintings,
drawings and prints drawn from museums and private collections around
the world.
Until 17 May 2015 | www.rijksmuseum.nl
MICExperience
This three-day networking
event brings together conference and meeting planners
from around the world with
the Amsterdam hospitality
sector, showcasing all that the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
has to offer the meetings,
incentives, conferences and
events industry.
22-24 April 2015 | www.iamsterdam.com
© Debra Barraud
King’s Day
Mark 27 April in your diary with a bright orange highlighter: amid an
outpouring of national pride, live music, street markets and parties, you’ll
experience an atmosphere like no other. You’ll also be treated to a sea of
vivid orange as everyone and their pet is clad head-to-toe in the vibrant
hue in honour of the royal family, whose affiliation with the colour dates
back to William of Orange.
27 April 2015 | www.iamsterdam.com
27
King’s Day
MICExperience
April
22-24
Keukenhof
20 March17 May
40 AMS
March
until
17 May
Late
Rembrandt
2015
Holland Festival
Presenting Western and non-Western
masterpieces from the worlds of dance,
theatre and music since its first outing in
1947, this trend-setting performing arts
festival is a sell-out year after year. As
well as more traditional theatrical performances, the 2015 edition also sees a
pop-opera from Japanese hologram pop
star Hatsune Miku, featuring 3D anime
visuals.
30 May-23 June 2015 | www.hollandfestival.nl
I AMSTERDAM STORE
Providing quality information, tickets and
inspiration to residents and visitors alike,
the new I amsterdam store housed in the
redesigned IJhal at Central Station will
showcase the best Amsterdam brands.
Every few weeks the collection of products in the store will focus on a different
theme, kicking off with the Sail15 event
this summer. It’s set to be the place to
get a daily overview of what’s happening in town and be inspired by the best
Amsterdam has to offer.
© Peter Kooijman
Open
Garden
Days
One of the things that makes
Amsterdam’s 17th-century
Canal Belt so special – as
recognised by its place on the
UNESCO World Heritage List
– is its unique configuration
of waterways, houses and
gardens. While the first two
are clearly visible to anyone
passing, the latter, the
gardens, are safely tucked
away out of sight. For one
weekend a year, the public
gets access to 30 of the most
majestic of these private
oases hidden behind the city’s
historic canal houses, gaining
a glimpse into the luxurious
lifestyle of the wealthy during
the Golden Age.
© Otto van den Toorn
Robeco
SummerNights
During July and August, Amsterdam’s
Royal Concertgebouw hosts two
months of exceptional music – from
classical to jazz and from cabaret to
film scores – during Robeco
SummerNights. Some 80 concerts
feature internationally renowned
orchestras and soloists.
Dates to be announced, July-August 2015
www.concertgebouw.nl/en/robeco-summernights
19-21 June 2015 | www.opentuinendagen.nl
41 AMS
Robeco
SummerNights
July
JulyAugust
June
19-21
Open
Garden
Days
Holland
Festival
May
30 May23 June
Opens summer 2015 | Central Station, IJhal | www.iamsterdam.com
AMS
events in
Sail Amsterdam 2015
IBC2015
Compulsory viewing for
those in this glamorous but
competitive industry, the
International Broadcasting
Convention attracts more than
50,000 attendees each year to
Amsterdam’s mammoth RAI
convention centre, and incorporates an exhibition of stateof-the-art electronic media
technology – not to mention
unbeatable networking opportunities. For anyone involved
in the creation, management
or delivery of entertainment
worldwide, it’s a case of tune
in or miss out.
Cruising into Amsterdam every five years, Sail sees a flotilla of tall ships,
historic sailing vessels and luxury boats from around the world float along
the River IJ before docking near the city centre, where they can be visited
free of charge for four days. The largest nautical event in the world – and
the biggest event in the Netherlands – Sail is a don’t-miss celebration of
the city’s maritime heritage.
19-23 August 2015 | www.sail.nl
Haarlem
Jazz City
The biggest free jazz festival on the continent takes place in the historic city
centre of Haarlem, a hop, skip and a
jump from Amsterdam. National and
international artists and DJs play jazz,
funk, soul, hip hop, R&B and electro at
five stages across the city, each themed
by genre.
19-22 August 2015 | www.haarlemjazzandmore.nl
© Bron Edo Landwehr
10-15 September 2015 | www.ibc.org
© E van Eis
Grachtenfestival
They may have one of the world’s best-loved
concert halls on their doorstep, but for ten
days each August, Amsterdammers young
and old squash together on deckchairs lining
the city’s canals or in historic private residences where they rub shoulders with the
young musicians they’ve come to see perform. A unique – and uniquely accessible
– celebration of both classical music and
Amsterdam’s distinctive aquatic architecture,
the Grachtenfestival attracts around 55,000
visitors each year.
14-23 August 2015 | www.grachtenfestival.nl
IBC
September
10-15
Sail
Amsterdam
2015
19-23
Haarlem
Jazz City
19-22
14-23
42 AMS
August
Grachtenfestival
2015
Fringe Festival
Ten days, 80 theatre groups, 40 locations: Fringe is the edgy, experimental,
language-no-problem little sister of the
annual Dutch Theatre Festival (www.tf.nl).
Expect performance, live art, (music)
theatre, dance and uninhibited energy.
3-13 September 2015
www.amsterdamfringefestival.nl
© Johan Vivie
Amsterdam
Dance Event
The world’s biggest club
festival and Europe’s leading
electronic music conference,
Amsterdam Dance Event
(ADE) is a true dance lovers’
Mecca. While 1,700 worldclass DJs entertain some
300,000 clubbers by night at
venues across the city, the
business of future trends and
technological advances takes
place in broad daylight, at the
conference portion.
Munch : Van Gogh
A unique exhibition showing for the
first time the many striking parallels
in the oeuvres and artistic ambitions
of kindred souls Vincent van Gogh
and Edvard Munch. Seventy paintings
(including Munch’s ‘The Scream’) and
30 works on paper trace the artists’
common stylistic developments and
influences.
25 September 2015-17 January 2016
www.vangoghmuseum.nl
14-18 October 2015
www.amsterdam-dance-event.nl
Unseen Photo Fair
This year sees the fourth edition of Unseen, ‘a photo fair with a
festival flair’. More than 50 international and Dutch galleries will
be showing and selling work by undiscovered talents and unseen
work by established photographers. Highlights include The
Unseen Collection: 80 works under €1,000 for novice collectors.
Edvard Munch, Starry Night, 1922 © The Munch
Museum/Munch-Ellingsen-Gruppen/BONO 2013
43 AMS
ADE
October
14-18
Fringe
Festival
3-13
25
September17 January
2016
Munch :
Van Gogh
18-20
Unseen
Photo Fair
18-20 September 2015 | www.unseenamsterdam.com
AMS
events in
IDFA
The world’s biggest and most dynamic
documentary film festival takes over
cinemas and other venues in the heart of
Amsterdam, bringing new perspectives
on hot topics and sparking intelligent
debate. All films are subtitled in English,
which is great news for visitors and film
industry delegates alike.
18-29 November 2015 | www.idfa.nl
Museum Night
A chance to see an array of Amsterdam’s museums and cultural institutions in a completely new light, when
they open their doors late into the
night for a host of special events, performances and presentations, many
with an anarchic edge. One passepartout ticket grants you access to all
the action.
7 November 2015 | www.n8.nl
Cinekid
© GJ van Rooij
Amsterdam Art Weekend
An annual showcase of contemporary art in all its forms.
Held over four days and 40 locations, this year’s edition
features exhibitions, performances, video screenings, debates, residencies and a programme for professionals. At
the heart of the weekend is the discovery of young talent.
From the childhood classics of yesteryear through the
pioneering technological techniques of tomorrow,
the Cinekid children’s media festival celebrates and
screens the best of youth-oriented media. Cinekid for
Professionals, meanwhile, is a four-day industry programme aimed at international professionals working
within the field of youth media. The event brings together broadcasters, distributors, directors, academics and journalists for the opportunity to network with
the sector’s leading players.
15-24 October 2015 | www.cinekid.nl
26-29 November 2015 | www.amsterdamart.com
Amsterdam
Art Weekend
26-29
IDFA
18-29
Arrival
of Sinterklaas
14
November
7
Museum
Night
15-24
44 AMS
October
Cinekid
2015
Integrated Systems Europe
The world’s best-attended tradeshow for the professional
AV and electronic systems industry returns to Amsterdam
RAI for three days of global new technology launches,
world-class education and countless business and networking
opportunities.
9-12 February 2016 | www.iseurope.org
Amsterdam
Light Festival
Everything is illuminated for the Amsterdam Light Festival, which sheds light on
some of the city centre’s most beautiful
and historical locations during six of the
bleakest winter weeks. Art installations,
light exhibits, a canal parade and illuminated walking routes explore and celebrate
the play of light and water that so enchanted some of the city’s Golden Age artists.
Dates to be announced, November 2015-January 2016
www.amsterdamlightfestival.com
© Peter Stigter
Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week Amsterdam
Sashaying into town twice a year, Amsterdam Fashion Week not only brings together the cream of the international fashion
scene, but also reaches out to the general
public with its DOWNTOWN programming, encompassing pop-up stores, exhibitions, fashion shows and themed walking
tours.
© Janus van den Eijnden
Dates to be announced, January 2016
www.amsterdamfashionweek.com
45 AMS
February
9-12
Integrated
Systems
Europe
Amsterdam
Fashion Week
January
January
2016
December
5
Sinterklaas
Amsterdam
Light
Festival
NovemberJanuary
2016
2016
foto
STCA is an important centre of expertise for catalysis research and development. A researcher prepares a catalyst for testing
SHELL R&D
Shell invests
more than
any other
international
oil and gas
company in the
development
of innovative
technology.
From its stateof-the-art
research centre
in Amsterdam
(STCA), the
company
expects to
devote several
hundred million
euros a year
to R&D in the
Netherlands
alone
‘Innovation
is like a
contact
sport’
47 AMS
text Paul Anstiss
the business of science
Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam by night, 2010
48 AMS
‘I’m always amazed
at how excited
people get about
the idea of working
and living in
Amsterdam’
(Hans Peter Calis,
Site Manager
STCA)
CATHEDRAL TO SCIENCE
The first thing that you notice when you enter the Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam (STCA) on the north bank of the
IJ is its sheer size. Your eyes are lifted upwards to the vast roof
that covers 80,000m2 of laboratories, test halls, workshops and
offices. Even on a grey day, the light streams through the glass
walls. There is a perception of space. But how could there not
be in a building the equivalent area of 11 UEFA-sized football
pitches? And yet this cathedral to science and modernity has an
intimacy of its own, where employees are encouraged to mingle
and share ideas.
The building boasts its own green credentials and is virtually
CO2 neutral. Temperature is controlled by an underground
heat/cold storage, in combination with heat pumps that are
powered by electricity generated by Shell’s wind farm in the
North Sea.
Although there is a decisiveness to the structure, it is amazingly
informal. In reality, nothing has been left to chance. Walkways
linking different parts of the building are strategically dotted
with comfortable sofas and chairs. It is here that scientists and
researchers rub shoulders with colleagues over a cup of coffee
and the next innovative idea is conceived. Interaction between
people from different disciplines, backgrounds and experience is encouraged. Site manager Hans Peter Calis (or ‘HP’ as
he is generally called) says it is a far cry from Shell’s previous
research centre, which was located in the same area.
‘We had a research location here with 40 or so buildings and
people would come in the morning and go to their respective
workplaces, do their thing and go home in the afternoon.
shell
COMMITMENT TO R&D
Shell spends more than any other international oil and gas company on the development of innovative technology. STCA is one
of three major Shell technology centres worldwide, and invests
about $1 million a day. It’s a significant sum of money and adds
up to about one quarter of the more than $1 billion that Shell
spends on R&D annually. The company expects to invest several
hundred million euros a year more in R&D in the Netherlands
in the future.
The STCA building was commissioned in 2009 and staff recently celebrated its first anniversary. HP says the fact that Shell
decided not to site its new research centre elsewhere demonstrates the company’s commitment to Amsterdam as a location.
He points out that a lot of thought went into the decision-making since no one builds a technology hub to last just a few years.
STCA’s main purpose is to create new and innovative technology that can be applied to such things as the design of a new
platform or refinery. Once the technology has been developed,
the centre also supports its operation. Within Shell, STCA is
known for its expertise in enhanced oil recovery, gas technology
and CO2 capture and storage, hydro processing, base chemicals
and alternative energy solutions such as biomass usage.
STCA is one of
three major Shell
technology centres
worldwide, and
invests about $1
million a day
49 AMS
We came to realise that innovation is like a contact sport like
hockey or football. It only gets fun and productive if people
bump into each other. If you want people to have these chance
encounters where real inspiration starts, you need to put them
under one roof. In terms of connectivity, having everyone in one
big building contributes enormously to the exchange of ideas.’
the business of science
INTERNATIONAL
DIVERSITY
Although there are only 1,000
people working on the vast site,
the workforce is very international. Some 27% per cent of
the staff comes from 50 different
countries. While some stay for a
few years, others never leave. HP
says Amsterdam’s easy transport
connections to Europe and the
rest of the world makes it very
appealing to expats.
‘If we want the best brains in the
world and to attract people to a
location, it needs to be an international location. Amsterdam
is a very international city. It
ranks high in many of the lists of
places to be.’
He adds: ‘Particularly for
international staff, if you want someone to move to the
Netherlands you need to offer them something. Amsterdam is an attractive city in which to offer people work. I’m
always amazed at how excited people get about the idea of
working and living in Amsterdam.’
Such is the range of challenging and rewarding projects on
offer at the technology centre that scientists from around
the world are keen to work there. Converting gas into
liquid form is one of the key areas of research at STCA
and Shell is considered the world leader in this technology. Gas as a liquid is much easier to transport to markets
around the globe. It is also cleaner and cheaper. Shell
started to work on alternatives to crude oil in 1973 and
built its first pilot plant in Amsterdam in 1983. Minimising CO2 emissions is part of STCA’s mission. HP says
that by producing novel products, Shell can help customers become more energy efficient. ‘Electricity from gas
produces half the amount of CO2 compared to producing
the same amount of electricity from coal.’
50 AMS
‘If we want the
best brains in
the world and to
attract people to a
location, it needs
to be international.
Amsterdam is a
very international
city. It ranks high in
many of the lists of
places to be’
(Hans Peter Calis,
Site Manager STC)
Scientists at the research centre are also focused on converting gas into synthetic substitutes for oil products such
as transportation fuels, lubricants, feedstock, biodegradable detergents, plastics, fibres or raw materials for clothing. Recently, a new fully synthetic lubricant developed at
STCA was brought to the market. According to HP, it has
some unique properties and the benefits can already be
seen on the streets of Amsterdam.
‘Cars and trucks drive more efficiently using less fuel and
producing fewer emissions. It’s a great story, showing that
technology being developed over the years in Amsterdam
at some point comes back as products that help the city to
become cleaner. I like to call it the development of things.
It’s not like we make a discovery, like something is there
and you find it, you are suddenly rich or you solve all the
problems of the world. It’s more like Einstein said: “One
per cent inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Breakthroughs
often take a long time and long commitments.’
INNOVATE OR DIE
As well as being recognised as one of the key players in the
international oil industry, Shell has a strong reputation for
developing new technology. HP sees innovation as key to
Shell’s future and warns that: ‘If we don’t keep innovating,
at some point we become obsolete.’
The laboratories and workshops at STCA are well
equipped and much of the machinery and test equipment
is designed and built in-house. Shell was the first to use
an industrial computer in its work in Amsterdam. Today,
STCA boasts the first and only state-of-the-art 3D metal
printer in the Netherlands. It allows technicians in the
Experimental Installations Department to create their own
unique specialist instruments and print parts that were
previously impossible to manufacture.
Products are built layer by layer from metal powder with
thicknesses of 20 to 80 microns. Lasers then melt the
layers into a solid whole. The technique produces almost
no waste. The revolutionary piece of equipment is similar
to that used by NASA to build specific parts for the latest
generation of space rockets.
Literally, from a rough sketch conceived and drawn up on
a napkin after a chance encounter with a colleague on one
of the walkways, a concept can be honed with the help of a
computer-aided design program and printed overnight in
metal. It’s an invaluable piece of equipment for speeding
up innovation.
SHELL R&D
CLOSE COLLABORATION
STCA’s influence is felt beyond Amsterdam and its employees have
the opportunity to share their knowledge, expertise and equipment
with several Dutch universities and institutions. They collaborate
closely with Delft University of Technology, for instance, on geophysics
projects such as enhanced oil recovery and fluid flow. They also collaborate with Eindhoven University of Technology and Shell’s largest
research partner in the Netherlands, Netherlands Organisation for
Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
Two projects involving the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the
Mauritshuis in The Hague have helped to establish the authenticity
of paintings by analysing chemicals used in pigments and brushstroke
techniques. One Old Master at the Mauritshuis took on a new lease
of life when STCA scientists were able to identify a black substance
that covered it. As a result, they were able to develop a gel to clean the
painting without damaging it. HP says not only is the collaboration a
great help to the museums, it allows scientists and researchers to use
their skills in other ways.
‘It presents new challenges. That’s what researchers like. They need to
develop new techniques and then once they’ve helped the folks in the
museums, they might also be able to use those techniques in our own
R&D. So it cuts both ways.’
HP says that Shell’s commitment to R&D will take it well into the
next century. He acknowledges that although mankind has made great
strides and become twice as energy efficient over the last half century,
there is still much to do.
‘We have increased our efficiency by a factor of two. The great thing
is, we can do it again. It may take another 50 years, and even if you
take that into account we will still need 60% more energy than today,
just because the population is increasing and people are getting more
prosperous. From that perspective, that’s why we have to innovate.’
Hans Peter Calis
Photo: Titia Hahne
STCA, in short
Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam (STCA) was established in
2009. It is one of three major Shell
technology centres worldwide and
invests about $1 million a day.
This amount makes up around
one quarter of the more than $1
billion that Shell spends on R&D
annually. The company expects
to invest several hundred million
euros a year more in R&D in the
Netherlands in the future.
Occupying 80,000m2 – equivalent
to 11 UEFA-sized football pitches
– STCA houses laboratories, test
halls, workshops and offices. The
centre’s main purpose is to create innovative technology that
can be applied to such things as
the design of a new platform or
refinery. Once the technology has
been developed, the centre also
supports its operation. Within
Shell, STCA is known for its expertise in enhanced oil recovery, gas
technology and CO2 capture and
storage, hydro processing, base
chemicals and alternative energy
solutions such as biomass usage.
51 AMS
STCA also has its own glass-blowing laboratory, where specialist glassblowers create research instruments used in experiments that can work
under 70 bars of pressure and withstand heat of 1,000 degrees Celsius.
However, despite cutting-edge equipment, the scientists at STCA are
equally proud of an old lathe from the 1940s that is still in use today. It
was originally funded as part of the US Marshall Plan in the desperate
days of shortage following the Second World War.
With typical Dutch pragmatism, HP says, ‘If it’s not broken and still
does the job, why replace it with something else?’ However, he adds:
‘We want to be the most innovative company in terms of the technology and products we bring to the world. To achieve that, you also need
to have modern equipment. The 3D printer demonstrates once again
that we want to be the first to adopt the technologies available and use
them for our own benefit.’
In 1914, Shell opened a new laboratory in Amsterdam, with a staff of nine, on a site suitable for expansion
SHELL R&D
Shell in Amsterdam
By the turn of the new millennium, however,
it became clear that a new facility was needed
to keep up with the changes in science,
research and technology. To stay competitive,
Shell needed to innovate. The company decided to sell most of the site for development
and construct a new state-of-the-art building
with all activities under one roof.
In 2009, Shell’s new technology centre was
officially opened in the presence of His Royal
Highness the Prince of Orange. The completed building marked a new era in science
and research.
Today, what was an old and seemingly chaotic industrial site is being transformed into
a sustainable and innovative urban environment, with STCA playing a major part. The
‘North Amsterdam Quarter’, also known
as the Overhoeks district, is now one of the
places to be. Swanky apartments with private
gyms and balconies that overlook the water
During WWII, research activity decreased
have sprung up. EYE, the iconic new film
considerably. In those years, scientists apand television museum completed in 2011,
plied their skills and knowledge to other
beckons those from across the water who are
areas such as the conversion of cars so that
mesmerised by its sleek lines and sparkling
they could run on gas. They also looked at
white facade.
how certain agents could be used to protect
Yet although there is little of the past left to
plants against disease.
see, not everything is being brushed into the
After the war, Shell expanded again and
history books. The Shell tower that was once
invested heavily in its research work. Techat the heart of the sprawling former research
nology developed quickly and the research
complex is being given a new lease of life.
centre soon occupied 27 hectares. However,
Currently under construction and due to
the higgledy-piggledy nature of the complex
reopen in mid-2015, the revamped building
meant that there were few opportunities for
will house two clubs, a panoramic bar with a
those working there to interact. The research dance floor, a 70-metre-high sky deck, sound
centre was also isolated from the local comstudios and a hotel. It will also be the headmunity by high fences and the River IJ. Many quarters of three major events organisers:
people living on the southern bank didn’t
ID&T, Q-dance and MassiveMusic. <
even consider it to be part of Amsterdam.
What was an old
and seemingly
chaotic industrial
site is being
transformed into
a sustainable and
innovative urban
environment, with
STCA playing a
major part
53 AMS
Shell started its research work in 1914, in
a modest building on the north bank of the
River IJ. At the time, there were only nine
employees and their work was limited in
scope, initially focused on solving production
problems.
Between 1914 and 1927, Shell’s researchers
concentrated their efforts on gaining a better
understanding of the chemical analysis of oil
and oil processes.
The nature of the work in the Amsterdam
research centre intensified, and in 1927 a
chemistry department was built. Scientists
used the facility to create nitrogen fertilisers
and petroleum products. Research into soaps
and agrochemicals followed.
Work expanded as the number of researchers
grew. Pilot plants were built and attention
shifted towards discovering how the results
of experimental tests could be applied to the
industry.
Former Shell research laboratory, 1914
ENZA ZADEN
The Dutch are
the world’s
largest seed
exporters. From
‘Seed Valley’,
just north of
Amsterdam,
the family-run
Enza Zaden has
grown into a
global enterprise
that has been
applying new
technology to
the traditional
discipline for
some seven
decades
‘For the
green
industry, this
is the place
to be’
text Matt Farquharson
photography Amke
ENZA ZADEN
‘In the 17th
century,
Amsterdam was
the centre of the
world. Seed Valley
was the supplier
of Amsterdam’s
vegetables, beans
and so on, which
were transported
by boat down to
the city’
(Jaap Mazereeuw,
MD Enza Zaden)
and development, making it as much about science
graduates in lab coats as agriculturalists in overalls.
‘To develop a new variety takes seven to 12 years. We
introduce 150 new varieties each year, so there is a constant pipeline of innovation,’ says Mazereeuw.
The firm doesn’t genetically modify its seeds, but relies on
‘classic breeding’, whereby two or more types of plant are
bred together to see what benefits can be extracted. This
is combined with modern, highly advanced technology to
make the breeding processes a lot faster and more efficient.
‘We spend a lot of research on resisting pests and disease. In Holland, growers strive to minimise the use of
HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE
pesticides. We do a lot on resistance breeding to improve
To understand what he means, it’s helpful to explore the
product quality and prevent crop loss. We also put a lot
main Enza Zaden site. Past the small fleet of Opel Ampera of research into taste, because there’s no such thing as
hybrid cars, and the facilities for generating electricity from a “good taste”. Tastes vary per region, but also through
water, are greenhouses and packaging stations.
your life. We provide choices.’
Mazereeuw picks out a small hessian sack that holds about Perfecting those choices is a complex business. Mazera kilo of tomato seeds and is worth about the same as a car. eeuw estimates that as few as 2% of trials result in a seed
‘But that’s not the whole story,’ he says. ‘That seed
that goes to market.
maybe took ten years of research and €3 million ($3.4
‘All the knowledge is in the genetics and the seed is the
million) to develop. And in the end, every seed will give
package,’ he says. ‘It has to do with yield consistency,
35kg of tomatoes. There’s a lot of food in here.’
reliability and consistency against environmental stress.
The production of seeds is a high-tech business. Enza
Every market has its own needs. We have 1,000 varieties
Zaden spends around 30% of its turnover on research
and each line is tailor-made. They vary a lot for climate,
soil, disease, temperature, hours of daylight, whether
grown in soil or a greenhouse. And for the consumer, it’s
about health, taste, no pesticides and long shelf life.’
57 AMS
TEACHING THE WORLD TO GROW FOOD
A little way north of Amsterdam there is a peninsula of
green fields that juts into the still, blue IJsselmeer lake.
Its microclimate protects the land from the harshest heat
or the coldest frosts, and the open ground gets lots of
light. Despite being pretty flat, it is known as ‘Seed Valley’.
Because much like Silicon Valley in the US teaches the
world about the possibilities of new technology, for 400
years, Seed Valley has been teaching the world to grow food.
‘In the 17th century, Amsterdam was the centre of the
world,’ says Jaap Mazereeuw, the MD of vegetable breeding
company Enza Zaden. He is referring to the Dutch Golden
Age, when Dutch art, science and trade reigned supreme.
‘Seed Valley was the supplier of Amsterdam’s vegetables,
beans and so on, which were transported by boat down
to the city. Then people needed seeds. The construction of the Enkhuizen-Amsterdam railway contributed
to Enkhuizen’s development until it became a centre for
seed trade and seed cultivation, the Seed Valley of today.’
The Dutch are now the world’s largest exporters of
seeds, be they for fruit, vegetables or flowers, and the
business brings in about €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) annually. Every year, around 40% of the planet’s new varieties
of horticulture seed comes from the Netherlands, and
many come from this special slip of land.
Mazereeuw has worked this soil for decades. ‘As a child,
I always had a hobby garden,’ he says. ‘I sold vegetables
to the neighbours when I was ten.’
Those youthful green fingers are perhaps unsurprising,
given that his grandfather founded Enza Zaden in 1938.
‘The love for plants was already there. I think it was
genetic,’ he says, laughing.
Enza Zaden is a family business that has grown into a
global force, and Jaap is the third generation of Mazereeuw to be in charge.
It now has subsidiaries in 22 countries and about 1,500
staff. The firm is part of a cluster of agricultural expertise
in the region that Mazereeuw reckons is ‘the Champions
League standard of horticultural development’.
the business of science
58 AMS
‘In Holland,
growers strive to
minimise the use of
pesticides. We do
a lot on resistance
breeding to
improve product
quality and prevent
crop loss’
(Jaap Mazereeuw,
MD Enza Zaden)
Enza Zaden, in short
Jacob Mazereeuw founded Enza Zaden in 1938 in
Enkhuizen, a small town a short drive from Amsterdam. In
1959 his son Piet joined the company to start Enza Zaden’s
breeding activities. His original greenhouse with its whitepainted steel and glass, still sits on the site of what is
now a global enterprise with 1,500 staff and some of the
world’s best vegetable breeding talent. Today, it is run by
Jacob’s grandson, Jaap.
For its first 20 years, Enza Zaden focused solely on producing and selling seeds. In the early 1960s, Piet began
breeding schemes and soon made a breakthrough with
the highly popular Extase variety of tomato. Today, the
firm spends about 30% of its turnover on research and
development. It sticks to ‘classical breeding’ – that is,
breeding together two or more varieties to try and extract
something new – without genetic breeding modifications.
This is combined with modern, highly advanced technology to make the breeding processes faster and more
efficient.
Its main breeding programmes include tomato, cucumber,
sweet pepper and leafy green vegetables. Varieties are
bred for taste, disease resistance, higher yield and different climatic and soil demands, and the firm has around
1,000 different varieties. It has subsidiaries on every continent and seed production sites around the world.
It was a founder of the Seed Valley partnership of horticulture firms, which focuses on educational programmes,
guiding government policy and advising Dutch academic
institutions on the talent needs of this high-tech industry.
www.enzazaden.com
A MULTI-LOCAL BUSINESS
Mazereeuw describes his business as ‘multi-local’. While
most of the research happens in North Holland, product
development is driven by demand in the firm’s breeding
centres around the world.
He gives the humble cucumber as an example: ‘In the
Middle East it’s short – about 18cm. In Europe it’s about
30cm, but in China it’s 35cm with spines, and in South
East Asia it’s green and white. The uses are also different:
we use it in salads; in Asia they use it in cooking.’
For Europe, vegetable variety development tends to focus
on taste. Enza Zaden has a green pepper, for instance, that
matches the full taste of a more ripened red pepper, but
keeps its colour to fit perfectly with the red, yellow and
green ‘traffic light’ packs popular with consumers.
In Africa and Asia, with growing populations, larger distances from farm to table and more extreme weather, the shelf
life and reliability of production become more important.
‘In Indonesia, we have sold seeds to 1.1 million farmers
who have seen their incomes rise 20 times because of
better yield and reliability,’ says Mazereeuw.
But this kind of expertise requires a steady stream of
talent. Firms in this cluster are reckoned to be growing
by around 7% per year, and in the case of Enza Zaden,
‘every year we need 100 new people,’ says Mazereeuw.
His firm is one of the founders of the Seed Valley organisation, which brings together local flower, fruit and
vegetable seed producers. With the help of government
funding, they appointed a professor of quantitative genetics at the University of Amsterdam, and have helped
launch a bachelor’s degree in green biotechnology.
‘Seed Valley’s mission is to strengthen the economic position and anchor the cluster in North Holland. The Seed
Valley Foundation achieves that in part by investing in
the cluster’s image, which begins in the classroom,’ says
Mazereeuw. Alongside higher education, the industry
supports vocational courses and school visits.
‘We want to show that it’s not just dirty work, but it’s
high-tech: we have robots and gene sequencers.’
Enza Zaden and others help formulate curriculums and
there is open discussion between the industry, government and academic community.
That level of advanced thinking is part of what makes
Dutch seed companies the best in the world.
‘For the green industry,’ says Mazereeuw, ‘this is the
place to be.’ <
yakult
In the city of
Almere, famously
built on land won
from the sea,
the Japanese
firm Yakult built
its European
headquarters
to profit from
the high quality
of Dutch water
and milk, the
ease of doing
business and
the quality of
living. Tomoyuki
Sako, Managing
Director of
Yakult Europe,
explains
‘This
is quite
an easy
place to
live’
61 AMS
text Paul Anstiss
photography Mark Horn
the business of science
62 AMS
‘When I came here
again it felt almost
like a homecoming.
So I think that
shows that I feel
very comfortable
here’
Japanese communities in Amsterdam
With some 350 Japanese companies – including
multinationals such as Hitachi, Yakult, Yamaha and
Mitsubishi – based here, the Amsterdam Area is
home to just under 1,000 Japanese expatriates.
The region has a wealth of dedicated Japanesespeaking service providers, such as tax advisors,
estate agents and employment lawyers, as well as
services and locations tailored specifically to Japanese expats, such as specialised medical care and
Japanese schools. The Amsterdam Area also hosts
a variety of Japanese cultural events, including
the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Amstelveen
and the J-Dream Cup football tournament. The
Rijksmuseum’s Asian Pavilion houses a rich collection of art brought together from Japan, China,
Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Thailand and dating
from the period between 2000BC and 2000AC. In
winter 2015, the exhibition Asia in Amsterdam, will
present the exotic treasures – porcelain, lacquer
ware, ebony, ivory and silk – that arrived in the
Dutch Republic as a result of lucrative trade agreements made between the Netherlands and Asia at
the start of the Golden Age (17 October 2015-17
January 2016; www.rijksmuseum.nl).
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, meanwhile, operates direct flights to three Japanese cities (Tokyo,
Osaka and Fukuoka). In 2013, Japanese imports to
the value of €8.4 billion ($9.5 billion) entered the
Netherlands, which acts as a transit port for goods
from Japan entering Europe, and Japan remains
the Netherlands’ most important trading partner
in Asia.
DUTCH HOMECOMING
Yakult Europe’s Managing Director Dr Tomoyuki Sako
likes Amsterdam so much that he’s now on his second
posting to the country. The first time he came to the
Netherlands, it was as a scientist in 1997. He stayed for
four years. In 2009 he returned as chief scientist but a
year ago he was appointed to his current job as the man
whose mission is to promote Yakult’s probiotic health
drink in Europe.
Despite being a long way from Japan, Mr Sako says that
he and his family are happy to be here: ‘When I got my
second posting here, I didn’t expect it because it’s not
usual for Yakult to send someone to the same place twice.
When I came here again it felt almost like a homecoming.
So I think that shows that I feel very comfortable here.’
SPEAKING ENGLISH BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS
For Mr Sako, the fact that many Dutch people also speak
English means that communicating is easier – not just
for business, but for making friends. Japanese business
people often learn English and sharing the international
language of business helps to break down barriers.
‘To me, in the Netherlands, at least I can use English to
talk to people and neighbours as well. I don’t feel any
problem with communication. But if we go to Germany
not so many people speak English and in France barely
anyone at all. So the Netherlands is quite an easy place
to live.’
However, being able to use a common international language is not the only reason why Yakult chose the Netherlands as the place to build its European headquarters.
THE RIGHT WATER
According to Mr Sako, the country also has the right
kind of water needed to make Yakult.
‘Sometimes the quality of the water influences the
fermentation efficiency needed to produce Yakult. But
it’s not just water; the Dutch also have an established
dairy industry. These are important factors for us when it
comes to producing a good quality product.’
Mr Sako is very open about the fact that he is first and
foremost a scientist, and being Managing Director of
Yakult’s European operations has taken him out of his
comfort zone and he is learning on the job. He now oversees all of Yakult’s activities in Europe, including sales
and marketing.
the business of science
64 AMS
A SCIENTIST AT HEART
Yakult’s factory is situated in Almere, about 30 kilometres east of Amsterdam. As he walks around the laboratories and production area it is easy to see that Mr Sako
has a real affinity for the science behind every bottle of
the probiotic drink. As he says, it’s a little bottle with a
big story.
The first bottle of Yakult came on to the Japanese market
80 years ago after years of research by Japanese scientist and founder of the company, Dr Minoru Shirota.
The drink was first produced at the European factory in
Almere in 1994. It now produces around 600,000 bottles
every day, and constant testing by scientists ensures that
the culture of healthy bacteria found in a bottle of Yakult
sold in Europe is the same as that sold in Japan.
Each Yakult drink contains 6.5 billion Lactobacillus
casei Shirota bacteria. According to Mr Sako, the Dutch
drink more of it on a regular basis than anywhere else
in Europe. Today the plant employs around 120 people
including scientists involved in setting up clinical studies
with hospitals and universities. In order to satisfy the
stringent demands made by the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA), it is their job to make sure that the
product’s claims stand up to scrutiny. Mr Sako says the
clinical trials play an important role in the work carried
out at the Dutch site. ‘Yakult is known for the probiotics
that influence your gut microbiota. The gut is key to our
science activity.’
Yakult Europe, in short
• 1930 Dr Minoru Shirota discovered a unique strain of lactic acid bacteria that was robust enough to survive through the intestines. It is known as Lactobacillus casei Shirota
• 1935: the first bottle of Yakult containing the bacteria was produced in Japan
• 1994: Yakult Europe started a production plant in Almere, Netherlands (30 kilometres east of Amsterdam). The site was chosen for its central location and easy distribution to the rest of Europe
• The Netherlands was chosen as the first coun try in Europe to start selling Yakult. The Dutch are well known for their love and knowledge of dairy products
• Almere has the best quality of water for
fermentation to take place
• Yakult Europe produces 600,000 bottles of Yakult every day
• Each Yakult drink contains 6.5 billion Lactoba-
cillus casei Shirota bacteria
• Yakult markets to 11 countries in Europe
• Each year around 10,000 people visit the factory in Almere to experience the corporate story and see the actual production of Yakult
• In 2009 the factory in Almere received its
100,000th visitor
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE AIDS
EXPANSION
Mr Sako is hesitant to give too much away, but he acknowledges that there are plans to expand operations in
Europe and he sees Yakult’s plant in Almere as playing
a major role. He admits that the European market is a
tough nut to crack and establishing an effective distribution network is not easy. Yakult is currently marketed in
11 countries across the continent. Mr Sako says Amsterdam’s transport infrastructure, centred around the Port
of Amsterdam and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, makes
it easier to do business from the Netherlands.
He says the support of the Dutch government and other
official agencies have made it easier for the Japanese
company to become established in the Netherlands. For
its part, Yakult is actively engaged in Dutch cultural life
and sponsors the acclaimed Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and the Van Gogh Museum. It also sponsors Almere’s
annual festival and classical concert in the harbour.
Mr Sako says cultural activity is a good way for the company to establish its presence in society, introduce people
to its brand and make friends. Mr Sako says Yakult’s mission is to contribute not only to people’s health but also
to their happiness. <
The AmsterdamJapan connection
(Source: Japan-Amsterdam Historical Ties,
published by the City of Amsterdam,
Amsterdam City Archives, amsterdam in
business and Amsterdam Marketing)
More than 400 years ago, in 1598, five ships sailed
from the Netherlands to Asia via the southern
tip of South America. The expedition did not go
well: three ships were wrecked, one returned to
Dutch waters and the final ship was stranded on
the Japanese island of Kyushu. The crew was so
exhausted and decimated by disease that only a few
were able to go ashore. Shortly before its departure,
the stranded ship was renamed Liefde (love), which
seems to have had a symbolically predictive value:
the curiosity and affection that arose between the
Japanese and the Dutch proved mutual and lasting.
The exchange of knowledge began in the 17th century and Amsterdam physician and merchant Isaac
Titsingh played an important role. For several years
he was chief agent in Deshima, a small fan-shaped
artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634
and used by the Dutch as a trading post from 1641
until 1853. Thanks to his personality and influential
connections, Titsingh soon established a dynamic
relationship with several influential Japanese scholars, enabling him to collect extensive material about
the country’s rich customs and culture.
In this way, Titsingh created the first European collection of Japanese cultural and scientific artefacts.
In exchange, he imported Dutch books containing
European knowledge on various subjects into Japan.
He also wrote several books about his stay in Japan,
expressing his respect for ancient Japanese culture
and civilisation. In Japan, Titsingh’s knowledge
exchange allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western
technology and medicine during the isolationist
period, and resulted in the practice of Rangaku –
literally, ‘Dutch study’.
Fast forward a few centuries, and in 1963 the first
Japanese company opened a branch in Amsterdam.
From the beginning, the director built an excellent
relationship with officials from the municipality
of Amsterdam, who went to much trouble to not
only ensure that the company had a good start in
Amsterdam, but who also helped the president and
his family find a good home. Since then, many more
Japanese companies have found their way to the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, and the provisions
for the Japanese community in Amsterdam and
Amstelveen are impressive and varied. <
c
View of the island of Deshima in the bay of Nagasakiby Kawahara Keiga, 1800-1850. Collection Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam
Equinix AM3 data cantre. © Martin van Welzen
sciEncE parK
Where
business
and science
meet
Home to 120
companies –
from start-ups
to multinationals
– Amsterdam
Science Park is
a thriving hub
for scientific
research,
education and
entrepreneurship
text Megan Roberts
portraits Amke
the business of science
68 AMS
1&12 Ventures, in short
Start-ups Amsterdam Scientific
Instruments and Omics2Image are
spin-offs of the renowned NWO/
FOM physics research institutes
AMOLF and Nikhef. Under the
umbrella company Particle Physics
Inside Products (a joint venture
between the aforementioned
research institutes and active angel investor 1&12 Investment
Partners), these companies are developing state-of-the-art
imaging instruments for research and bio-medical applications.
Says Hans Roeland Poolman, Director of 1&12 Investment
Partners (pictured), ‘One of the megatrends in the coming
decades is the shifting focus in health, wellness and wellbeing
to the individual patient. Our proprietary technology platform
allows the production of next-generation radiation cameras.
We provide high-sensitivity solutions for sharper and faster
imaging, which enable scientists and product developers in
industries such as life sciences or manufacturing to produce
high-impact discoveries.’
www.1and12.biz
MonetDB Solutions, in short
MonetDB Solutions is a high-tech
consulting company specialised in
innovative database technologies
for business data analytics. It was
co-founded in 2013 by four researchers from Amsterdam Science
Park’s CWI, the national research
institute for mathematics and computer science. Co-founder Martin Kersten (pictured) received
the prestigious ACM SIGMOD Edgar F Codd Innovations
Award in 2014. ‘We want to expand MonetDB Solutions into a
healthy and stable company, which is known for its innovation
and its bridging function between research and industry,’ says
Ying Zhang, Manager Research & Development (pictured). ‘We
want the core product, MonetDB, to become the open-source
column-based database system. MonetDB Solutions offers
highly competitive alternatives for customers who currently use
products from, for example, IBM, Oracle and SAP.’ MonetDB
Solutions’ first major product, the MonetDB integration with
the R statistical software suite, will be available globally on the
Amazon Web Service Marketplace in 2015.
www.monetdbsolutions.com
A VIBRANT START-UP SCENE
In November 2013, Wired Magazine named Amsterdam
one of the most buzzworthy start-up scenes in the world,
and a hotspot in Europe for tech start-ups.
A concentration of the city’s most successful tech and science start-ups can be found at the Amsterdam Science Park.
This 70-hectare polder – bigger than 98 football pitches
– is home to the largest concentration of beta sciences in
Europe. It’s also where the University of Amsterdam Faculty
of Science and the Amsterdam University College have
their campuses. Dozens of renowned research institutes and
companies in the fields of science, physics, chemistry, ICT/
infrastructure, green life sciences and advanced instrumentation all add to the innovative melting pot.
SUCCESS STORIES
Among the many success stories at Amsterdam Science
Park, ACE Venture Lab, founded in 2013 as a collaborative enterprise between Amsterdam’s universities and MIT
Stanford, is playing a key role. Some of the companies this
science and technology incubator nurtures have grown by a
staggering 300% in the last year.
In October 2014, it was announced that Photanol, a cleantech corporate spin-off of the University of Amsterdam
(UvA) also based at Amsterdam Science Park, and AkzoNobel will collaborate to develop technology that converts
CO2 into valuable organic compounds with the use of
engineered bacteria and sunlight. These ‘green’ building
blocks will eventually replace raw materials that AkzoNobel currently obtains from fossil-based production.
Another Amsterdam Science Park start-up and UvA spinoff, Euvision is a specialist in image recognition applications
powered by artificial intelligence. It was recently acquired
by Qualcomm, an American producer of 3G, 4G and
next-generation mobile chips, for an undisclosed sum that
runs in the tens of millions of euros. AGC Chemicals, the
chemical division of the multinational Asahi Glass Co, has
also announced that it is expanding its European branch
with a new technical centre at Amsterdam Science Park. The
company specialises in manufacturing and marketing fluoropolymers and fluorochemicals to the EMEA region. The
technical centre supports customers of fluorine and speciality chemicals and will be operational from early 2015.
Like a microcosm of Amsterdam Science Park, the Ad-
sciEncE parK
EXCEPTIONAL CONNECTIVITY
As one of the most densely cabled locations in Europe,
Amsterdam Science Park is currently home to more than
150 network hubs. It also houses internet exchanges such
as AMS-IX, the largest data transport hub in the world,
known for its superior quality and low costs, and NL-ix
(Netherlands Internet Exchange). Amsterdam Science
Park is capable of reaching 80% of customers in Europe
within 50 milliseconds.
Among the companies taking advantage of this exceptional connectivity is CWI, the national research institute
for mathematics and computer science. CWI was the
birthplace of the European internet, and also invented the
popular and internationally used programming language
Python.
The national supercomputer Cartesius is based at SURFsara, also at Amsterdam Science Park. Used for research
in various areas – including clean energy, climate change,
water management, noise reduction and improvement of
medical treatments, it is one of the most powerful – and
one of the greenest – computer systems in the Netherlands.
SURFsara offers an integrated ICT research infrastructure
for academia and industry, providing services in the areas
of high-performance and grid computing, data storage,
visualisation, networking, cloud and e-science. <
scyfer, in short
Specialising in deep neural networks, Scyfer bridges the gap between the existing knowledge of
machine learning in the academic
world and the companies seeking
to maximise the business value
of big data. Using state-of-the-art
modelling techniques to analyse millions of variables and data
points, Scyfer has improved current predictive models by up
to 20%. These models can be used to predict buying behaviour and determine supply and demand. Exciting applications
in medicine (brain scans) and security (image recognition)
are also being explored. ‘What makes Scyfer unique is that it
can handle an unlimited number of variables,’ says General
Manager Jörgen Sandig (pictured). ‘Moreover, we perform
most data analyses on a laptop. This means that companies
don’t need to make major IT investments in order to use our
technology and start to benefit from their data.’ A University
of Amsterdam spin-off, Scyfer was named ‘most valuable
concept for the future high-tech industry’ at the Accenture
Innovation Awards Best of High Tech 2014.
www.scyfer.nl
69 aMs
vanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL)
is a unique collaboration between science and business. Officially opened in November 2014, ARCNL is a
public-private partnership between the Foundation for
Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), UvA, the VU
University Amsterdam and the semiconductor equipment
manufacturer ASML. ARCNL focuses on the fundamental physics involved in current and future key technologies
in nanolithography, primarily for the semiconductor industry. ARCNL’s strategic position at Amsterdam Science
Park sees it embedded among other pioneering researchers
in a stimulating environment for cooperation, collaboration and the exchange of ideas.
Metrica sports, in short
Part of ACE Venture Lab, Metrica
Sports is a football data consulting company focused on
helping football clubs improve
performance through tailor-made
data and video analysis software.
Bruno Dagnino (pictured), who
has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, is one of three co-founders. ‘Metrica started as a hobby
just because we love football,’ Dagnino explains. ‘Then it
became a project on the side and almost without noticing
we were a real company! We realised a lot of companies
provided football clubs with tons of data and one-size-fits-all
solutions, but there wasn’t a good way to take advantage of
all that data. Villarreal FC [Spanish First Division] became our
first customer. Having a club with their history and trajectory is
without doubt our greatest accomplishment so far. Now we’re
talking with several coaches and analysts across Europe with
the goal of developing top-quality products that will fit their
needs and establish Metrica Sports as a leading model for
tactical football analysis.’
www.metrica-sports.com
illustration: Rob de Wit (Art Box)
the business of science
Photanol BV
biotechnologybased
production of
commercial
organic
chemicals,
including
biofuels
Outside the picture
on the left:
IJburg
The city’s new
residential district, built
on reclaimed land with
18,000 houses and
45,000 citizens
EQUINIX AM3
Data centre
GREENHOUSE
University of
Amsterdam
70 AMS
Ring Road A10
TO BE DEVELOPED
155,000m2
HOTEL AND
CONFERENCE
FACILITIES
200 rooms; 2,500m2
conference space
MATRIX
INNOVATION CENTER
Multi-tenant buildings for
ICT and life sciences
MATRIX VI
6,000m2 multi-tenant building,
with lab space and offices
(student)
HOUSING
UNIVERSITY SPORT CENTRE
With Café Restaurant
De Oerknal
NIKON INSTRUMENTS
EUROPE
Centre of Excellence
NIKHEF
National Institute For
Subatomic Physics
VENTURE LAB
AMSTERDAM
AMSTERDAM SCIENTIFIC
INSTRUMENTS
AMS-IX
TRAIN STATION
Amsterdam Central: 10 min
Schiphol Airport: 30 min
BLUEBUBBLELAB
SURFSARA
NETHERLANDS
ESCIENCE
CENTER
1&12 VENTURES
CWI
Dutch National Research Centre for
Mathematics and Computer Sciences
AMOLF
Dutch institute
for Atomic
and Molecular
Physics
71 AMS
FACULTY OF SCIENCES,
UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM
4,000 students
CAFÉ
RESTAURANT
POLDER
AMSTERDAM
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE
900 students
start-up city
StartupDelta is
strengthening
the position of
the Amsterdam
Metropolitan
Area as a
breeding ground
for new business.
It is good for
the start-ups,
good for the
many established
companies and
good for the
region’s business
climate
‘This is the
era of the
disruptive
economy’
text Hans Kops
photography Duco de Vries
start-up city
Does this mark a break from the business development policy
pursued to date?
‘No, it’s complementary. We will continue our efforts to
attract existing companies to Amsterdam and the rest of
the Netherlands. Their presence is itself a precondition
for an attractive start-up climate, as they help create an
ecosystem that facilitates fast growth. And, vice versa,
businesses that are already established here want to be
challenged and like to be located in environments where
new ideas grow and business models develop. As local government, we are aware of this and want to bring
as many innovative people and their business ideas to
Amsterdam as possible. StartupDelta is a highly suitable
vehicle for this.’
The Amsterdam
Metropolitan Area
is the fourth most
competitive urban
agglomeration
in the world,
according to PwC
SEAMLESS AMBITION
Participation in the StartupDelta
fits seamlessly with the ambition of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area to be among the
top four urban agglomerations
expected to be Europe’s growth
centres in 2030. Ten years ago,
the economic policymakers that
preceded Ollongren developed a policy aimed at turning the Dutch capital into a centre of administrative and
economic innovation. One way to achieve that ambition
is by ensuring there is enough input of new ideas and
entrepreneurship. ‘This is the era of the disruptive economy: changes happen within a few years, and sometimes
even faster. Business models can also prove obsolete
from one day to the next due to market developments or
because an online provider can do it cheaper and faster.
So continuity nowadays requires continuous innovation. As the municipal government, this means we have
to pursue a twin-track policy when it comes to business
development: to remain attractive for established businesses, while at the same time ensuring that enough new
businesses and start-ups come to the area. They create
the dynamism needed to keep the ecosystem healthy.
‘Amsterdam has an edge in these economic relationships. Internationally, we have a reputation as a place
where people from different cultures and nationalities
want to live and work. It’s no accident that footloose
businesses have set up their head offices in the heart of
Amsterdam. Eighty per cent of the people who make a
difference for them are from abroad and want to work for
them because they are located here. This also enhances
the international nature of the city, making it even more
attractive for other talented people. Add to this the fact
that the region has the world’s second highest broadband
density, that Schiphol and flights to the rest of the world
can be reached within 30 minutes from the city centre and that Amsterdam is an affordable and culturally
interesting place to live, and it’s clear that the city has
a very clear competitive edge as a location in these new
economic relationships.’
Is government intervention really necessary in such a naturally favourable business climate?
‘We restrict our activities to making the preconditions as
attractive as possible. By removing obstacles and creating
an environment in which businesses, knowledge institutions and capital providers can find each other, we make
75 AMS
CHALLENGING THE ECONOMIC ORDER
Amsterdam’s aim is to be the leading international
breeding ground for start-ups, where innovative business
models and technologies and the most talented people
from across the globe come together to grow – faster
than anywhere else – into companies that challenge and
enrich the existing economic order. That is the highly
ambitious objective of the Amsterdam edition of StartupDelta, says Kajsa Ollongren, the alderwoman in charge of
the Dutch capital’s economic affairs and an enthusiastic
ambassador of the project.
‘StartupDelta is in many respects a very special initiative,’ says Ollongren, from her office overlooking a city
that has always been a ‘warehouse’ for groundbreaking
ideas and companies. ‘This is a new policy approach for
the Netherlands. The project has been conceived and
developed at department level and is also receiving funding from The Hague. Innovation hubs have been set up
in ten different locations around the country, making this
the largest support network for start-ups in Europe. As
the local authority, we immediately saw the potential in
this and made additional funds available, so that the Amsterdam hub – StartupAmsterdam – can have the most
comfortable start possible.’
Amsterdam also plays a vital role in this network. ‘We are
a strong brand and have a reputation as an international
meeting place. These are key conditions for successfully
taking on the competition from other interesting clusters
for start-ups, such as Tech City in London. What’s more, I
think the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area – certainly in combination with other knowledge clusters in the Netherlands
– has more creative and innovative capacity and is thus a
potentially richer source for start-ups. I see it as the ultimate
challenge to bring these advantages within reach of young
entrepreneurs both from the Netherlands and abroad.’
start-up city
76 AMS
‘Innovation hubs
have been set up
in ten different
locations, making
this the largest
support network
for start-ups in
Europe’ (Kajsa
Ollongren,
Amsterdam
alderwoman and
Deputy Mayor)
it easier for start-ups to mature and grow into profitable
drivers of employment and innovation. This is good for
the future prosperity and well-being of the Netherlands.
As a local government, you can never do enough to be
instrumental in such developments.’
Kajsa Ollongren, in short
Kajsa Ollongren (1967) has been responsible
for the Economic Affairs and Art & Culture
portfolios in the newly formed Municipal Executive since the summer of 2014. As Deputy
Mayor, the Democrat also stands in for the
Mayor in his absence. Previously, as SecretaryGeneral to the Ministry of General Affairs,
Ollongren was the highest-ranking civil servant
in the Netherlands and the right hand of Prime
Minister Mark Rutte. In 2011, this position
of trust earned her the title Most Influential
Woman in the Netherlands.
EUROPEAN START-UP PARADISE
Amsterdam has many successful incubators like Rockstart
and Spaces Amsterdam (see pages 86-93). Why does it need
another start-up platform?
‘We add to these. It is thanks to breeding grounds like
Rockstart and Spaces that highly successful start-ups
such as Peerby (a digital borrowing platform), Nimbuzz
(a messaging service) and Blendle (a type of Spotify for
news articles) have developed and thrived. But there’s
also a need for a party that operates on a national scale
and that looks after both public and private interests.
And that is exactly what this initiative adds to the incubator network in the Metropolitan Area. It has been
received with enthusiasm and is actively supported by all
of the parties that have long been advocates of start-ups
in the area.
‘Thanks to the StartupDelta network, participating businesses now have access to other knowledge clusters in
the Netherlands as well. These include the Eindhoven
area, which excels in the field of mechatronics applications; Wageningen, a global leader in the field of life
sciences; Delft, a scientific hotspot for civil engineering
and water management; and Leiden, which duels with
Cambridge as the European hub for new developments
in bioscience. Combining the strength and reputation
of Amsterdam with these clusters of companies and
scientific institutions creates fantastic innovation and
entrepreneurial potential. If we can interest even more
foreign entrepreneurial talent in this, we will be able to
compete against London and Berlin as a European startup paradise.’
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, in short
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is the
fourth most competitive urban agglomeration in the world (after London, New York and
Singapore) according to the study ‘Amsterdam, a City of Opportunity’ by PwC. The area
excels in the quality of its health care, safety,
sustainability, liveability, international orientation of the working population, stable political
and business climate, interconnectivity and
high level of willingness to change. Foreign
entrepreneurs experience the legal obstacles
on the labour market (the law on dismissal),
the many laws and regulations with which
businesses have to comply and the congestion
issues as downsides. These are also the action
points for the Dutch government and Amsterdam’s municipal government.
In line with this ambition, former EU Commissioner Neelie
Kroes has been appointed special envoy.
‘We are certainly very proud that she is the figurehead of
this initiative. During her tenure as EU Commissioner
for Competition and European Commissioner for the
Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes had an enormous network
and gained extensive expertise in digital transformation.
She is known to almost all the CEOs of large companies
across the world and has free access to most politicians
in Europe and beyond. As such, she has many valuable
means of accessing most of the networks that are relevant
for our start-ups. She was also responsible for the European policy aimed at the digitisation of society and the
economy. From that perspective, she also understands
what start-ups need. We gave her and her staff carte
blanche to develop StartupAmsterdam into a valuable
knowledge and support platform for start-ups and all of
the parties that contribute to their endeavours.’ <
start-up city
Amsterdam’s
annual Next
Web Conference
has become a
Mecca for some
of the most
promising tech
start-ups and
inspiring brands
on the planet. It
has also helped
to cement
Amsterdam’s
reputation as
a magnet for
entrepreneurs
and influencers
78 AMS
text Paul Anstiss
‘Forget New
York. If you
can make it in
Amsterdam,
you can make
it anywhere’
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, founder The Next Web. © Julia de Boer
start-up city
80 AMS
‘Amsterdam is a
great test market.
Dutch people are
very eager to try
out new things’
(Boris Veldhuijzen
van Zanten,
founder The
Next Web
The Next Web, in short
The Next Web is widely known for its media
outfit thenextweb.com, which delivers an
original perspective on remarkable technology
news and developments, attracting 7 million
readers per month. The Next Web events
base organises The Next Web Conferences in
Europe, the US and Latin America, unconventional business events which are a must-attend
for web enthusiasts and tech companies around
the globe. On 23-24 April 2015, The Next Web
Conference celebrates its tenth anniversary in
Amsterdam. Up to 4,000 people are expected
to attend the two-day event, where they will
discuss the latest web trends, learn about best
business practices and meet the world’s technology and innovation influencers.
In 2014, The Next Web launched Boost, a programme dedicated to accelerating the growth
of early-stage start-ups from around the world.
Successful applicants are invited to launch their
new products and services for €1,500 ($17,000)
in the conference’s business area. There they
will benefit from exposure, expert feedback
and access to funding.
TNW Amsterdam – April 2015
TNW New York – November 2015
www.thenextweb.com/conference
a forum for technology influencers
This April, some 4,000 entrepreneurs from around the world
will gather in Amsterdam for the tenth Next Web Conference. Long before any speakers were even announced, tickets
to the two-day event were already selling fast. Founder and
organiser Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten is amazed at how the
conference has become a forum for the world’s technology
and innovation influencers to do business, share ideas and
discuss the latest in web trends. He says hosting the event has
put Amsterdam on the map for tech start-ups.
‘It shows that we have been able to find a particular tone
of voice, a certain quality that attracts people. But it wasn’t always like that. I remember the first three or four events when
it felt like every ticket I sold I had to talk to 20 people and
beg them to come. Today, visitors have come to expect quality from us and they can depend on it being a good event with
international allure. We’ve brought the event to Sao Paolo
and New York, which was a logical step for us since Brazil is
an important emerging market and New York has the biggest
readership of our media outfit, thenextweb.com.’
He adds: ‘I think we charge about one fourth of what other
conferences charge, so it’s very cheap. This is a very inspiring
event where you have 3,000-4,000 of your peers coming
together. The money that you will save on visiting these
people in their own countries is enough to make the ticket
worthwhile.’
APPEAL OF DUTCH INFORMALITY
One of the things that makes the Amsterdam conference so
appealing is its informality. The organisers’ aim is to make
those who attend feel like they are more than just a member
of the audience. Unlike other events, speakers at The Next
Web Conference are encouraged to mingle, even shaking
cocktails and pouring coffee in the Speaker Bar as they field
questions and share ideas. Although some speakers stay for
only 20 minutes, others have been known to linger for up to
six hours talking to delegates. Veldhuijzen van Zanten says it’s
all about personalising the event.
Being different underlies much of what makes Amsterdam
such an attractive place for tech entrepreneurs, not only to
visit but to set up base. Veldhuijzen van Zanten puts it down
to the city’s free spirit, which he believes breeds creativity and
entrepreneurialism. He compares Amsterdam’s allure to a
story about tulips.
‘We are world famous for our tulips, but if you look at the
best place in the world to grow them then the Netherlands
would not be at the top of the list. We don’t have enough sun;
there’s too much wind; the ground is too wet. But because
of all this, we’ve become really good at it. So if you ask me
where is the best place in the world to have a start-up, I’m
not going to say Amsterdam as the logical first place. But
what you see is that start-ups that begin here are very robust
and we’re very good at building them because of the conditions. Forget New York. If you can make it in Amsterdam,
you can make it anywhere.’
The Next Web. © Julia de Boer
The Next Web. © Julia de Boer
networks
COLLECTIVE SUCCESS
Across the city in a former merchant’s house on the Herengracht canal, a group of tech entrepreneurs have created
a co-working space for members of their collective, called
Hackers & Founders. The group was started by James Bryan
Graves who, five years ago, ditched his American dream to
pursue a new one in Amsterdam.
‘I was all over the start-up scene. In the US I spent time in
California and also in New York, but I have to say that one
of the great things about the Dutch people is that they’re
extremely honest, very straightforward. Here, you’re not necessarily trying to outdo other people, which is a big culture
especially in Silicon Valley. I really appreciate that. I find it
easier to collaborate with people here because of their honest
transparency. That’s great!’
In the beginning there were just 12 members of Hackers &
Founders; today, there are 2,000 across the Netherlands. The
group meets once a month, often in bars or restaurants, to
share ideas, offer support and exchange contacts.
For those who hate the idea of working on their own at
home, the collective has rented the building in the city’s
historical heart. It provides a workspace on several floors
for around 85 people. Bryan Graves says that flexibility is
key to its success. Desks can be rented for €230 per month
($260) and can be cancelled any time with two months’
notice. There are single freelancers and small companies of
12 or more. It’s relatively cheap for such a central location
and allows start-ups to scale up or scale down depending on
circumstances. Working within such close proximity to other
entrepreneurs also means that there is always someone on
hand to answer questions about such things as fundraising,
databases or programme languages.
Current start-ups include a company that conducts trend
analysis and detection for large multinational corporations,
a consumer-based application that connects people with
personal trainers, a social shopping platform and a company
that builds hardware for medical devices.
BUILT BY ENTREPRENEURS
Bryan Graves says it’s interesting to note that while cities
such as Paris and London were built by empires, Amsterdam
was built by entrepreneurs.
‘We don’t have these giant avenues with empire buildings. We
have these beautiful canal houses which were built by individuals. It really is a city built by entrepreneurs and I think that
there is a little bit of inspiration that can be pulled out of that.
Just now we are starting to see the birth of another era of entrepreneurialism in the city and I think that it is very exciting.’
Fellow Hacker & Founder Fergal Finnegan from Ireland
came to Amsterdam in 2000. He planned to try his luck in
California’s Silicon Valley but, after working in Amsterdam
for six months, he decided to stay. He says that for him,
Amsterdam’s easy access to other European cities made it a
perfect location.
‘After living here for a while, I realised that there were far
more advantages for me personally than on the West Coast
of America. The quality of life, the fact that you’re not in a
car culture. It’s a fitness culture – bicycles and walking. The
pollution in the city is not bad compared to other cities. In
fact, the whole city has been made for people.’
AVOIDING THE PITFALLS
Quality of life, transparency, the sharing of ideas and Amsterdam’s enterprising spirit have all helped to contribute to
the city’s reputation as a place where things happen. Tech
entrepreneurs from around the world are now turning to
Amsterdam’s experts to learn the secrets of what makes a
successful start-up.
Startupbootcamp is held twice a year in the centre of Amsterdam and is designed to teach entrepreneurs everything they
need to know in order to avoid pitfalls and get their business
off the ground. Co-founder and CEO Patrick de Zeeuw says
Startupbootcamp’s biggest asset is time.
‘If new start-ups lose time by focusing on the wrong markets
or focusing on the wrong products, then that could be expensive. So what we do is make sure that in a very short amount
of time, they are able to focus on the markets where their
products are most in need. In three months, we do what you
would normally do in the real world in 12 to 18 months.’
83 AMS
EMBRACING THE NEW
When asked what advice he would give to anyone thinking
of launching a tech business in Amsterdam, Veldhuijzen van
Zanten says it is important to establish what the long-term
goal is. If it is to be in the spotlight, raise money and sell a
company fast then, he says, there are perhaps better places
to go. But if someone takes a more grounded approach, has
a long-term vision, is at ease with himself and wants a good
quality of life, he believes that there’s no better place than
Amsterdam. He sees the Dutch willingness to embrace new
things as an important factor for tech start-ups.
‘Amsterdam is a great test market – as is the whole of the
Netherlands. Dutch people are very eager to try out new
things. They’re always in the top percentage of users of new
services even though we are a very small country. There is a
certain type of entrepreneur who is attracted to that.’
This desire to embrace the new is at the heart of an ambitious new initiative to strengthen the international position
of the Netherlands, and in particular Amsterdam, as the best
place in Europe to start a business. Called StartupDelta, it is
a collaboration between government bodies, knowledge institutes, start-ups, financiers and companies and will be headed
by former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes (see pages 72-77).
Startupbootcamp
networks
FINDING START-UP SUCCESS
One Startupbootcamp participant who thought the programme was so good that she came back twice is Michal
Hubschmann from Israel. After seven successful years, she
sold her first venture to one of the largest travel companies in
the Netherlands. Her new initiative is a data engine designed
to help brands get more from their online advertising campaigns. She says everyone tries to help each other.
‘I learn from my mentors. I learn a lot from the management
of Startupbootcamp. They show you the right way to think
and validate your product. I’m very happy to be here.’
Each boot camp culminates in Demo Day, where participating start-ups are put on stage and given ten minutes to make
their pitch in a room filled with 400 investors from around
the world. This is the open door they’ve been waiting for.
While some will return home, others will stay in Amsterdam.
De Zeeuw says not only is it a place where new tech startups can find success, they can also make mistakes and learn
from them without receiving the attention of the international press. He says Amsterdam has always been driven by
innovation and shown an openness to new ideas. But even
though these are good reasons in themselves to be there, he
concludes that there is something else. ‘Business is important, but even more important is that you enjoy the business
you run – and you also have some nice free time to spend in
a beautiful city!’ <
Some speakers
at The Next Web
conference have
been known to
linger for up to six
hours talking to
delegates
Hackers & Founders, in short
Hackers & Founders is a community of technology developers and entrepreneurs based in the heart of Amsterdam.
The informal network of start-up companies and self-employed techies gets together once a month to provide
advice and support and to socialise.
The group offers a co-working space in a large building on
Amsterdam’s historic Herengracht canal, where entrepreneurs can rub shoulders with other like-minded people and
share tips on starting up an enterprise. Single freelancers as
well as small new tech companies can rent a desk for €230
a month ($260), which can be cancelled with two months’
notice.
www.hackersandfounders.nl
Startupbootcamp, in short
Startupbootcamp began in the Netherlands in 2010. It now
runs accelerator programmes in Amsterdam, Barcelona,
Berlin, Copenhagen, Eindhoven, Israel, Istanbul, Singapore,
Dublin and London. It boasts an international alumni group
of more than 2,000 worldwide. Competition for each place is
strong. Ten start-ups are chosen from more than 500 global
applicants after a series of online and face-to-face interviews.
Two programmes are held in Amsterdam every year, each
one lasting three months. Participants receive help and advice
from the organisation’s 750 global community of volunteer
mentors and advisors who provide coaching and connections
to customers, partners and investors. During the programme,
participating start-ups receive €15,000 ($17,000) to cover
living expenses and free co-working space. At the end of
three months, the start-up teams get a chance to pitch to top
investors and venture capitalists on Demo Day.
Since Startupbootcamp began, 85% of the start-ups are still
going strong. On average, more than 70% of teams go on to
receive funding.
www.startupbootcamp.org
85 AMS
De Zeeuw first got the idea for Startupbootcamp after his
own experience as a 15-year-old entrepreneur. ‘I made all
the mistakes in the world. I had some successes, but I mostly
learned from my failures. I had very like-minded friends
and entrepreneurs in my field of interest and I said to them:
“Why don’t we go and help these early-stage companies to
avoid making the same mistakes as we did and make the
most of the network that we have built internationally?”’
There are more than 1,000 applications for every Startupbootcamp. The most recent programme saw applications
from more than 60 different countries, including North
Korea. It’s an arduous selection process. After a series of
online pitches and face-to-face interviews over a period of
six months, the course is eventually whittled down to ten finalists. De Zeeuw says he’s not looking for complete novices.
‘What we’re looking for is qualified, high-energy, dedicated
teams that already have some skills.’
Each programme costs around €1 million and is funded by
Startupbootcamp’s corporate partners and informal investors. The ten lucky start-ups each receive €15,000 ($17,000)
to help them launch in Amsterdam and cover expenses for
a six-month period. In return, Startupbootcamp takes 8%
of the equity in each budding company for up to six years,
during which time the companies have access to the knowledge and advice of experts and alumni. Any money earned is
ploughed back into funding new boot camp programmes.
Spaces
AAA LOCATION
Amsterdam’s
17th-century
canals are home
to some of the
most innovative
ICT start-ups in
the world, part
of a cluster that
generates €18
billion in annual
turnover and has
placed the city at
the forefront of
digital innovation
‘A very
collaborative
mind-set’
Rockstart, in short
Rockstart was founded by publisher Oscar Kneppers to provide support to startup tech enterprises. It does this in a number of ways. Its accelerator programme
guides start-ups through their first 150 days. In return for 8% of their company,
start-ups get space to work, participation in the intensive accelerator programme,
a €15,000 investment ($17,000), the guidance of mentors and access to Rockstart’s
funding network. It has three verticals in which it runs its accelerators: smart energy,
web/mobile and digital health.
The 39 firms that have been through the accelerator have so far raised a total of
$22.6 million in funding. Rockstart Spaces lets out space in the firm’s grand Herengracht HQ, while Rockstart Answers is a series of Q&A sessions held around the
world, where start-ups can present their ideas and get advice and input from their
peers.
www.rockstart.com
87 AMS
text Megan Roberts
photography Mike Roelofs
start-up city
THE WORLD’S MOST
DIGITALLY CONNECTED
ECONOMY
Once at the forefront of urban
planning, Amsterdam’s
UNESCO-protected Canal Belt
was constructed in the 17th
century during a period of rapid
expansion. The many wealthy
merchants’ houses that line
these canals demonstrate how
this small country has for many
years been a worldwide trading
network.
Today, the 21st century’s most
dominant network is less visible
to the naked eye, but beneath
the streets of this old city lies a
modern fibre-optics network, and these same canals that
once housed the Golden Age elite are today home to some
of Amsterdam’s – and the world’s – most innovative ICT
businesses.
There are 64 data centres in the Netherlands (ranking the
country third in Europe). The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) is the largest internet hub in Europe in
terms of members (over 700) and second largest in terms of
traffic (with an average peak load of over 3.5 terabytes per
second), while Surfnet is the most advanced research network in the world. A growing list of international companies
is already benefitting from the excellent digital infrastructure here – including Google (see pages 30-32), Facebook,
Netflix, Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco – and there are plenty
of start-ups hot on their heels.
88 AMS
‘There’s a very
collaborative mindset. If I need to go
fundraising, I talk
to other people
that are doing that,
who lead me to the
right lawyer or tax
guy’
(Jelte de Jongh,
founder Leeruniek)
base, a nurturing infrastructure and policy agenda plus qualified personnel. Amsterdam more than meets those criteria:
it is home to leading universities and research institutes; the
Amsterdam Economic Board is actively collaborating with
entrepreneurs to grow the sector; and the exceptionally high
standard of living means an educated workforce actively
chooses to live here.
THE ROCK BANDS OF BUSINESS
Increasingly, the success of the ICT cluster is dependent on
the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of individuals, and
hubs dotted around Amsterdam’s Canal Belt are engendering such innovation.
Housed in a five-storey converted townhouse on the
Herengracht canal, Rockstart is one such start-up hub. It
picks promising people and ideas and guides them through
their first 150 days as a business. In three years, its accelerator programmes have helped 39 companies raise a total of
more than $20 million and create more than 280 jobs. In
exchange for a space to work, participation in the intensive
accelerator programme, a €15,000 ($17,000) investment,
the guidance of mentors and access to a funding network,
Rockstart gets 8% of each start-up that takes part.
Of those 39 companies Rockstart has helped, one didn’t
make it, a couple are doing okay and the rest are doing well,
says founder Oscar Kneppers. ‘Statistically, we’re really
doing well because normally eight out of ten start-ups fail
within the first three years.’
Originally a journalist, Kneppers went on to become a publisher, founding the tech business news website
www.emerce.nl, which he sold in 2001, and www.bright.nl,
which looks at tech and innovation from more of a consumer perspective and which he sold in 2008.
Then he found himself with his previous office in Amsterdam empty and a lot of time on his hands so began giving
away his space to small companies.
‘Start-ups are the rock bands of business: small teams, great
ambitions,’ he says. ‘It’s not about the money, it’s always
CROSS-BORDER COLLABORATION
about sharing the stuff that they create with their audiences.
Very few cities can match the cross-border collaboration be- But with start-ups, if they’re successful, you might be too.’
tween the digital, creative and marketing workforces that are And so Rockstart was born. It moved six times in three years
thriving in Amsterdam, and its ICT strength lies in the crea- before settling in the larger space on Herengracht that it
tive crossover between this and other sectors. That spirit of
now occupies. Today, Rockstart helps new companies in a
collaboration is, perhaps, embedded in the Dutch DNA. In
number of ways. It has the accelerator programmes (the last
the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, ICT is not just a sector
programme had more than 600 applications from around
unto itself, but an important source of economic innovation the world for its ten spaces). It rents out parts of the Herenand a foundation for economic growth in other clusters. The gracht site and runs workshops, called Rockstart Answers,
Amsterdam Economic Board estimates that 96,000 people
which bring together nascent start-ups and industry experts
work directly in the sector (with many more working in
for Q&A sessions and networking.
related fields) for some 21,000 ICT companies, generating
‘The accelerator is just one product,’ explains Kneppers.
an annual turnover of €18 billion ($20.4 billion).
‘We’re developing formats to help start-ups in any way
The reasons for Amsterdam’s ICT cluster success include a we can. Acceleration is a very good 2.0 or 3.0 version of
highly flexible workforce, a national mentality of constructive incubation. Incubation is how we did it back in the ’90s, and
compromise and a location at the crossroads of world trade
was about making sure that the company didn’t die while
relations. Experts agree that prerequisites for ICT success
it was starting. Acceleration is about speeding the process
include the presence of a scientific and technical knowledge of growth to help them build faster and more solidly in a
Oscar Kneppers, founder Rockstart
Spaces
AAA LOCATION
‘A GREAT PLACE TO BUILD A START-UP’
There is a popular Dutch saying that roughly translates as: ‘better a good
neighbour than a far friend’. It is popular because in Europe’s most
densely populated country, neighbourliness is considered a virtue.
Combine that spirit with the city’s thriving start-up community and you
get Peerby, a free sharing network that is being hailed from Schiphol to
San Francisco, and which also calls the Rockstart Herengracht space
home.
Like most good ideas, Peerby is incredibly simple. If you need a drill or
some golf clubs or a paddling pool, you log on to Peerby and put out a
request. Then any neighbours willing and able to lend you their drill, golf
club or paddling pool get in touch. No money changes hands and no
contracts are signed. It’s all based on neighbourly trust, and it’s the idea
of founder Daan Weddepohl.
The website was launched in 2012 and in the era of peer-to-peer sharing, the idea is gaining traction around the world. A quick Peerby search
reveals 100,000 active members and more than 4,000 objects available
within a 30-minute stroll of the firm’s office.
In June 2014, at the international New Cities Summit in Dallas, Peerby
beat competition from across the globe to win the ‘best new urban app’
award. Having raised $2.1 million from investors in November 2014,
Peerby is now being piloted in eight US cities.
‘Amsterdam is a
dynamic, small city
that has everything
to attract the
human capital to
get to the right
initial point of
being a start-up’
(Martijn Roordink,
founder Spaces)
Spaces, in short
Spaces started in 2006, with Martijn Roordink
and a group of co-founders who believed
that ‘the world of working was changing and
could be more fun and effective by creating
an inspiring social place for people to go to
and interact’. The first site opened in September 2008, coinciding with the global financial
crisis. One upside to this catastrophic shudder
of the markets was that people did indeed
begin to look at new ways of working. Spaces
rents out flexible office space to small- and
medium-sized businesses. Tenants can take a
basic membership, which gives access to the
communal working areas of all four sites from
8am to 6pm during the working week. Prices
for membership with a locker start at €245
($278) per month. Or they can take a private
office at a fixed location, with their own lockable door, 24-hour access and the option to
personalise the place for their own needs.
Along with the usual ICT support and reception, each site has a cafeteria (open to all) and
meeting rooms (bookable by the hour).
Current office tenants include the Dutch offices of Facebook, Twitter, Uber and HBO.
The firm now has 42,000m2 of space across
four locations: Herengracht and Vijzelstraat
in Amsterdam’s UNESCO-listed Canal Belt,
the Zuidas business district in the south of the
city and The Hague. The ethos today remains
as it was in the beginning: ‘offer energy and
inspiration for entrepreneurs to be successful
in what they do best.’
www.spaces.nl
91 AMS
moving marketplace.You make sure that every mistake you would make
in the first two years, you make that in three months, but then in a controlled environment.’
Rockstart’s success stories are plentiful. Christian Bello is the Columbian
co-founder of BomberBot, a tool that teaches children how to code.
‘The network of mentors here is really good,’ he says. ‘We finished the
programme and decided to stay, because our business is here but also because of this building. People are always willing to help.You have a coffee
and meet people who are doing something really interesting. I really like
having lunch here because you don’t talk about football or TV, you talk
about work and how you can cooperate.’
Jelte de Jongh’s business, Leeruniek (‘learn unique’ in Dutch), which
uses big data to improve children’s literacy, is also located in the building.
De Jongh chose to base himself at Rockstart after returning from Silicon
Valley where he attended Singularity University thanks to a prestigious
Google/NASA scholarship.
‘Rockstart has a very collaborative mind-set,’ he says. ‘Learning from
each other is the most important thing here. If I need to go fundraising,
I talk to the other people that are doing that, who lead me to the right
lawyer or tax guy.’
Filemon Schöffer is Head of Community at 3DHubs, which has just
been through a Rockstart accelerator programme and received funding
of $4.5 million from Balderton Capital. Schöffer’s company has built the
world’s largest network of 3D printers, with over 11,000 in 140 countries. Users simply buy the file they want printed and make use of the
3D printer nearest to them. Options vary according to size and materials,
with some even ‘printing’ in gold or chocolate.
‘When you start, there are a lot of things you’ve never done before and in
an isolated place you’d probably try and figure it out and do the wrong
thing,’ says Schöffer. ‘Here, you look around and see, “Oh, they’ve done
it like this and it makes sense.” And the ability to learn from other companies takes you a lot further.’
start-up city
The insurance option ‘Peerby
Warranty’ is currently being
implemented in Amsterdam and
will role out across the UK this
summer.
Key to the success of Peerby so
far has been the ‘runway’ that accelerators have allowed.
In start-up-speak, ‘runway’ is the
time a firm needs to turn a profit.
If it begins with €20,000 and
costs €2,000 a month to run (the
‘burn rate’), that gives a runway
of ten months before the cash
runs out and investors need to see
a profit or enough progress to reinvest. It is also the point at which
many fail.
But Weddepohl is convinced that his location gives him a
distinct advantage. ‘This is a great place to build a start-up,’
he says. ‘You don’t need as much money to live off, compared to London or New York or San Francisco, which are
really expensive. I’d say the quality of life here is better and
you spend less on it. So I think that’s a good basis for trying
to develop something new, you know; you won’t be in deep
trouble if you don’t make a lot of money. There’s a lot of
support from organisations like the Amsterdam Economic
Board and the government.’
92 AMS
‘This is a great
place to build a
start-up… There’s
a lot of support
from organisations
like the Amsterdam
Economic
Board and the
government’
(Daan Weddepohl,
founder Peerby)
Peerby, in short
Peerby is an app and website that enables
people to borrow the things they need from
others in their neighbourhood. With Peerby,
you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on things you only use once or once
in a while, and you feel good by helping
somebody out. Members post something
they want to borrow, and neighbours get an
email or push notification to which they can
respond with a single click. It allows you to
save money, meet people and live green: one
eighth of all the CO2 emissions in the world is
caused by the production and consumption of
consumer goods. Members and transactions
are growing exponentially since the launch
in September 2012. With more than 100,000
active monthly members, Peerby has mature
communities in the Netherlands and Belgium,
London and Berlin, and is currently emerging
in eight US pilot cities.
www.peerby.nl
That support will soon be strengthened even further with
the launch of StartupDelta, an ambitious public-private
initiative to position the Netherlands as a start-up hotspot.
With funding from The Hague, innovation hubs have been
set up in ten different locations across the country, including Amsterdam, making StartupDelta the largest start-up
ecosystem in Europe (see pages 72-77).
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Rockstart isn’t alone in providing a city-centre hub where
innovation thrives. At its core, Spaces is a simple office rental
business. Renters take either a private space with a lockable
door and 24-hour access or a membership fee that gives
office-hours access to communal work areas. But the Spaces
twist is the community it builds, which sees one-person
start-ups rubbing shoulders with the Dutch offices of Uber,
Guess and Citrix.
‘One of the starting points of the Spaces concept was the
architecture,’ says founder Martijn Roordink. ‘We talked
to a lot of people about creating a dynamic flow.’ That flow
results in large, shared working areas that include a cafeteria,
little break-out rooms and the quiet buzz of contented folk
going about their work. Beyond the convivial nature of the
physical space, Spaces directly tries to bring people together.
‘We communicate a lot both online and offline. We do
drinks, we organise events and we have breakfast meetings.
We have barbecues four times a year, we give boat tours,’
says Roordink.
The newest of four Spaces sites, the Vijzelstraat branch is
spread over five floors between the grand canals of Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht.
‘We didn’t know if it the concept would work,’ Roordink
says, ‘but my background was real estate for ten years and I
knew our research in the demographics. The average company in Amsterdam is about seven people and the company
age is five years.’
That eager start-up dynamic and the abundance of entrepreneurs in need of good-quality space has seen Spaces go on
to open further branches at Zuidas, Amsterdam’s business
district of gleaming office towers, and in The Hague.
Of the many companies thriving in Spaces locations, one of
the most innovative is online translation management solution Live Word (nl.livewords.com). In the midst of a major
funding round, the six-person start-up based in the Spaces
Zuidas offices is on the brink of big things.
Amsterdam, it seems, is well suited to the Spaces business concept. ‘Everything is within about ten minutes and
very social and there is a low entrance for setting up. It’s a
dynamic, small city that has everything to attract the human
capital to get to the right initial point of being a start-up,’
says Roordink.
With ICT innovations including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the
Ideal online payment system all originating in the Netherlands, it’s clearly a case of watch this space(s). <
Daan Weddepohl, founder Peerby
building brands
‘The
Dutch have
an inner
drive to
do things
differently’
Since the Golden
Age, the Dutch
have exported
goods and ideas
far beyond their
borders. This
enterprising
spirit lives on in
highly original
brands that
rarely stay close
to home
94 AMS
text Cecily Layzell
Moooi
building brands
‘I checked out
airport locations,
but we want to
be in the inner
city, on the canals,
because of the
energy’ (Raymond
Cloosterman,
founder and CEO
Rituals)
96 AMS
Marie-Stella-Maris, in short
In 2010 the United Nations adopted resolution 64/292, which recognised access to clean
drinking water and sanitation as a basic human right. The resolution was the inspiration
for a new kind of brand based on sharing: for
every product purchased, MARIE-STELLAMARIS donates a fixed amount towards clean
drinking water projects around the world. The
brand was launched by creative director Patrick Munsters and former telecoms executive
Carel Neuberg in 2011 with bottled mineral
water. It was soon extended to include skin-,
body-, hair- and home-care products. The
water is available in more than 150 select restaurants and supermarkets in Amsterdam and
in the Water Bar below the brand’s flagship
store on the historic
Canal Belt.
www.marie-stella-maris.com
COMMERCE AND CREATIVITY
Since the Golden Age, the Dutch have exported goods and
ideas far beyond their borders. As a port city, Amsterdam
was at the start and finish of some of the most lucrative
trade routes, becoming a thriving centre for both commerce
and creativity. One of the earliest companies to take advantage of this location and enterprising spirit was Heineken.
From a single brewery in 1864, Heineken has grown into
the world’s most international brewer, with an identity that
is recognised around the globe. When supervising the restyling of the art deco typeface in the 1950s, Freddy Heineken,
the founder’s grandson, is said to have proposed the ‘laughing e’ to make the logo less formal. The cheerfully sloping
cross-bar, which effectively branded a letter of the alphabet,
has been charming consumers ever since.
Over the years, home-grown businesses such as interior
designer Piet Boon and international fly-ins including
social enterprise foorwear company TOMS have followed
Heineken’s lead, establishing head offices and regional outposts in The Netherlands’ capital. ‘Amsterdam is a hub for
social innovation, sustainability, creativity, and fashion,’ says
Martin Johnston, managing director of TOMS EMEA of
the company’s decision to open its EMEA headquarters in
Amsterdam. And it has proven to be the right choice: ‘The
city has definitely adopted TOMS.’ Johnston was already living in Amsterdam, and he is a fan of the city: ‘It has the feeling of a big city with the pleasantness of a village,’ he says.
‘Creativity needs the freedom and casualness of a city
like Amsterdam. It attracts people. It is such a welcoming
place for so many different cultures,’ says renowned Dutch
designer Marcel Wanders. With Casper Vissers he founded
Moooi in 2001, bringing together some of the most innovative design studios in the country. The showroom and brand
store in the heart of the beautiful Jordaan neighbourhood
holds furniture, lighting and accessories, and in this carefully
considered space, each piece looks like a design classic. It
is more art gallery than furniture shop, but with a simple,
beautiful aesthetic that most artists fail to achieve.
On an upper floor of Moooi’s premises, Wanders sits in a
‘Smoke Chair’ by Maarten Baas. It is a black wood and
leather armchair, with the wooden parts blasted with a
blowtorch for a burned finish. It is a prime example of what
Wanders and Vissers call ‘the unexpected welcome’: the
pleasant surprises to be found in Moooi designs, and perhaps the defining feature of what the firm creates. ‘We hide a
lot of the innovation,’ says Wanders. ‘We don’t want to make
things that look new. We want to make things that look as if
you already know them. And that’s very innovative thinking.
There’s nothing that grows old so fast as the new.’
Adds Vissers: ‘A philosophy of ours is to turn around classical approaches and classical shapes. Everything has been
done in this world, so rather than try and do completely
new things, we work on the evolution of things. A product is
easier to sell if it’s in some way familiar.’
This creative philosophy is supported by keen commercial
instincts. ‘The big danger for a design company is that you
Rituals, in short
Rituals is a cosmetics and home-care brand, founded in
a graffiti-covered basement by former Unilever executive
Raymond Cloosterman in 2000. Its first retail location was
on Kalverstraat, the main pedestrian shopping street in
Amsterdam. The firm now has 350 stores in 15 countries,
and has stated its aim to have 1,000 stores of its own.
Along with its own shops, it sells through department
stores, in-flight, online and its own branded spas. The
breadth of the brand’s product offering distinguishes it
from similar cosmetics brands. Along with skincare and
cosmetics, its offering includes washing-up liquid, tea,
candles, clothing and ‘car perfume’. The brand name
comes from the idea of turning routines into rituals,
whether those things are household chores or part of a
grooming regime.
www.rituals.com
homegrown brands
CHANGING ROUTINES INTO RITUALS
A short distance away, behind an imposing Golden Age facade on the
Keizersgracht canal, the HQ of cosmetics brand Rituals fills several
hundred square metres of prime Amsterdam real estate. ‘We launched
in 2000 with three people in a basement that was covered in graffiti,’
says founder Raymond Cloosterman, of the office that was home to
the company for its first four years. ‘The journey we’ve made with our
offices is reflective of the journey we’ve made with our company. On day
one of our first store, it was not working at all. We turned over 140 units,
of which 100 were bought by the sister of one of our partners because
she felt sorry for us.’ Since then, Rituals has built up 350 stores in 15
countries, and reached thousands of shops, spas, department stores and
hotels.
‘Our passion is helping people to enjoy the little things in life, to rediscover the magic in the everyday. So often, we live life on automatic pilot.
We have to change those routines by reinventing these everyday products
into something special. That’s the philosophy of the brand: changing
routines into rituals.’
The original seeds for the brand were planted while Cloosterman
worked for Unilever. As a Vice President for New Business, he had a
secure corporate career based between Paris and Brussels. One day his
boss asked him to investigate new ways of brand building and setting up
business lines. His mission took him to boutique stores, trend gurus and
R&D labs around the world. ‘I came back completely hyper with a lot of
new insights to take back to Unilever. Those insights, today, you will find
in Rituals,’ he says. ‘I decided that I would resign and do this myself, because a small, special idea is very vulnerable in a corporate environment.’
He gathered input from investors and talent, including leading perfumers, anthropologists and others, and took himself off to a basement. As
the firm grew, it took office space above shops, until finally taking up
residence on the prized Keizersgracht site. ‘I checked out airport loca-
Moooi, in short
Moooi has been producing bright
and witty products since 2001.
Founded by renowned Dutch
designer Marcel Wanders and
business partner Casper Vissers,
it brings together some of the
most innovative design studios
currently working in the Netherlands. The bulk of its products
are seating, storage, lighting and
accessories. Better-known designs
include the ‘Smoke Chair’ by
Maarten Baas (with wood finished
by blowtorch), ‘VIP Chair’ by Wanders (designed for World Expo
2000 in Hanover) and the ‘Horse
Lamp’ by Front (a lamp in the
shape and dimensions of a real
horse). The name is a play on the
Dutch word mooi, which means
‘beautiful’, the extra ‘o’ standing
for the extra quirky beauty that
the firm offers. Moooi describes
its style as ‘exclusive, daring,
playful, exquisite and based on
the belief that design is a question of love’. The lightness or wit
in the work soon becomes clear.
www.moooi.com
97 AMS
have beautiful things that are well produced, but people see them as art
pieces rather than stuff to use every day,’ says Vissers. ‘We founded the
company on the idea that we would do creative things, but within a commercial reality.’ It’s a combination that is clearly working. Moooi sells its
products through a network of more than 50 dealers around the world
and has opened a second showroom in West London to complement its
flagship space in Amsterdam.
building brands
tions that, from an efficiency point of view for me and the people who
travel internationally, would make sense. But in the end, we want to be
in the inner city, on the canals, because of the energy. In our creative
company, we need this kind of energy.’
That energy was key to starting out in Amsterdam in the first place.
‘For me, Amsterdam is an eclectic place. Everybody who is raised here
is born with an outside perspective. It’s an open society from a cultural
and design perspective, so a lot of new things happen.’
98 AMS
REINVENTING THE TWO-WHEELER
Taco Carlier, co-founder of Vanmoof bicycles, agrees. ‘The Dutch are
used to being independent and have a sort of inner drive to defeat the
status quo, to see if something can be done differently,’ he says. After
graduating from Delft University of Technology, he set up Vanmoof
with his brother Ties in Amsterdam in 2009. Originally importers and
Piet Boon, in short
distributors of folding bikes, the siblings were inspired to reinvent the
Founded by Piet Boon in 1983, the eponytwo-wheeler during a trip abroad.
mous brand initially started out as a small
‘Sometimes you have to go to another city to realise how great your own
design practice in Oostzaan, just north of
city is,’ he says. ‘We were in New York and discovered it was a fantastic
Amsterdam, specialising in bespoke homes.
place to cycle. We started thinking about how we could get more people
In 1986, interior designer Karin Meyn joined
the company as business partner and creative in New York – and other cities around the world – to adopt the Amsterdirector. Together, Boon and Meyn lead an in- dam way of commuting. So we decided to start a company dedicated
to innovating city bikes. That’s also why we chose the name Vanmoof.
ternational team of designers, architects and
stylists. Still based in Oostzaan, which is home We didn’t want to found a company but a movement, a movement to
promote cycling.’ ‘Van’ is a nod to the brand’s Dutch heritage, he adds,
to offices, a studio and flagship showroom,
‘and we thought it sounded cool in English.’
Piet Boon has grown into a global enterprise
From the start, the company’s design philosophy has been based on the
with an impressive portfolio of private, corprinciples of affordability, functionality and durability. The result is a
porate and commercial clients. The company
lightweight aluminium frame with a patented integrated lock, puncturealso regularly collaborates with like-minded
creative partners, most recently on The Jane,
resistant tyres and lights developed in conjunction with electronics
the ‘fine dining meets rock ‘n’ roll’ restaurant
giant Philips. A closed chain guard is standard, ‘so you don’t get grease
of top Dutch chef Sergio Herman in Antwerp, on your clothes. We believe that you should be able to wear a suit on a
Belgium.
bike,’ says Carlier. Today, one Vanmoof bike is sold every hour through
www.pietboon.com
a global network of distributors, suggesting that the brand’s movement
is gaining a loyal following. ‘Cycling has changed Amsterdam and it can
Vanmoof, in short
change other cities in the future too,’ he believes.
Founded by brothers Ties and Taco Carlier in
2009, Vanmoof have rethought the traditional
Dutch commuter bike. Stripping back all the
paraphernalia – ‘visual noise’, they call it – the
tubular frame with patented integrated chain
lock is made from aircraft-grade aluminium
alloy and the lights are designed in conjunction with electronics giant Philips. Punctureresistant tyres and a closed chain guard are
standard and each bike is a flyweight 13kg.
The name is a reference both to the brand’s
Dutch heritage (‘Van’) and its philosophy
of building not just a bicycle but a cycling
movement (‘Moof’). The focus for the future is
on tackling bicycle theft. Electric models are
already fitted with a GPS GSM tracker so that
stolen bikes can be located and retrieved. The
company expects all of its bikes to be fitted
with a similar system in the next six months.
www.vanmoof.com
MESSAGE ON A BOTTLE
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ‘drive to defeat the status quo’ has translated
not only into innovative products but also into innovative business models. A 2010 United Nations resolution recognising access to clean drinking water and sanitation as a basic human right was the inspiration for
MARIE-STELLA-MARIS, which describes itself as ‘a social brand that
stands for sharing’. For every product purchased, MARIE-STELLAMARIS donates a fixed amount towards clean drinking water projects in
developing countries.
The brand was established by Patrick Munsters and Carel Neuberg in
2011 with mineral water, each bottle of which carries the UN resolution on its label. The range was soon extended to include skin-, body-,
hair- and home-care products. ‘Our mission is not to go only for the
usual business objectives like turnover, profit and product development,’
explains Neuberg. ‘Our mission is to provide clean drinking water to as
many people as possible. And that’s something new. So a contribution to
the world is in the DNA of the brand.’
The Dutch Golden Age may officially be over, but the tradition of exporting goods and ideas is clearly still flourishing. <
Moooi
Toms
Scotch & Soda
dutch denim
‘In
Amsterdam,
denim has
evolved
into a highcouture
product’
A denimobsessed
population, a
high density of
international
designers and
the world’s first
jean school has
put Amsterdam
at the cutting
edge of indigo
innovation
101 AMS
text Cecily Layzell
building brands
Denham launched his own label in 2008. From the start,
Denham the Jeanmaker has distinguished itself by targeting
the upper segment of the luxury jeans market. ‘What all the
jeans products in our range have in common is that they
give the wearer the greatest possible freedom to add a personal mark,’ he explains. ‘We also pay more attention to how
a product is prewashed and use exclusive types of denim
JEAN-ETIC BLUEPRINT
from Japan and Italy.’ Seven years on, his ‘worship tradition,
Amsterdam has the highest condestroy convention’ approach to denim culture has seen the
centration of jeans brands in the
label expand to three stores in Amsterdam, with outposts in
world. Its inhabitants own and
Berlin, London, Tokyo and Sydney.
wear more jeans than those of any Denham attributes much of his success to his small but
other city and are willing to spend highly international team. ‘It successfully ties together a
more money on them, too. The
range of different fashion traditions. We’ve infused it with
denim cluster in Amsterdam is
the Italian flair for style and a creative take on accessories.
worth an estimated €500 million
My British colleagues and I were raised in the tailor’s tradi($569 million), according to a con- tion of solid quality and the perfect fit; the Japanese have
servative estimate by the municipal taught us a keen attention to detail and the Americans take
research bureau O+S, but Mariette denim back to its roots – to the idea that it all started with a
Hoitink of the House of Denim
pair of trousers that are basically suitable for any occasion.
innovation platform believes the
And last but not least, the Dutch people in and around the
real number is much higher. ‘Don’t call Amsterdam a
label have added pragmatism and an international orientafashion capital; that’s a title we can’t yet live up to. But we’re tion to the mix. Never before have I experienced that intera denim capital for sure,’ she says. ‘When Dutch fashion de- national dimension within the design process as manifestly
signers make it big they go abroad – just look at Viktor&Rolf as I do now. Our location plays a part in that respect, too;
or Iris van Herpen. The denim industry, on the other hand, a melting pot of nationalities like we have here can thrive
comes to us. That’s our strong point. We’re apparently doing in Amsterdam like nowhere else. More to the point, if we
something right.’
weren’t based in Amsterdam, we would never have been
able to get and keep such a unique group of people together.
INDIGO INVASION
Our love for this city binds us.’
The indigo invasion began in the 1990s, when Pepe Jeans
moved its headquarters from London to Amsterdam. Tom- BEHIND THE SEAMS
my Hilfiger, Diesel and Levi’s Vintage Clothing followed,
The creative spirit that made Amsterdam the epicentre of
and from the banks of the IJ, home-grown brand G-Star
the denim world has spawned its own parallel economy.
began its international expansion. In time, employees from
House of Denim was established in 2009 as a platform to
these companies started their own denim labels, such as
foster innovation and sustainability in the denim indusK.O.I. (Kings of Indigo).
try. It has since opened the first dedicated Jean School, a
The appropriately named Jason Denham (‘even my name
three-year curriculum to train the next generation of denim
flirts with denim,’ he jokes) was a pioneer of high-end jeans. developers and designers. The Amsterdam Denim Days, a
He exchanged his native London for Amsterdam almost
multi-day event for industry professionals and consumers,
two decades ago and has never looked back. ‘Amsterdam
followed in May 2014. It was also founders James Veenhoff
is the personification of everything jeans represent,’ he says. and Mariette Hoitink who persuaded Andrew Olah, the
‘Unyielding, slightly rebellious, adventurous, firmly opinion- man behind the renowned American Kingpins denim trade
ated, never afraid to make a statement and always uniquely
fair, to bring his inaugural European event to Amsterdam.
individual. From the first day, I felt like I had come home.
‘There were many reasons to select Amsterdam as our
Moreover, all the best and most creative designers want to
location,’ says Olah of his decision. ‘The most salient reason
live and work here. That’s exactly what drove Levi’s to move was the chance to collaborate with the House of Denim and
its design studio from Brussels to Amsterdam, for example
share Amsterdam’s energy towards blue jeans. There is a
– they were afraid that all their best talent would eventually
culture for jeans like in no other place and a jean school to
leave if they didn’t.’
supply a long-term flow of educated jeans lovers.’
Adds Veenhoff: ‘Amsterdam is a brilliant, energetic city full
of creative people. And yet it’s small enough not to feel lost
in.’ Veenhoff and Hoitink’s most recent initiative is the Denim City HQ, a denim archive, embassy, upcycling workshop
and ‘Blue Lab’. The opening in October 2014 was timed to
coincide with the first Global Denim Awards, which they
102 AMS
‘When Dutch
fashion designers
make it big they
go abroad. The
denim industry, on
the other hand,
comes to us’
(Mariette Hoitink,
founder House of
Denim)
Clockwise from top left: Tommy Hilfiger Denim;
James Veenhof, Jeans School; G-Star; G-Star
women’s store, Amsterdam
building brands
104 AMS
House of Denim, in short
House of Denim was established in 2009
by James Veenhoff, a former director of the
Amsterdam International Fashion Week, and
Mariette Hoitink, director of HTNK fashion
recruitment and consultancy, as a platform to
promote craftsmanship and innovation in the
denim industry. The platform has since grown
to encompass Denim City HQ, which houses
a Blue Lab, a networking Embassy, a denim
Archive and a Jean School. A major element
of the Jean School, a dedicated three-year
programme to train the next generation of
denim artisans, is teaching sustainability,
say the founders, who created the motto:
‘Towards a brighter blue’. Students graduate
with traditional skills such as cutting, sewing
and stitching, as well as innovative approaches to water use, chemicals and recycling.
House of Denim also organises the annual
Amsterdam Denim Days trade show and the
Global Denim Awards.
www.houseofdenim.org
G-Star, in short
Since its inception in 1989, G-Star’s singleminded approach to ‘Just the Product’ has
resulted in several firsts: fusing luxury denim
with street style to create a new sector, positioning untreated ‘straight-from-the-factory’
jeans as desirable consumer items; and incorporating 3D design techniques into denim
construction. Its RAW Sustainable programme
uses organic cotton as a base for a range
of products that contribute towards a more
sustainable future without compromising on
quality, comfort or design. In 2014, the brand
announced a collaboration with singer and
producer Pharrell Williams to develop RAW
for the Oceans, an environmentally conscious
collection made from recycled plastic found
in the world’s seas. G-Star sells its products in
more than 6,500 outlets worldwide and has
flagship stores in Amsterdam, Paris, London,
Milan and New York.
www.g-star.com
Above: Denham the Jeanmaker
Below: Pepe Jeans London, custom studio
dutch denim
BLUE IS THE NEW GREEN
This sentiment is echoed by House of Denim’s motto,
‘Towards a brighter blue’, which strives to make the denim
industry dryer, cleaner and smarter. It takes 7,000 litres
of water and several chemicals, dyes and softening agents
to make a single pair of jeans. Every self-respecting jeans
brand has one eye on sustainability these days – and here
too Amsterdam is leading the way. ‘Consumers are critical
and well-informed when it comes to their food; we want
them to apply the same attitude to clothing, starting with
denim,’ says Hoitink. ‘If you want to know if your jeans have
been sustainably produced, look at the price tag.You can’t
buy a pair of sustainable jeans for a few bucks; it simply
wouldn’t be possible to cover the production costs. As an
end product, though, jeans are sustainable – or perhaps
more accurately, durable: the longer you wear them, the better they become.’
Last year, G-Star joined forces with pop artist Pharrell Williams to develop RAW for the Oceans, an environmentally
conscious collection that uses plastic from the world’s seas
and transforms it into denim and other apparel. Dutch
company Kuyichi – another venture in which Jason Denham had a hand – was the first to use 100% organic cotton
and wood pulp from eucalyptus trees in its products. It
also introduced ‘Deposit Denim’, a closed-loop lifecycle
scheme that encourages consumers to exchange their old
jeans – which are recycled – and receive a discount on a new
pair. But perhaps the real sustainability innovator is Tony
Tonnaer, the founder of K.O.I. Under the motto ‘recycle,
repair and reuse’, K.O.I. not only uses recycled materials
but also hands out mending kits and organises repair events
for customers to prolong the life of their favourite jeans.
This may seem like a counterintuitive business strategy, but
where there is a consumer demand, companies will follow, says Willa Stoutenbeek of sustainable communication
agency W Green. ‘A brand is ultimately dependent on what
consumers buy. If more and more people want sustainable jeans, the industry will adapt.’ The logic is not lost on
Denham. He prefers to work with reused fabrics, he says,
but boasts a healthy profit range of €150-€500 on each pair
sold. ‘In Amsterdam, denim has evolved into a high-couture
product,’ he says. <
‘A melting pot
of nationalities
can thrive in
Amsterdam like
nowhere else’
(Jason Denham,
designer and
founder Denham
the Jeanmaker)
Denham the Jeanmaker, in short
After leaving the Amsterdam branch of Pepe
Jeans, British designer Jason Denham became involved in a number of denim-based
initiatives, including co-creating Kuyichi, the
first organic jeans brand. He launched his
own label, Denham the Jeanmaker, in 2008.
From the outset, the label targeted the upper
segment of the jeans market. In the company’s design studio on the historic Canal
Belt, a small, international team of designers
translates Denham’s ‘respect tradition, destroy convention’ approach to denim culture
into high-end casual wear that is sold in the
brand’s three local stores and more than 250
retail locations around the world.
www.denhamthejeanmaker.com
Tommy Hilfiger, in short
Born the second of nine children in New York,
Tommy Hilfiger began his fashion career as a
high-school student in 1969 with $150. Today,
his eponymous brand is one of the world’s
leading lifestyle players and is recognised
globally for its celebration of classic American
style. The brand has built an extensive distribution network in over 90 countries and more
than 1,400 retail stores in North America,
Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Hilfiger Denim, which has had its head office
in Amsterdam since 2009, consists of casual
sportswear with a focus on denim-related
separates for men and women. The collection
is described as ‘slightly more fashion forward’
than the main Tommy Hilfiger label, and targets style-savvy 18 to 28 year olds.
nl.tommy.com
105 AMS
also helped to organise. The second edition of the Amsterdam Denim Days is planned for 13-18 April 2015. ‘We
hope that the event will mobilise people to do cool things
together. And make them realise that denim is not cheap
rubbish, but rather something valuable,’ says Veenhoff.
AMS
FACTS ABOUT
$22.6 million
Amount raised by 39 Amsterdam start-ups that have been
through Rockstart’s accelerator
programmes.
(Source: Rockstart start-up hub, 2015)
#1
The Netherlands’ place on the European
Commission’s Digital Agenda Scoreboard
for fixed broadband coverage.
(Source: European Commission, Digital Agenda Scoreboard, 2013)
Close to the
markets that
matter
530 million consumers live within a
1,300km (800 mile) radius of
Amsterdam
106 AMS
The ‘Blue Banana’ comprises
the European economic
heartland (50% of
European GDP)
The so-called ‘Blue Banana’ (also known as
the Hot Banana, European Megalopolis or
European Backbone), extends from northwest England in the north down to Milan
in the south, and covers one of the world’s
highest concentrations of people, money
and industry. The Amsterdam Metropolitan
Area sits at its centre, with easy access
to Europe’s approximately 530 million
potential customers. It also sits in the heart
of the European euro zone.
seven
The Netherlands’ position in the
IBM Plant Location International
rankings 2014, which rates
countries according to the value
of investment projects based
on an indicator that assesses
the added value and knowledge
intensity of the jobs created. The
Netherlands rose 15 places from
its 2012 ranking, to enter the top
ten worldwide.
(Source: IBM-PLI Rankings, 2014)
2nd
At the annual Skytrax World
Airport Awards, passengers voted
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol the
second best airport in Europe
and the fifth best in the world.
The easy airside transfer process,
shopping and food & beverage
options were among the reasons
given for the airport’s top spots.
(Source: Skytrax World Airport Awards, 2014)
Amsterdam placed 39th on the Mercer Cost of
Living Rankings, which compares the cost of
living for expatriates in 211 cities worldwide.
The Dutch capital ranked significantly lower
than its more costly European counterparts
Paris (27), Copenhagen (15) and London (12).
(Source: Mercer, Cost of Living Rankings, 2014)
139
Number of new foreign companies that
established in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in 2014. Together these companies brought in 1,308 new jobs, which
they expect to expand to 2,359 within
three years. Existing foreign companies in
the region generated a growth of 1,611
new jobs. Last year, the Expatcenter Amsterdam assisted 8,000 internationals with
settling in the area.
(Source: amsterdam in business)
107 AMS
low cost
of living
AMs
FACTs ABoUT
4.6%
#6
In the global list of countries with the
fastest average internet connection
speeds, the Netherlands was ranked
sixth, with an average connection speed
of 14.0Mbps (megabits per second).
Country
South Korea
Hong Kong
Japan
Switzerland
Sweden
nETHErLAnDs
Ireland
Latvia
Czech Republic
Singapore
Mbps
25.3
16.3
15.0
14.5
14.1
14.0
13.9
13.4
12.3
12.2
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
(Source: Akamai’s State of the Internet report, Q3 2014)
A record 55 million passengers passed
through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in
2014, an increase of 4.6% over 2013.
(Source: Schiphol Group, 2014)
108 AMs
ToP TEn
The Netherlands’ ranks eighth in the Global
Competitiveness Index by the World Economic
Forum (WEF). The WEF defines competitiveness
as the set of institutions, policies and other
factors that determine the level of productivity
of a country. In Europe, only Switzerland, Finland
and Germany surpass the Netherlands.
(Source: World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Index, 2014-2015)
number four
Amsterdam’s ranking
among the world’s
most competetive
cities in PwC’s global
Cities of Opportunity
report.
(Source: PwC, Cities of Opportunity, 2014)
‘size is not the answer’
(Source: Size is Not the Answer: The Changing Face of the Global City, 2014)
5th
Safest cities in the world
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tokyo
Singapore
Osaka
Stockholm
AMsTErDAM
(Source: The Economist’s Safe Index
2015, based on the measurement of
four types of safety: digital, health,
infrastructure and personal)
€500
million
Estimated value of the
denim cluster in Amsterdam,
which has the highest
concentration of jeans
brands in the world.
(Source: Research and Statistics Department,
Amsterdam Municipality, 2013)
Netherlands Foreign
Investment Agency, NFIA
For foreign companies wishing to establish their business
in the Netherlands and to take advantage of the Dutch
business environment as a strategic base to cover
Europe, the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
(NFIA) is the first port of call.
The NFIA was established for the specific purpose of
helping and advising such companies by providing them
with advice, information and practical assistance, quickly
and on a confidential basis, as well as providing them
access to a broad network of business partners and
government institutions, all free of charge.
Founded 35 years ago, the NFIA is an operational unit of
the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Throughout the
years it has supported thousands of companies from all
over the world to successfully establish their business in
the Netherlands.
NFIA support starts in the country of origin. To that
end, the NFIA has offices in Europe (HQ in The Hague,
London, Istanbul), the US (New York, Boston, Chicago,
Atlanta, San Francisco), Asia (Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei,
Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Seoul, Delhi,
Mumbai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur), the Middle
East (Dubai, Tel Aviv) and Brazil (São Paulo). In addition,
the NFIA closely cooperates with Dutch embassies,
consulates-general and other organisations that represent
the Dutch government around the world, as well as with a
broad network of domestic partners in the Netherlands.
NFIA Headquarters
Prinses Beatrixlaan 2
2595 AL, The Hague
THE NETHERLANDS
postal address
PO Box 93144
2509 AC, The Hague
THE NETHERLANDS
T: +31 (0)88 602 1142
W: www.nfia.nl
E: [email protected]
109 AMs
A research report placed Amsterdam and
the Randstad 16th among the top 20 most
influential cities in the world. Entitled Size
is Not the Answer: The Changing Face of
the Global City, the report argues that
‘smaller, focused urban regions are becoming truly critical global hubs, unlike
most larger cities, which are simply tied
to their national economies’. Conducted
by the Civil Service College (Singapore)
and Chapman University (USA), the report
eschews standard evaluation methods for
a new set of criteria, ranking cities based
on factors including foreign direct investment, corporate headquarters, air connectivity and diversity.
AMs
FACTs ABoUT
‘gateway to continental Europe’
Wired magazine, 2014
‘English is widely spoken and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the continent’s busiest
and most efficient. The city is also a convenient
launchpad for Scandinavian markets, which, with
their high GDP per capita and high broadband
penetration rates, can be lucrative for start-ups.
Crucially, Amsterdam measures high on qualityof-life indices, which makes it easy to hire talent.’
sEConD
The Netherlands’ ranking
on the World Bank’s global
Logistics Performance
Index. Published every two
years, the index benchmarks
countries’ performance using
six key dimensions: customs,
infrastructure, international
shipments, logistics competence,
tracking & tracing and timeliness.
Only Germany placed higher.
110 AMs
(Source: World Bank, Logistics Performance Index, 2014)
11
Position of the
Netherlands in
the Forbes list of
the world’s best
countries for
business.
(Source: Forbes, Best Countries for Business, 2014)
sEVEn
21,000
Approximate number of
companies in Amsterdam operating within the ICT industries.
(Source: Research and Statistics Department,
Amsterdam Municipality, 2014)
The Netherlands’ position in the
IMD World Talent Report. The
report assesses a country’s ability
to develop, attract and retain
talent for companies that
operate there.
Country
Switzerland
Denmark
Germany
Finland
Malaysia
Ireland
nETHErLAnDs
Canada
Sweden
Norway
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
(Source: IMD, World Talent Report, 2014)
At-a-glance: the Dutch tax system
Bred for progress and expansion, the Dutch tax system is transparent and stable – and flexible enough to anticipate the
rapidly-changing requirements of international economic flows.
1 A competitive corporate tax rate well below EU average
2 Advance tax assessment certainty on future transactions,
investments or corporate structures
3 Participation Exemption: all benefits relating to a qualifying
shareholding (including cash dividends, dividends-in-kind, bonus
shares, hidden profit distributions and capital gains) are exempt
from Dutch corporate income tax
4 Double taxation relief for individuals via the Royal Decree for the
Avoidance of Double Taxation
5 The Innovation Box: an effective tax rate of 5% for income related
to a patent or an R&D declaration (certain conditions apply)
6 Withholding of tax on outgoing interest and royalty payments
under certain circumstances can be 0%
7 No capital-tax levy on the contribution of capital to a company
and any later expansion of share capital
8 The 30% ruling for expats: tax-free reimbursement of 30% of an
employee’s salary, provided that the employee has been recruited
or assigned from abroad and has specific expertise which is scarce
in the present Dutch labour market
9 Horizontal Supervision: the Dutch tax authority is the first in the
world to make prior arrangements with large- and medium-sized
taxable businesses on the tax liabilities expected in the course of
the year, and how they are going to manage them. If tax payers
can show they have an adequate ‘tax control framework’, then in
principle no tax audits are needed for determining the tax liability
10 Tax treaties with the majority of the world’s trading nations,
which prevent double taxation for businesses
11 The Netherlands has excellent tax facilities for distribution and
transport companies. These facilities avoid unnecessary leakage of
VAT and custom duties
111 AMs
Companies established in the Netherlands profit from various tax advantages, including:
AMs
FACTs ABoUT
50
Position of the University of
Amsterdam in the QS World
University Rankings 2014 – eight
places higher than in 2013.
(Source: QS World University Rankings, 2014)
Top 15
Amsterdam appears in the top 15
of the Reputation Institute’s City
RepTrak global survey. The Dutch
capital has risen swiftly through
the ranks of the world’s 100 most
reputable cities, having been
listed in 41st place as recently
as 2012.
City
Vienna
Munich
Sydney
Florence
Venice
Oslo
Vancouver
London
Barcelona
Montreal
Copenhagen
Helsinki
Brussels
AMsTErDAM
Paris
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
(Source: Reputation Institute City RepTrak, 2014)
50%
112 AMs
Half of all businesses with at least ten
employees in the Netherlands use social
media. The use of microblogging sites in
particular is high, with more Dutch companies using Twitter than anywhere else in
the European Union.
(Source: CBS Eurostat, 2013)
congresses
A worldclass
conference
destination
Joining forces: Clusters & Conventions
Convention professionals and specialists from
the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area business
community are joining forces in an initiative
titled ‘Clusters & Conventions’. The project
provides organisations considering holding
their international convention in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area with the opportunity
to tap into the vast knowledge and innovation available within seven economic clusters:
financial and business services; ICT; creative
industries; logistics and trade; life sciences;
flowers, food & fish; tourism and conventions; and high-tech materials. The Clusters &
Conventions project provides optimal support
concerning conference organisation and
content as well as tailor-made tours that tap
into the expertise within the regional market.
The service is provided completely free of
charge. For more information or a meeting without
obligation, please contact:
Miranda Geerlings, project coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +31 (0)20 551 2648
Recently released data indicates that more international
congresses were held in Amsterdam in 2013 than ever
before – 16% more than in 2012, across both the corporate
and non-corporate sectors, covering such topics as ICT,
medical technology and safety. The city’s reputation as an
international conference destination was confirmed when
the International Congress and Convention Association
(ICCA) named Amsterdam the second most popular conference destination in the world.
With 114,000 conference delegates visiting the city in 2013
– second only worldwide to Barcelona – the number of participant days for the Amsterdam conference industry also
increased by almost 26%. A quantitative measurement that
takes into account both the duration of a meeting and the
number of delegates, participant days are a good indicator
of economic impact. These results were largely influenced
by the arrival of the Congress of the European Society of
Cardiology with 30,000 visitors, the European Cancer
Congress with almost 16,000 visitors and the International
Liver Congress with nearly 10,000 participants. In the future, those figures are set to rise further still, with the arrival
of the biennial international AIDS conference AIDS2018,
which is expected to welcome some 20,000 delegates.
Being chosen to host this major conference is a sign of
recognition for both Amsterdam’s world-leading conference
reputation and the role played by the Netherlands in the
international fight against AIDS. It is particularly poignant for the Dutch AIDS research community, which lost
researcher Joep Lange and other AIDS activists on flight
MH17 in July 2014, on their way to AIDS2014. Acknowledging the Netherlands’ unique position within the global
convention market, Ton Coenen, director of the Aids Fonds
and Soa Aids Nederland, summed up the honour thus: ‘It is
fantastic that Amsterdam is to organise this conference. The
Netherlands also has the major advantage that all groups
most affected by the epidemic can come to the Netherlands
for the conference, including drugs users and sex workers.
This would not be possible in many countries.’ <
Editorial Board Frans van der Avert, Hilde van der Meer Editor-in-Chief Bart van Oosterhout Project Management Mariken van den Boogaard, Sladjana Mijatovic Art
Director Sabine Verschueren Designer Sandra Nakken Cover Photography Herman van Heusden Copy Editors Cecily Layzell and Megan Roberts Writers Paul Anstiss,
Matt Farquharson, Colleen Geske, Hans Kops, Russell Shorto Photographers Amke, Julia de Boer, Titia Hahne, Mark Horn, Elmer van der Marel, Phenster, Robin de Puy,
Mike Roelofs, Duco de Vries
113 AMS
COLOPHON
amsterdam inbusiness
in brief
The official foreign investment
agency of the Amsterdam
Metropolitan Area, amsterdam
inbusiness provides free, active
support and independent
advice to organisations
planning to invest or settle in
the region.
amsterdam inbusiness is the official foreign investment agency of the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Almere and
Haarlemmermeer). amsterdam inbusiness assists foreign companies with the
establishment and expansion of their activities in the Netherlands. We can
help you create a convincing business case for setting up in the Amsterdam
Metropolitan Area by offering practical advice and relevant information. And
it’s all free, strictly confidential and without any hidden agenda.
Our commitment does not end once you have set up an operation in the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. We strive to build a long-term relationship
in order to be supportive in any phase of development of your company.
Considering setting up your business in the Amsterdam Area? Don’t hesitate
to contact us. We look forward to welcoming you in Amsterdam!
Customised solutions
By combining your data with ours, we can provide you with
relevant information for your organisation. Our services for
organisations planning to set up in the Amsterdam
Metropolitan Area include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Market Intelligence: providing specific data on markets, industries and
sectors in, for example, IT, financial services, media, advertising, life
sciences, food, gaming, aerospace, logistics, etc.
Investment climate: providing information about the Dutch tax climate,
incentives, legal & regulatory framework and labour market. Developing
independent benchmark reports on salary levels, office rent, cost of
living etc. for your European location study and/or supply-chain study
Fact-finding visits: tailor-made fact-finding programmes to get informed
about the fiscal climate, the market, availability of talent, business
climate and quality of service providers, and to visit office locations
Legal & tax advice: organising free introduction meetings with
internationally oriented business service suppliers to elaborate on legal
and fiscal structures that meet your current and long-term needs
Talent: tapping into the labour market via introduction to recruiters
and/or networks and communities of professionals
Business & partner networks: introductions to strategic partners,
business networks/associations, knowledge institutions, tax authorities,
governmental agencies and when possible potential clients
Relocation support: assistance in search and selection of temporary,
flexible and permanent office space including site visit tours
Support for international staff: apartment search for expats
(short stay/long stay), introductions to international schools, expat clubs
and referrals to doctors, dentists, accountants, etc.
The numbers
• Over 2,500 international companies are located in the Amsterdam
Metropolitan Area
• amsterdam inbusiness assisted
115 new companies in 2013
Contact us
[email protected]
www.amsterdaminbusiness.com
Amsterdam
PO Box 2133, 1000 CC Amsterdam
Telephone: +31 (0)20 254 5045
[email protected]
Almere
PO Box 200, 1300 AE Almere
Telephone: +31 (0)36 539 9487
[email protected]
Amstelveen
PO Box 4, 1180 BA Amstelveen
Telephone: +31 (0)20 540 4423
[email protected]
Haarlemmermeer
PO Box 250, 2130 AG Hoofddorp
Telephone: +31 (0)23 567 6135
[email protected]
What the Expatcenter can do for you
Opened in 2008, Amsterdam’s
Expatcenter cuts through the
bureaucratic red tape for the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area’s
growing number of international
companies and their migrant
employees.
Amsterdam’s appeal lies in its rich
cultural heritage, creative culture,
commercial dynamism and high quality
of life. Ultimately, however, the city’s
greatest asset is its people, a healthy –
and growing – percentage of whom are
international.
The Expatcenter was one of the first
Dutch schemes to cut the red tape
for expats, drastically streamlining
relocation procedures and helping
them settle in. Seven years later, the
Expatcenter offers a comprehensive
range of services. Together with
its partners from the I amsterdam
portal site, the Expatcenter continues
to expand its digital support for
Amsterdam’s international community,
both practical and pleasurable.
Partnerships – with banks and
childcare providers, movers, lawyers,
language schools and more – mean
the Expatcenter has the tools to make
an expat’s first few months a little
smoother. Because the first step of a
journey doesn’t have to be the most
difficult one.
Welcome to Amsterdam!
New residence permit for entrepreneurs
As of 1 January 2015, a new regulation allows ambitious entrepreneurs to apply for a temporary
residence permit for the Netherlands. The so-called ‘scheme for start-ups’ gives entrepreneurs from
outside the EU one year to launch an innovative new business in the Netherlands. Under the scheme,
new international start-ups will be offered the necessary support to develop into mature enterprises.
This scenario is not only beneficial for the entrepreneur but also creates a solid foundation for job
creation and economic growth in the Netherlands. For full details, see www.iamsterdam.com/startup
One-stop shop for employees
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Expatcenter services international companies and their
migrant employees across the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
The Expatcenter is a joint initiative of the cities of Amsterdam,
Amstelveen, Haarlemmermeer, Almere, Hilversum and Velsen,
along with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and
the Tax Office
Employers can use the Expatcenter to initiate residency
applications before a new employee even arrives in the
Netherlands
Fast-track services mean qualifying expats can begin work as
soon as two weeks after their employers apply to the IND
In one appointment, employees can collect their residence permit
and registration with their municipality. This will provide them
with a citizen service number (BSN), allowing them, for instance,
to open a Dutch bank account
Following an agreement with the Dutch Tax Department in 2011,
applications for the employee 30% tax ruling can now be made
via the Expatcenter
The Partnership Programme, created in 2009, connects expats
with service providers operating in the expat market
The numbers
• Over 850 international companies and their expat
employees make use of the Expatcenter’s services
• Over 500 new expats visit each month
• Companies rate the services provided by the Expatcenter an excellent 8.4/10 on average
• More than 27,000 expats have visited the Expatcenter for registration assistance
Contact us
[email protected]
www.expatcenter.com
+31 (0)20 254 7999
Or visit us at:
World Trade Center Amsterdam
F-Tower, second floor
Strawinskylaan 39
1077 XW Amsterdam
Opening hours:
Monday-Friday 09.00-17.00