Internationaliseren Archieven - InnovationQuarter

Contact /Chris van Voorden Datum /8 April 2019

In 2018, 115 foreign companies opened an office or expanded their business in West Holland with the assistance of regional acquisition partners. These firms are expected to provide in excess of 2,600 jobs and to invest a total of 278 million euros in the region. Since 2014, The Hague Business Agency, Rotterdam Partners and InnovationQuarter have been actively collaborating to place the region in the global spotlight and to attract and support foreign companies. This has paid off: 26% of international companies that set up business in the Netherlands last year chose West Holland.

United States and China strongly represented

Most of the foreign companies that made a new or an expansion investment in West Holland in 2018 came from China (23) and the USA (22). This is in line with the trend of recent years with the majority of firms hailing from these two countries.

Chinese companies that established themselves in West Holland during 2018 include Genscript (biomedical firm with European branch in Leiden), Oppo (smartphones in Rotterdam) and Newtrend Group (biochemicals in The Hague).

Major names from the US that set up in or expanded into West Holland include GE Healthcare (new office in Rotterdam), Microsoft (Quantum Lab in Delft) and Synergy International Systems (Tech for Good in The Hague).

The figures for 2018 also reveal that companies from ‘new’ countries are coming to the region. For example, the strong growth in the number of firms from India and Turkey is striking. Eight companies from each country chose West Holland as their base in the Netherlands.

New sectors: ‘Next’ and ‘Impact’ Economy

Also noteworthy is the growing presence of firms active in the Next Economy. This includes a significant number of young tech companies that have made West Holland their home due to the region’s strong innovation ecosystem.

No fewer than 34 of the 115 newly established foreign firms in 2018 operate in the high-tech and IT sectors, followed by 14 in life sciences and health, 13 in the energy sector and 11 in agro and food.

We also see many new businesses (12) active in the so-called ‘Impact Economy’; companies that are working on making the world a better, safer and fairer place.

Investor Relations Programme: 298 companies visited

In addition to attracting new companies, The Hague Business Agency, Rotterdam Partners and InnovationQuarter also actively support foreign firms already established in the region.

This is part of the national Investor Relations Programme, which is co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the Rotterdam-The Hague Metropolitan Region and the Province of South Holland. In 2018, the three acquisition partners visited a total of 298 companies through the programme.

Successful collaboration on acquisition in West Holland

Attracting and retaining foreign investment is of great importance to the Netherlands and the West Holland region, not least in terms of economic growth and job creation. The 115 international companies succesfully assisted in 2018, for example, will by their own estimate create 2,108 new jobs within three years and secure 535 existing jobs. In addition, these firms are jointly investing 278 million euros in the region.

The 115 investment projects are the result of a joint effort by the regional agencies Rotterdam Partners, The Hague Business Agency and InnovationQuarter in association with the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), an operational unit of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. The acquisition partners have been collaborating closely since 2014, both strategically and operationally, and have achieved great success. In 2018, 26% of all foreign companies* that established themselves in the Netherlands opted for West Holland, well above the region’s share in the national economy. In 2014, it was 20%.

* This concerns the projects completed by Rotterdam Partners, The Hague Business Agency and InnovationQuarter in collaboration with the NFIA (Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency).

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Contact /Martijn van Hoogenhuijze Datum /12 July 2018

In response to increased interest by Indian Safety & Security entrepreneurs in expanding or relocating to the Netherlands, InnovationQuarter joined the High tech / Cybersecurity delegation of the largest Dutch economic mission to India ever. During the trip, InnovationQuarter had the opportunity to invite current investors and prospects to several Trade Dinners and to a lunch organized by The Hague Business Agency with the Mayor of The Hague.

After two days in New Delhi, the Hightech/ Cyber delegation went to Bangalore where InnovationQuarter was offered Soft Landing Support for Netherland Startups by Karnataka’s Technology Incubators. The letter of support for the Soft Landing Programme is the result of previous meetings between government officials of the State Karnataka, the City of The Hague and InnovationQuarter.

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Contact /Loek Becker Hoff Datum /29 April 2017

Visit to ship-owners and shipyard

The concept ‘Technology Exchange Roadshow (TER)’ was firsts introduced by Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT) in the Netherlands as many maritime companies, especially SME’s can have trouble getting in touch with ship-owners. By organizing a joint visit, via NMT, the Dutch Embassy in Singapore and InnovationQuarter, coupled with a current theme that plays well with ship-owners, this opening is more easily created. This gives the participating Dutch companies, Bachmann Electronic, Hydrex, Rubber Design, Subsea Industries, VAF Instruments and VSH Fittings an opportunity to present their businesses and solution.

The four parties visited in Singapore on April 28 were:

Thome Ship Management
PAC Offshore
Triyards
Pacific Radiance

The participating Dutch companies were able to introduce a wide variety of solutions. The ship-owners responded very well to these and indicated that despite the variety, all companies presented solutions relevant to them. The sessions gave all participants an opportunity to present their company and cost-effective solutions after which there was time for the Singapore companies to ask questions.

InnovationQuarter and NMT are at this time investigating the possibility to organize a TER to Norway. A preliminary outline for the trip has been drafted and can soon be shared with interested companies.

SEA Asia

The sixth edition of SEA Asia took place in Singapore from April 25th to 27th. This maritime & offshore fair and conference took place in the Marina Bay Sands Complex. This SEA Asia edition in 2017 was visited by 16,000 visitors from 85 different countries. SEA Asia receives strong support from the Singaporean government and the major shipping organizations SSA (Singapore Shipping Association) and MPA (Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore) to firmly market Singapore as a leading place for both the global and local Maritime & Offshore industry.

The Holland Pavilion was visited on the opening day by the Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister of Transport, Mr Khaw Boon Wan. On the second trading day, the Holland Networking Reception was held with a select group of invited guests, including some shipyards and shipowners from Singapore.

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Contact /Tanja Baars Datum /25 April 2017

International Robotics Week

Integrating RoboBusiness Europe, TUS Expo and ROS Industrial in one event turned out to be a huge success. For three days, experts in the field of robotics and unmanned systems, and their robots and drones, from all over the world gathered in the Netherlands. The week saw an expo and conference in the World Forum The Hague, tours to labs of the Delft University of Technology and demonstration days in the port of Rotterdam (unmanned harbour) and former airport Valkenburg (drone show). This made clear that the Netherlands has everything needed for robotics companies that want to settle here.

Keynotes

The International Robotics week started on Wednesday, with inspiring keynotes from Kim Liebregts (Tesla Benelux), Noel Sharkey (Responsible Robotics) and Melonee Wise (Fetch Robotics). Wise’s contribution was of particular interest. She pointed out that there are around 1000 robotics start-ups in the world, most of these founded after 2010. Why is that? The answer is open-source robotics (ROS). “Why did this sudden explosion happen? Because of open innovation.” Her company also benefited from ROS.

There are around 1000 robotics startups in the world, most of which were founded after 2010. Why is that?

Sharkey told visitors to think about the ethical aspects of robotics. “We don’t want to sleepwalk into robotics just as we did with the internet.”

Business wise

The IRW is the perfect place for start-ups to present themselves. Prince Constantijn, the startup envoy of StartupDelta, had some advice for them. The preconditions for being successful in the Netherlands are present, but it is not enough to just have a good product. To give this product a place in the market, you have to be ‘business wise’: you need to surround yourself with people who have a sense of enterprise.

Constantijn also visited the RoboValley pavilion, where various startups were gathered together: Delft Robotics, CropZoomer, Clear Flight Solutions, SeaDrone, Robot Care Systems, Robot Security Systems, Robot Engineered Systems, Vectioneer. Also present were the student DreamTeam: Project MARCH, ImProvia and the Care-o-bot from Fraunhofer / Unity Robotics. During the startup event, AeroVinci announced they received a subsidy of € 300.000,-. This allows them to further develop the dronedock technology.

Portal: connect.robovalley.com

During the IRW, we also launched the beta version of connect.robovalley.com: ‘your compass in the world of robotics’. Connect.robovalley.com offers a single place for companies to find the latest news, insights and reports on robotics.

RoboValley Foundation Dinner

Networking is an important part of a large congress. Because of this, the organisation was happy that the city of Delft and InnovationQuarter enabled us to host the first RoboCafé NL in the old town hall of the city of Delft on the first evening of the event. Futurist Aseem Prakash delivered an inspiring presentation, the historical ambience took care of the rest.

A day later, they organised the RoboValley Foundation Dinner in our own offices. The Dutch robotics sector was present, as were several international guests. They were, amongst others, addressed by Delft University of Technology’s rector magnificus Karel Luyben, Aimee van Wynsberghe and Guszti Eiben.

‘Golden Age of Nerds’

“We are living in a golden age of nerds”, concluded comedian Pep Rosenfeld during the closing keynotes a day later. He is right. During the IRW, it became clear how much is happening in the field of robotics and how fast developments are moving. “Robotics and AI are all about possibilities”, said Prakash during his keynote. “Possibilities that humans never have experienced before.”

“Robotics and AI are all about possibilities”

There was room for ethical issues during the closing keynotes. Irakli Beridze of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute told us what the UN is doing in the fields of robotics and AI. Beridze and his organisation have settled in The Hague because of the presence of the Responsible Robotics Foundation. “By joining forces, we want to make this a city of ideas and global policies related to AI and robotics.”

“Over the past few years, we have built a global platform for organisations and people involved in robotics”

RoboValley Platform

RoboValley’s Managing Director, Arthur de Crook, thanked everyone at the end of the IRW. He explained the importance of the event for RoboValley. “Over the past few years, we have built a global platform for organisations, researchers and governments involved in robotics. But we also really wanted to create a moment to show this platform to the world. This moment was the International Robotics Week.” Robotics can contribute to solving the grand societal challenges. This is why it is important to create the next generation robotics. “So we can embrace the future for the good.”

Source / RoboValley

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Contact /Stef Prinsen Datum /20 April 2017

Brexit seminar

During this seminar, several experts shared their views on important aspects of Brexit. Jeroen Nijland (NFIA) and Jurriaan Kalf (Rabobank) elaborated about its impact on the economy and more specifically foreign direct investment.

Wilco Heiwegen (evofenedex) spoke about the possible impact for importing and exporting companies and how the Brexit will affect international trade and Liam McCloy (FleishmanHillard Fishburn) gave his expert view on the UK politics and the different perspectives on both sides of the pond. Last but not least, Rem Korteweg (Clingendael) gave a remarkable overview of the complexity of the upcoming negotiations and the pitfalls that might be ahead.

Brexit - how does it affect your business - Liam McCloy - CIC Rotterdam 760x680

Liam McCloy, FleishmanHillard Fishburn (part of Omnicom PR Group) at CIC Rotterdam

Program

15:00 – 15:15 hrs Reception at 7th floor
15:15 – 15:20 hrs Welcome by Chris van Voorden (InnovationQuarter) and René Hanssen (Rotterdam Partners)
15:20 – 15:30 hrs Opening by Jeroen Nijland (Commissioner of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency – NFIA) ‘Brexit and its relation to FDI in The Netherlands’
15:30 – 15:50 hrs Presentation by Jurriaan Kalf (Country Risk Analysist, Rabobank)
‘Investing in Europe after Brexit’
15:50 – 16:10 hrs Presentation by Wilco Heiwegen (Trade Advisor – evofenedex)
‘Brexit: impact on trade and logistics’
16:10 – 16:30 hrs Presentation by Liam McCloy (Public Affairs Expert – FleishmanHillard Fishburn) ‘Politics of Brexit and how organisations deal with its impact’
16:30 – 16:50 hrs Presentation by Rem Korteweg (Senior Research Fellow at Clingendael)
‘The pittfalls in the Brexit talks’
16:50 – 17:15 hrs Panel Discussion (+ Q&A)
17:15 hrs Networking opportunity at Venture Café Rotterdam’s weekly gathering

Need assistance?

We hereby would like to thank all the speakers and attendees for an interesting afternoon, and CIC Rotterdam for the great venue and networking opportuniy at Venture Café Rotterdam. If you missed the event, but would like to learn more, feel free to reach out!

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Contact /Philip Meijer Datum /23 March 2017

Leading security cluster

The core is the HSD Campus, the national innovation centre for security in The Hague. 50 of the 250 partners of The Hague Security Delta (HSD) are located at the Campus. These parties vary from governments to knowledge institutions and from startups & SMEs to corporate organisations. All of these partners share a common goal: more business activity, more jobs and a secure world.

At the HSD Campus, the King of the Netherlands spoke with representatives of involved organisations and the HSD Board, followed by a guided tour. Richard Franken, executive director of HSD: “This visit offered us the opportunity to familiarise his Majesty with the diversity on initiatives within HSD. Besides that, we discussed some challenges in the security field, such as the lack of IT and cyber security talent, the tensions between privacy and security, and the cyber security threats with regards to the Internet of Things.”

Royal company visit

HSD partners talked about four topics with King Willem-Alexander:

The education of cyber scurity talent. The University of Leiden, TU Delft and The Hague University of Applied Sciences offer an executive master education in Cyber Security at the Cyber Security Academy. The King spoke with professors and professional students about challenges, such as guaranteeing the sufficient supply of professional teachers, anticipating on the quick developments within the cyber security domain and the protection of the balance between security and privacy.

SAM, the security robot, which can patrol autonomously. The robot is designed by Robot Security Systems/Lobeco in collaboration with Trigion, TU Delft and end users. With the help of HSD investments and its partners such as InnovationQuarter and Rabobank, it is now successfully used at the Port of Rotterdam. In addition to the physical threats, the port of Rotterdam also needs to be resilient against digital threats.

The National Cyber Testbed, an investigation by TNO and HSD – in consultation with the Metropolitan region Rotterdam/The Hague – with a focus on how society can be more resilient against cyber attacks. As long as the possibilities of digitalising, ‘The internet of Things’ and ‘Smart Cities’ grow, vulnerabilities for ‘hacks’ will grow as well. The municipality of The Hague and KPN have been the first organisations to support the development of this Testbed.

Sweetie 2.0: preventing child abuse. Tracks Inspector, the University of Leiden and Tilburg University work for Terre des Hommes on the development of an advanced version of a ‘chat robot’. Using artificial intelligence it prevents the abuse of children through webcam sex.