During the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) from the 14th to the 18th of November, entrepreneurship was celebrated in more than 160 countries. More than 100 events in the Netherlands inspired entrepreneurs, students, policymakers and academics to engage in entrepreneurship and connect them to mentors, new talent or investors.
Kick off Deventer – 14 November
The Global Entrepreneurship Week in the province of Gelderland and Overijssel was officially launched with an event at De Gasfabriek in Deventer. This event was organized in cooperation with Hogeschool Arnhem Nijmegen, Universiteit Twente, Saxion Hogeschool and the local Centers of Entrepreneurship. Enterprising students, local entrepreneurs, officials and deputies were part of the network.
Iris de Winter, Incubation Manager StartLife: “StartLife was represented with a part of the team at this event. During the opening there were interesting speakers and we could contribute to the speed dates. We talked to students and young entrepreneurs about their business ideas, growth ambitions and potential financial partners”.
Celebration student incubator StartHub
In the Global Entrepreneurship Week StartHub Wageningen also celebrated its 2-year anniversary with an official toast.
Launch of the Young Hero Award nomination – 16 November
At the Entrepreneurial Drinks, at StartHub, the nomination for the Wageningen Entrepreneur of the Year was officially opened. For this business competition, entrepreneurs can be nominated for the Rabobank Startup of the Year Award, MKB & Grootzakelijk Award, Detailhandel & Horeca Award and the Young Hero Award, which is a special category for StartHub startups.
The Award Ceremony will be at Theater Junushoff in Wageningen on 27th March 2017. More information can be found on the website.
Would you like to be nominated? Send an email to Gitte Schober. You can register until the 13th of December 2016.
How To Get There Summit – 17 November 2016
3000 startups, corporates and innovation hubs joined for the How To Get There (HTGT) Summit in the Hague to innovate faster together. The HTGT Summit was initiated by minister Kamp of Economic Affairs and was organized by the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Applied Sciences in The Hague.
Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy with StartupDelta opened the HTGT Summit together with Martin Luxemburg (director of Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship) and Jan Lintsen (The Hague University of Applied Sciences). Corporates such as EY, KPN, Port of Rotterdam, PwC, Vopak and APM Terminals joined the HTGT Summit to actively seek collaboration with startups. The innovation hubs of the Netherlands displayed their knowledge, services and expertise in ecosystem cafes.
StartLife Food Cafe
StartLife organized a Food Cafe at the HTGT Summit. Entrepreneurs and innovators who were looking for a network to fasten their innovation processes in the Food sector visited our cafe. Our guests were startups GreenFood50, Seamore and No Fairytales, and Jeroen Leffelaar (Rabobank), Peter Navarro (FrieslandCampina), Henri Hekman (Dutch Sprouts), Gitte Schober (StartLife) and Simon Vink (Wageningen University & Research).
Pitch battles at Get in the Ring
Over 350 startups joined the Get in the Ring pitch battle at the HTGT Summit. Through the Get in the Ring Matchups, startups joined in pre-planned 10-minute pitch session to explore possible collaborations with corporates. The jury consisting of successful Dutch tech entrepreneurs Heleen Dura – Van Oord, Steven Schuurman and Han de Groot, chose FreshStrips, Flex-Appeal and Mellon Medical as the winners. They will represent the Netherlands during the Global Startup Conference in Singapore in May 2017.
Get in the Ring Challenges offer finance
Three prominent Dutch corporates ASML, KPN and APM Terminals announced that together with Get in the Ring, they will be challenging startups worldwide. The most relevant startups will secure a pilot contract to implement their solutions, with the goal of scaling up in the future. Each of the companies is looking for startups with their own special focus.
Pictures of the HTGT Summit can be found here (by Wouter Went).