Follow in the footsteps of Picnic, Coolblue and Wuunder and start your international expansion in the Business Metropole Ruhr region. This week they are organizing an introduction event to get you set up for your first steps in Germany.
The Ruhr region and the Netherlands both have innovative ecosystems, says Prof. Dr. Julia Frohne, CEO of Business Metropole Ruhr: “This is why the BMR established the ‘Innovation Bridge Netherlands‘ in February 2022 to boost Dutch-German cooperation.”
This week on Thursday the 23rd of November they are paying a visit to the Netherlands and inviting everybody to join their special launch event. If you want to register, click on this link.
6 questions for Prof. Dr. Julia Frohne, CEO of Business Metropole Ruhr, that will get you up to speed on what this event is all about:
Why was there the need to start with promotion of the BMR?
The reputation of the Ruhr region still is to be an industrial region only. Since the closing of the last coal mine years ago, the region has developed towards a vivid innovation location, 22 universities, 300,000 students and 150 R&D centres, and we have Europe’s highest university density.
What can Dutch entrepreneurs expect from the BMR region in terms of business potential?
The potential is great. We have 53 cities alone, where 5 million people live. The Ruhr region is the second largest metropolitan area in Europe: the largest B2C market in Germany. That’s why Dutch companies like Picnic or CoolBlue started here.
But it is also an attractive B2B market, with 160,000 corporate SMEs and large DAX-listed companies. This is a particularly interesting market for Dutch digital innovators. It is also incredibly close to the Netherlands. The high density of universities ensures that we have many highly educated professionals here.
What are well-known examples?
Think of online supermarket Picnic, webstore Coolblue, Qwiek (medtech), Wuunder (logistics) and loogical (telecom).
What service does BMR offer for Dutch startups?
We put you in touch with potential customers, cooperation partners and investors. We offer consultancy in finding funding. We can offer office space and real estate. And we help with virtual networking through the platform.
What are BMR’s goals for 2030?
Today there are already 4,000 Dutch companies active in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), giving jobs to 100,000 people. We would like to further develop this pole position of Dutch companies in NRW and the Ruhr region.
What will it look like in 2050?
The excellent universities in our region combined with our industrial backbone offer ideal conditions to further develop technologies like IT Security, Greentech, Hydrogen, Circular economy, Digital healthcare, Robotics and more. In our region ideas and new technologies that are developed in our universities find their testbed and their market right at the doorstep.
Venue
Startup Village
Science Park 608, 1098 XH Amsterdam
Thursday, November 23rd
17.00 hours – Admission
17.30 hours – Start of the programme
20.00 hours – End of the programme
The event will be held completely in English. You can register here or directly contact Frank Speer, Head of Internationalisation & Location Marketing, at [email protected]. Tel: +49 201 632488-29
01
Job board for modern workforce: How Remote Talent helps jobseekers find truly remote, distributed work