‘Startup-city’ B. Amsterdam recently opened the doors of its third location. Covering 12,000m2, B.3 is located in the former Mexx headquarters on the A4 motorway. With a 40,000 m2 campus and three buildings, B. Amsterdam calls itself “the largest startup ecosystem in Europe today”.
Accelerating innovation in B.3
Like the other B. locations, the primary focus is on accelerating the pace of innovation and growth of startups and corporates. What is unique about B.3 is that it will become the physical center for corporate innovators in the Netherlands, granting organizations such as PWC and IBM access to new talent for the development of innovative solutions. It will also host an investors lounge, where startups and investors can meet informally.
PostNL Innovation Studio
PostNL sees the importance of innovation, and also opted for an Innovation Studio at B.3: “we have established an innovation studio with a view to accelerating growth and innovation. This will allow us to come into contact with new developments in technology, start-ups, and international innovative companies. The value of new ideas is quickly assessed here, and these are subsequently further developed in small-scale ‘living lab’ trials,” says Eric van Westbroek, Director of the PostNL Innovation Studio.
Boundless ambition
According to Guus Meulendijks, co-founder of B. Amsterdam, “the power of the B. concept lies in its scale, tight focus on furthering innovation, and boundless ambition. The concept focuses on expanding the relevant network, both within the B. ecosystem and beyond, to the greatest extent possible. In the end, it’s all about the impact.”
New York
With an estimated half million visitors for next year, the opening of B.3 and its first location in New York next autumn, this impact is continually growing and becoming more international in scope.
Here’s a look inside B.3:
