Can city administrations benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit of startups, and create better urban solutions with their help? In this paper, we critically assess the interplay between startups and city administrations for city-driven innovative public procurement or “challenge-based procurement” policy, taking Amsterdam’s Startup in Residence (SiR) programme as a case study. We describe and analyse this programme from two perspectives: i) the economic development perspective, i.e. does it promote startups and does it bring them new business opportunities, and ii) a governance perspective, i.e. does it bridge the gap between startups and the city bureaucracy; does it lead to a more innovative culture within city government.
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This paper analyses Amsterdam’s Startup-in-Residence (SiR) programme as new type of policy to engage startups in the development of urban innovation through a challenge-based public procurement of innovation (PPI) process. The programme is being mimicked by other cities and government agencies, but so far there has not been a rigorous, theoretically-informed analysis of the approach. In this paper, we specify and focus on the role of city-based, public-affiliated intermediaries as initiators, moderators and influencers of conversations between startups and the local government. The main contribution of SiR as a PPI intermediation programme has been to launch new types of fruitful conversations on several levels, that lead to institutional innovations rather than direct solutions for urban problems or startup development. In this sense, SiR fulfils a role inquiring and ascribing urban challenges with values and notions of “worth” that preceded and shaped innovation directions. We also suggest that engaging startups is effective for only a limited bandwidth urban challenges; different types of intermediation are required to foster collaborative innovation in more complex settings.
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This contribution will describe how the Hanzehogeschool in Groningen, the Netherlands has implemented its entrepreneurship education throughoutthe entire institution resulting in entrepreneurial awareness among manystudents and great impact in the regional innovation ecosystem
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With Brexit looming, start-ups in the London ecosystem may ask themselves whether they are still in the right place for their business. Are they considering a move to the continent due to the ambiguous Brexit developments? This research analyzes the probability of international start-ups based in the London region relocating to another European entrepreneurial ecosystem. We use location decision theory and secondary data from the European Digital City Index to rank the most attractive eco-systems for the possible relocation of London-based start-ups. In addition, we interview London start-up founders asking how likely they are to leave and where they envision continuing their entrepreneurial endeavors. This study examines whether London will lose its top rank as the most attractive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Europe. We ask which of the competing ecosystems of Europe stands to gain from London’s possible loss. Our quantitative analyses show that Amsterdam is the most likely hub to benefit from any exodus. The qualitative analyses conveyed a mixture of concern and ambivalence as only three of the startups considered relocating their headquarters to another ecosystem. Six of the startups have either opened an office in another European ecosystem or are in the process of doing so. This allows them to watch and wait as they want to remain. The attractiveness of the London region, the social capital investments by team and partners, and the lack of finances to leave are the main reasons for not considering relocation of their headquarters currently.
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We investigate circular entrepreneurial ecosystems that support circular startups and innovation. We argue that circular entrepreneurial ecosystems are constellations of existing entrepreneurial ecosystems that extend across geographies and sectors, requiring ecosystem intermediaries to bridge institutional environments and provide access to actors and resources. Focusing on the emerging circular transition in the textiles and apparel industry, we gathered data from in-depth interviews, field observations, and archival documentation over a seven--year period. Our findings show that circular entrepreneurial ecosystems are purposefully intermediated at a meta level, generating nested and distributed ecosystems. To elucidate circular ecosystem intermediation, we devised a model of system level 5 intermediation that extends the conceptualization of ecologies of system intermediation across geographic and sector boundaries. Our study contributes to the literatures on circular entrepreneurship, circular ecosystems, and ecosystem intermediation as well as provides practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.
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In the Ems-Dollart-region in the North of the Netherlands and North-West Germany, startups are contributing to the region’s economy. In principal, well-developed startup and entrepreneurship ecosystems are an important factor for prosperity. Such ecosystems consist of companies, regional policy institutions, universities and other private or public organisations. In a functioning entrepreneurship ecosystem, these players optimally interact with each other. In January 2019, the project “Startup Perspectives” (Bakker et al., 2019) explored the opportunities and possibilities that a cross-border startup scene would bring to the Ems-Dollart-region. Based on this research, the Startup Ems-Dollart-region project emerged. Within the Interreg V A scheme, the project is funded by Interreg/EDR and runs from June 1st 2019-June 30th 2022. The aim of the Startup Ems-Dollart-region project is to facilitate a cross-border startup ecosystem between the three provinces of Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen on the Dutch side and the WeserEms region in Germany. This will entail the formation of a (digital) network for the startup scene, tailored mentoring programs for young entrepreneurs and the development of entrepreneurship education programs with a cross-border focus. Overall, a sustainable and long-lasting entrepreneurship ecosystem shall facilitate cross-border activities among young entrepreneurs and startups.To gain an understanding of the current entrepreneurship environment in all the regions, a mapping of the relevant stakeholders took place at the beginning of the project. This report will summarize the key findings of this mapping exercise.
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This study aims to contribute to the few tools that are currently available for small businesses and startups in impact assessment (Shields & Shelleman, 2017) using the well-known framework of SDGs (United Nations, 2015).
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1e alinea column: Wat niets kost heeft geen waarde Een van de heikele punten van de startende ondernemer is wanneer je geld kunt gaan vragen voor je dienstverlening. Bijvoorbeeld in de sociale media hoek zijn er nogal wat van die starters. Daarom deze blog hierover op DC. In de maakindustrie ligt factureren wat gemakkelijker dan in de dienstverlening of consultancy hoek. In de maakindustrie is het product fysiek en de levering objectief. In de dienstverlening en zeker in de consultancy lever je geen fysieke producten en is dat in ieder geval objectief minder duidelijk meetbaar. Je hebt waarde, waardering, het meten van die waarde en het managen van waarde. Verzakelijking van je dienstverlening betekent omzetten naar euri en daarin positie durven kiezen. In de praktijk is dat vaak een hele stap, met name voor starters.
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Big report of the Startup EDR Project. See how the project promoted interregional collaboration and development for startups within the Ems-Dollart region.
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