Startup Summit Sweden – the Netherlands
All you need to know about connecting to the Swedish – Dutch Startup Scene
What are the key factors behind the thriving startup sectors in Sweden and the Netherlands?
In both Sweden and the Netherlands, the startup sector is booming. According to the Startup Genome ranking the Stockholm and Amsterdam startup ecosystems were both ranked top 20 globally. During the high-level Startup Summit speakers discussed the factors behind the thriving startup sectors in both countries, and how a long-term collaboration can lead to an even better performance of our startup-ecosystems. Prince Daniel of Sweden and Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands honoured the event and made introductory remarks about their view on the importance of startups and what the countries can learn from each other.
The two princes were invited due to their engagement in entrepreneurship and startups. Prince Daniel is committed to enterprise and works to promote entrepreneurship among young people, eg. through the project Prince Daniel’s Fellowship. The idea behind the project is to inspire young people to become entrepreneurs and to support ambitious young entrepreneurs in growing their business. Prince Constantijn is Special Envoy at StartupDelta, the accelerator for the startup ecosystem in the Netherlands, and advises companies and the European Commission on their digital innovation strategies.
The Swedish State Secretary for Enterprise and Innovation, Stina Billinger, and the Dutch State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Mona Keijzer, discussed how policymaking and financial support can help the startup sector flourish, and what the two countries can learn from each other. The event was the starting point for a long-term collaboration between the two countries within the startup sector.
“For me, it is very important that our startup sector is doing well, because then startups become scale-ups and that’s good for the economic growth. […] The three most important things we can help startups with are access to talent, access to funding and access to connections”, Mona Keijzer, State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the Netherlands”
“One important factor for startups is gender equality – women cannot stay at home with the children and scale-up a company at the same time”, Stina Billinger, State Secretary for Enterprise and Innovation, Sweden.
The summit was held the day before the opening of conference The Next Web, in the brand-new Amsterdam premises of Epicenter. a digital innovation house and destination for large corporates and fast growing digital scale-ups looking to learn, inspire, collaborate, grow and innovate with impact.
“Startup Summit Sweden – The Netherlands” was organised by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, The Embassy of Sweden in The Hague and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.
Welcome to scroll down to the end of the page for event photos.
Event photos by: Carolina Nordholm, Nordholm Design & Communication
Program
14.30 Registration
15.00 Welcome by Ehsan Turabaz, Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce
15.03 Intro by moderator Wilco Schuttelaar – Holland Innovation Network
Introductory remarks by HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden and HRH Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
How do national governments support scale-up ecosystems? Summing up the findings of a study comparing the United Kingdom, Sweden & the Netherlands
Marc Wullings – Managing Partner SkipRed
Learning from the study: How can policymaking and financial support help make the startup sector flourish?
Stina Billinger – State Secretary for Enterprise and Innovation, Sweden, and Mona Keijzer – State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the Netherlands
16.05 Break
16.20 Fireside talk about building a global startup ecosystem: International expansion and business opportunities
Ricardo van Loenen – Founder/CEO B.Building Business and Patrick Mesterton – CEO Epicenter Stockholm
Fireside talks about talent acquisition
Ruben Nieuwenhuis – Director StartupAmsterdam and Alberto Corti – Head of SSES Ventures
From Startup to Unicorn
Robert Bueninck – General Manager DACH Klarna
Presentations by four mature startup companies from Sweden and the Netherlands
On internationalization: Their journey and lessons learned!
Learn Adapt Build
Elizabeth Nelson
FocusCura
Ronald Scheffer
Just Football
Joel Fredman Klockar
Aida
Stefan Stefansson
Fireside talks about startup culture and women in Fintech
Don Ginsel – Founder Holland FinTech and Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist – Senior Advisor to NFT Ventures, Chairman Swedish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association
Concluding remarks
Nils Beer – Director of StartupDelta
17.40 End of Summit
17.40 Match Making/Tour Epicenter
17.40 Networking, drinks & snacks
19.00 End of Event
Epicenter Amsterdam
Fred. Roeskestraat 115
1076 EE Amsterdam
Participation Fee
This event was offered to you free of charge with thanks to our generous sponsors.
Registration details
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The Swedish Chamber of Commerce would like to thank all participants for contributing to the success of the Swedish Chamber Patron Dinner on November 22, 2016. We cordially thank H.E. Ambassador of Sweden and Honorary Chairman of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Mr. Per Holmström for hosting the Patron Dinner 2016 and Mr. Jeroen van der Veer, ING Keynote speaker and Honorary Guest, for sharing his experiences and introducing the Round Table discussions.
