AMS 9 2019-2020

AMS NR 9 2019-2020

AMS NR 9 2019 - 2020

Business in the Amsterdam Area

Connect to the impact economy FinTech prefers Amsterdam Your guide to setting up in the region

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CONTENTS

AMS NR 9 – Connect to the impact economy

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Introduction – Femke Halsema, Mayor of Amsterdam New in Amsterdam – from IT to entertainment to health... business is big in Amsterdam Top of its class – embracing a global outlook in the Amsterdam Area’s schools A day in the life – Arya Hamraz Amsterdam’s building bonanza – developing the Amsterdam Area is no small feat Interview IN Amsterdam – Sietske van Tuin Getting started – your complete guide to setting up in the Amsterdam Area Column – a journey from expat to Amsterdammer On trend – Amsterdam and the sustainable fashion revolution Patagonia – on a mission to save the planet one sustainable leap at a time A day in the life – Joost Galema Cover feature – How to connect to the Amsterdam

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Area’s impact economy Health and wellbeing – a leading ecosystem of life sciences

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and health-related activites Amsterdam Skills Centre – meeting the world’s need

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for surgeons with a ‘New Way of Learning’ A day in the life – Margit Tera Yakult – the small bottle that packs a big punch Sharing & caring – how Amsterdam and its start-ups are

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taking the shared-mobility path A day in the life – Caroline Voltz-Girolt FinTech – international businesses and successful homegrown players alike are securing Amsterdam’s spot on the global FinTech map Amsterdam in Numbers – fast facts and key stats on life in the Dutch capital Partners – business partners throughout the Amsterdam Area Map – a bird’s-eye view of the Amsterdam Area

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Legend Legend

 International schools in the 

Amsterdam Area  International schools in the

Amsterdam Area Existing business parks and offi ce locations Existing business parks and office locations Future business parks and offi ce locations Future business parks and

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COLOPHON Editorial Board Geerte Udo, Hilde van der Meer Editor-in-Chief Bart van Oosterhout Project Manager Moska Hamraz Marketing Strategy Manager Mariken van den Boogaard Project Executive Sandra Nakken Basic Design Sabine Verschueren Designer Het Zomerpaleis: Saskia Franken Cover Photography Koen Smilde Editors Lauren Comiteau, Julia Gorodecky Image Editor Philip Jintes (Phenster) Writers Colleen Geske, Catalina Iorga, Hans Kops. Through Edenfrost: Hallie Engel, Alex Hibbert, Alison McGarry Photography Gerrit Alink, Iris Duvekot, Mark Horn, Jeroen Musch, Marijn Scheeres, Sarah Wijzenbeek, Jasper Zwartjes.

office locations Average travel time by train

HILVERSUM

The publisher has made every effort to ensure that the information within this publication is correct at the time of going to print and to arrange copyright in accordance with existing legislation. If you feel that these rights may have been infringed in spite of this, please contact the publisher. No part of this publication and/or website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Average traveltime by car See our interactive tool on mapitout.iamsterdam.com

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‘International

INTRODUCTION

Amsterdam welcomes you’ Amsterdam has always been a city shaped by migration. From our past as a safe haven for dissenters and nonconformists, to our present as a compact metropolis that is home to more than 850,000 people representing over 180 nationalities, I am reminded almost daily of the truly international character of our city.

Foreign companies contribute significantly to the economy of the Amsterdam Area. Many companies have invested in our city and our region in recent years, establishing offices and creating jobs for local and international workers alike.

When I talk to CEOs of multinationals about how they regard our business climate, their answers show a lot of overlap. They tell me Amsterdam’s big selling points are its diverse and open population and excellent international accessibility. This attracts talented people, which, in turn, draws in companies from around the world.

Because these days, businesses follow talent. Not vice versa.

Another change we see is that the traditional image of ‘expats’ – people with high incomes who only stay for a couple of years – no longer holds true for most international workers in the Amsterdam Area. More and more internationals are opting to extend their stay and put down more permanent roots. They are also increasingly opting for Dutch education: more than 40% of international children attend a Dutch school. Income levels also vary, as many young professionals choose to start their careers here.

International companies and employees are important to our academic and commercial success, our diverse society and our innovation leadership. But economic growth also brings a challenge: How do we make sure everyone benefits from the prosperity?

Mayor of Amsterdam

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Femke Halsema 3

On the cover Wolvenstraat, one of the famous Nine Streets, is a paradise for conscious shopping Photo: Koen Smilde

Throughout this edition of AMS magazine, you will find examples of the contributions made by businesses towards our social and innovation objectives.

I hope it will inspire you to think about how your company can connect to the Amsterdam Area.

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AMS NEW IN

New digital hub: The Garage

Edited by Lauren Comiteau Inspiring new businesses, initiatives and organisations.

Deloitte has opened Digital Garage, a new digital transformation hub, in Amsterdam.

The centre will allow the firm and its clients to develop and build innovative digital strategy, technology, design and creative products, services and capabilities. Located in the former Citroën garage in Building 1962 in Amsterdam-Zuid, the new hub is Deloitte’s 46th digital studio worldwide. It provides space to Deloitte Digital professionals, the digital practice of the accounting and consulting firm, and colleagues from its Tech, Monitor Deloitte and Innovation service lines. ‘We hope to breathe new energy into the way we serve clients in the digital era,’ says Stephen Ward, Deloitte digital managing partner.

‘Don’t tell me but show me and co-creation: that’s what our clients are asking for.’

New partnership leads to Europe’s most sustainable business park Eneco, a producer and supplier of natural gas, heat and electricity, will partner with Schiphol Trade Park to transform it into Europe’s most sustainable business park. Located on a 350-hectare site near Hoofddorp train station and only a few minutes from Schiphol Airport, it’s accessible for commuters and travellers alike.

Schiphol Trade Park is intended to meet the demand for sustainable office space in the greater Amsterdam Area. It consists of six innovative business environments that aim to provide entrepreneurs with an inspiring base where innovation and green practices thrive.

It’s a growing trend: Not only did the total number of fully electric cars in the Netherlands double in 2018 – to some 50,000 – but three times as many electric cars were purchased last year compared to 2017. The most popular electric cars came from the high-end section of the market (Jaguar and Tesla), but models produced by VW, Nissan, Renault, BMW and Hyundai also proved popular.

The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, is at the forefront of smart mobility, with large numbers of electric boats, cars, buses and scooters in addition to a record number of charging stations for electric vehicles. The city also supports efforts to increase electric carsharing services.

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Leader in sustainability: Schiphol Trade Park

Number of electric cars doubled in 2018

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The road to AI trading technology Changing the world of peer-to-peer trading Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the Dutch national research institute for mathematics and computer science, is joining forces with Danish high-tech company Acumex for a long-term research partnership into autonomous online negotiation. Acumex, a leader in peer-topeer trading, built the first online negotiation platform for trading in complex markets such as pharmaceuticals. The platform’s cloudbased approach enables real-time online negotiation and trading. The research partnership between CWI and Acumex will focus on developing fundamental solutions that are applicable within Acumex’ new online trading platform.

New logistics centre for Cryoport World leader in biopharma chooses Hoofddorp

Cryoport’s new logistics centre will play a major role in Cryoport’s global distribution network for biopharmaceutical products, which require strict conditions and temperature controls. From its Hoofddorp base, it will serve Cryoport’s top international clients, including Novartis, Janssen Pharmaceutica and Gilead Sciences. ‘We are happy to add Amsterdam to our global network, with its excellent connectivity and reputation as one of Europe’s leading life sciences hubs,’ says Cryoport CEO Jerrell Shelton. The city is home to many prominent scientific organisations, including the European Medicines Agency, which moved into its temporary headquarters in Amsterdam earlier this year. The Netherlands is home to more than 2,900 innovative life sciences and health companies, major multinationals, academic centres and research organisations.

Big Move for Big Group

Promoting social change through technology Amsterdam tech firm Skilllab has been selected as one of the 20 winners of Google’s AI Impact Challenge. In total Google received 2,600 applications from 119 countries spanning six continents. The challenge asked non-profits, social enterprises and research institutions from around the world to submit ideas for using AI to help address issues in society. Skilllab, which develops technology-based solutions to better integrate refugees into local labour markets, was selected as one of only 20 winners.

It will now receive free coaching from Google’s AI experts, share a grant funding pool of $25 million and consultation by experts from Google Cloud. Skilllab will also join Google’s customised six-month Google Developers Launchpad Accelerator Program, which lasts for six months.

For all the latest Amsterdam business news, visit iamsterdam.com/business C iamsterdam D @iamsterdam

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British agency puts down roots in the Netherlands Award-winning marketing firm Big Group has launched in Amsterdam after the acquisition of two creative agencies in the city. After purchasing Brandworks and 230V, the Londonbased marketing agency has merged the two brands to form Big Amsterdam. The new European base will allow the company to better assist clients across the continent while serving as a base for further European expansion. Big Group CEO Nick Scott says that Amsterdam’s exemplary business culture and reputation as a world-leading creative hub attracted the firm to the city.

Skilllab wins AI Impact challenge

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New talent platform

Tech start-up Talent.io chooses Amsterdam French recruitment firm Talent.io, which offers organisations a ‘reverse talent recruitment platform’, will open a new office in Amsterdam, ‘the heart of a booming tech scene’ and start-up mecca. The platform allows organisations to search through a database of tech talent that matches their needs, streamlining the recruitment of tech professionals while making it easier for techies to find jobs.

Talent.io already works with thousands of companies, including Adobe, Ubisoft and AXA, and has raised more than €10 million in investments to help it expand across Europe. The State of European Tech 2018 report found that the Amsterdam Area is the third-largest region in Europe for developers, behind London and Paris.

Broadcaster Discovery discovers Amsterdam

Official welcome for Europe’s medicines regulator When the European Union chose the Netherlands over 18 other countries for the new home of the EMA, it was only logical to base the regulatory agency in Amsterdam, Europe’s most dense and innovative life sciences and health hub. EMA’s current 11-storey, 15,000-square-metre office at the Spark Building in Amsterdam’s Sloterdijk neighbourhood will serve as home to EMA – which is responsible for the scientific supervision, evaluation and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU – until the agency moves into its new purposebuilt headquarters in the city’s Zuidas business district at the end of 2019.

More than 650 EMA staff members will follow the agency across the Channel, with new health-related companies expected to follow.

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The global leader in entertainment television expands its Amsterdam ops Following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, international broadcaster Discovery is moving the operational headquarters for its European pay-TV channels (which also include TLC and Eurosport) to Amsterdam, ensuring the continuity of its services across the Continent. To offer services throughout the EU, broadcasting companies must secure a licence and follow regulatory standards in one of its member states. Discovery has applied for 50 EU licences and praises Dutch regulatory authorities for their ‘huge commitment…and for minimising disruptions’. NBCUniversal and Turner have also followed suit.

European Medicines Agency (EMA) has arrived!

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Fetch: New kid on the block

Norinchukin settles in Amsterdam

Rembrandt 2019 Celebrating 350 years of masterpieces 2019 marks 350 years since the death of one of the Netherlands’ most esteemed painters, Rembrandt van Rijn. Cultural spaces across the country are honouring the life and work of this remarkable painter in a special nationwide ‘Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age’ celebration.After the opening exhibition at the Rijksmuseum All of the Rembrandts, which ran until 10 June, Rembrandt–Velázquez wil showcase a comprehensive overview of paintings by the two great 17thcentury masters from 11 October to 19 Jan 2020. Among many other venues, the Jewish Historical Museum in the heart of Amsterdam will also take part with a unique exhibition that brings the masterpiece ’St. Peter in Prison (St. Peter Kneeling)’ – now part of The Israel Museum collection – back to the Netherlands for the first time in 120 years (13 Sep-10 Nov).

For more information: iamsterdam.com/rembrandt 2019

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The Japanese bank expands in Europe Subject to regulatory approval, financial institution Norinchukin Bank will open a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Dutch capital.

One of Japan’s largest banks – with an investment portfolio of more than US$400 billion and assets worth more than US$840 billion – Norinchukin aims to strengthen its European business.

The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency welcomed the move, saying it was ‘good news that Norinchukin has chosen to continue to focus on the European financial market from the Netherlands’.

Norinchukin follows the lead of other Japanese companies moving to the Netherlands. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the country’s largest bank, filed a licence to establish a new Amsterdam subsidiary in 2017, having previously shifted its main European headquarters for corporate and retail banking to the city.

© Koen Smilde

Renault’s electric car-sharing service pulls into Amsterdam Renault launched its electric car-sharing service Fetch in Amsterdam earlier this year, joining car2go in the free-floating car-sharing market. The service uses 200 Renault ZOE models, which are available throughout the city but particularly concentrated at train and metro stations. The ZOE is fully electric and has a maximum range of 300 kilometres, meaning it can ferry its drivers beyond the city’s borders (although for now, the car has to be returned to Amsterdam at the end of its rental period).

Renault plans to expand the service to other major Dutch cities in the future.

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AMS NEW IN

A world-leading biopharma cluster The Netherlands among Europe’s best

The Netherlands is the fourth best biopharma cluster in Europe, according to Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News’ (GEN) latest annual ranking. GEN attributes the Netherlands’ high score to several factors, including the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) move to Amsterdam and the country’s high number of biopharma jobs (65,400), grants (2,772), patents (178 granted and 497 applications in 2017) and VC (€97 million, according to Invest Europe).

Amsterdam’s excellent infrastructure for research and innovation includes Amsterdam Science Park – one of Europe’s largest concentrations of high-level scientific education and research – which brings together business, science and innovation.

Azimo joins FinTech scene

Rangle expands digital consultancy to Europe And will be hiring in Amsterdam in the process

This just in: Digital Javascript and HTML5 consultancy firm Rangle is establishing its first European office in Amsterdam. Focusing on modern digital experiences, the Toronto-based Rangle helps companies execute digital first strategies. It does so by the end-to-end linking of business strategy, design, and development in a process that gives companies the ability to bring nearreal-time user and market-centric data back into the corporate strategy practice. The company’s international clients include Uniqlo and Aldo, and its Amsterdam office will be responsible for growing its relationships with clients while establishing a European presence.

Rangle builds applications for retail, healthcare, public service and FinTech industries.

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The digital money transfer service Azimo joins a number of other FinTech businesses that have put down roots in Amsterdam.

Located in the Zuidas business district, Amsterdam’s main financial hub, the new office serves as a base to help Azimo increase its share of the global cross-border payments market. Amsterdam’s winning combination of a strong financial sector, a thriving tech and start-up scene, and outstanding digital infrastructure makes it the perfect breeding ground for FinTech, a sector where more than 350 companies are active.

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Aspira wins hearts and minds

Massive new data centre for Google

A record-breaking year for Amsterdam start-ups New figures show Amsterdam-based start-ups and scale-ups raised more than €400 million in investments in 2018, with six companies in Amsterdam receiving €20 million or more each. Blockchain specialists Bitfury raised the largest amount at €80 million, while Agendia and Ohpen earned €35 million and €25 million respectively. Other start-ups making the top 10 include Framer, Digital Insurance Group and Tiqets. In December, Amsterdam was named Europe’s third-largest city region for developers in Atomico’s State of European Tech 2018 report, with 216,800 professional software developers. The report also shows that 2018 was a record-breaking year for the capital’s tech industry, with Adyen delivering the second-largest European IPO with a value of US$7.8 billion.

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The Internet giant joins fellow tech behemoth Microsoft in building its massive new data centre at Agriport A7, some 40 kilometres north of Amsterdam. In 2018, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) purchased 70 hectares of land at Agriport A7, which features a business park and an 850-hectare greenhouse park. CyrusOne, a tech-focused international real estate investment trust, will also construct a data centre there. The three companies can take advantage of Agriport A7’s direct connection to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange and a dark fibre network. Not to mention a sustainable venture: Heat produced by Agriport A7’s data centres helps warm its greenhouses, whose own heat can then be used by the data centres.

Circularity at its finest!

Amsterdam start-ups attract millions in investments

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Guiding clients in Amsterdam and Europe through major IT projects At the heart of Europe’s IT sector, Amsterdam welcomed award-winning Irish project management and IT solutions specialist Aspira, which opened its European headquarters in Amsterdam’s Zuidas on Valentine’s Day. Recently named one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies by the Financial Times, Aspira says it was attracted to the Netherlands as one of Europe’s top IT and project management hubs and for Amsterdam’s access to mainland Europe. The firm plans to help the country cope with a shortage of qualified IT professionals.

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10 AMS Kindercampus Zuidas

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SCHOOLING IN THE AMSTERDAM AREA

‘Top of its class’

Amsterdam sets the standard for international education as fresh approaches to schooling open doors for increasing numbers of international students. The years 2018 and 2019 brought new schools, expansions and ideologies that encourage a global outlook.

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text Alison McGarry photos Jeroen Musch

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SCHOOLING IN THE AMSTERDAM AREA Families that are new to the Netherlands can choose from the vast selection of schools and educational approaches that have played a significant role in Dutch children being some of the happiest in the world. The excellent standard of teaching and proven educational philosophies on offer in the Amsterdam Area sets students up to attend topranked universities and enter a highly skilled workforce where opportunities are ample. In line with Amsterdam’s welcoming and internationally-inclusive mindset, schools in the region are adapting their approaches, facilities and curriculums to accommodate increasing numbers of international students.

As part of the ‘Amsterdam Strategy for International Talent’, a collaborative initiative between municipalities, government bodies, schools, universities and business leaders, education in the region is adapting to international residents. Public and private international schools have been working towards increasing their capacity for enrolment, as more and more international families make Amsterdam their home.

‘Dutch schools are proactively working to meet the needs of their international students, ensuring a smooth transition for international families’

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OPENING THE DOORS The Amsterdam International Community School (AICS) has taken on a significant expansion to meet demand for space. In September 2019, the school’s new premises in Amsterdam Zuidoost, known as AICS South East, will open for primary and secondary students. One hundred international students currently attend AICS South East at its temporary location in the east of the city, but capacity will increase to 500 when it moves to its spacious new

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New in the Netherlands For families relocating to the Netherlands with non-Dutch-speaking children, so-called newcomers’ classes and international bridging classes are available to help ease the process.

These classes are for children aged 6 to 18 who will go on to attend regular Dutch or bilingual schools. They provide a one-year introduction to Dutch language and culture, ensuring students feel more comfortable joining their Dutch peers the following school year. Seventeen locations in the Amsterdam Area offer newcomers’ classes at no extra cost. Enrolment information is available through primary and secondary schools.

building. AICS also has plans to adapt its curriculum to include the Hoger Algemeen Voortgezet Onderwijs (‘higher general secondary education’; HAVO) branch of education for students who will go on to attend colleges of applied sciences rather than research universities. It is rare for an international school in the Netherlands to offer this educational level – an indication that schools are actively responding to students’ needs.

Adding to the mix of international schools in the region, International School Laren opened in 2018 for secondary education, while International School Wassenaar – Rijnlands Lyceum will ring the opening bell on its international expansion in September 2019. It is closely connected to the existing Dutch school, which gives students the benefit of being part of the local community, following an international curriculum in English within the context of a Dutch school. Meanwhile, just outside the Amsterdam Area, the International School Delft will open its secondary expansion in August 2019, just in time for the new school year.

DUTCH SCHOOLS ENCOURAGE INTEGRATION International families are also increasingly choosing to enrol their children in traditional Dutch schools, a choice influenced by the excellent standard of education and children’s abilities to develop language skills at a young age. Dutch schools throughout the region are proactively working to meet the needs of their international students, making efforts to ensure smooth transitions for international families. Kindercampus Zuidas creates a welcoming environment for newcomers by incorporating English into the school day. ‘We aim to conduct 35% of our education in English,’ says director Miriam Heijster. ‘For example, gym and music lessons are given in English, and birthdays are also celebrated in English as well as Dutch. Our goal is not to teach children to speak English as perfectly as possible, but to develop an open mind to the world.’

In addition, a range of bilingual primary and secondary schools teach some subjects in English and others in Dutch.

This approach enables international students to integrate more easily, as they reach a high level of proficiency in both languages alongside their Dutch peers.

WORLD-RENOWNED DEGREE PROGRAMMES Universities and colleges are also adapting to the influx of international students who want to benefit from Amsterdam’s reputation for educational excellence.

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) currently enrols 5,622 international students. It offered 14 bachelor’s and

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53 master’s programmes in English for the 2017-2018 academic year, including its Communication & Media Studies programme, which the prestigious QS World University Rankings has rated the best in the world for the past two years. UvA has also attracted many international students to its master’s in Artificial Intelligence (AI), thanks to the development of its world-class AI hub for cocreation between students, researchers and businesses. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, known locally as VU, is another top-ranking university intent on expanding its international education offerings.

The Netherlands has also proposed creative solutions for graduates who have completed their studies and are looking to enter the job market. The one-year Orientation Year permit is a way for eligible graduates from outside the EU to look for employment or take part in an internship without the need for a traditional work permit. As a result, Dutch organisations can make the most of ambitious students and their recently-acquired expertise.

By working collaboratively to meet the needs of international families, international education in Amsterdam has moved to the top of the class in Europe.

As the region continues to adapt traditional approaches to education and invest in schools that rate diversity and multiculturalism as highly as academic achievement, it strengthens its talent pool for future business success. <

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How IN Amsterdam can help IN Amsterdam (short for ‘International Newcomers Amsterdam’) is a joint initiative of the cities of Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Almere, Diemen, Haarlem, Hilversum, Haarlemmermeer and Velsen, along with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the Tax Office. It offers a variety of services to assist international residents first arriving in the Netherlands. In addition to offering streamlined immigration and registration procedures, the organisation provides information on living and working in the region in its book, My First Month. IN Amsterdam hosts free seminars on topics such as choosing a school, buying a house and setting up a business, with the aim of establishing a sense of community among internationals. Its drop-in helpdesks for new residents dole out independent advice and answer questions about the challenges of relocation. inamsterdam.com

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Kindercampus Zuidas

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SPORTS

‘Obsessed’ with working out, Arya attends high-intensity classes at the Clubsportive in Amsterdam’s Zuidas three days a week. Pool and sauna included.

SAFETY

Arya feels ‘100% safe’ both in the family-oriented Zaandam and Houthaven’s construction sites at night.

‘There is a lot of stability here. It’s not Afghanistan!’

The OECD ranks the Netherlands above average in personal safety.

HOUSING

‘Zaandam is really cute, and it has a very big Zara!’ says Arya. But she also enjoys its cultural heritage – windmills, cheese factories, fishing villages – including the nearby Zaanse Schans. ‘It’s touristy, but pretty.’

WORK

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‘I love my job!’ says Arya, whether she’s checking store displays around Amsterdam or receiving clients in her company’s light and airy Houthavens showroom.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

MOBILITY

A self-described ‘car person’, Arya makes the 25-minute drive from Zaandam to Houthavens daily, parking in a local garage. One of Amsterdam’s newest neighbourhoods, Houthavens can also be reached by bus and ferry.

Working for an international company in the Amsterdam Area: Arya Hamraz

Arya moved to the Netherlands from Kabul, Afghanistan when she was just nine years old.

Fleeing political persecution, her parents and two text Lauren Comiteau siblings were given photo Marijn Scheeres a home in Naarden, a small town some 20 kilometres east of Amsterdam. A self-declared ‘citizen of the world’, Arya says she doesn’t feel Dutch or Afghan. ‘I like to take the best of both worlds,’ she says. ‘But I will forever be thankful to the Netherlands. It’s given me a beautiful childhood.’

Since she was young Arya knew she wanted to be a designer. ‘I always had a talent and passion for fashion,’ she says. ‘I used to draw and design clothes for my Barbies.’

Today, as Brand Executive at Calvin Klein, Arya is well on her way to fulfilling that dream.

Arya cooks healthy food, including Afghan specialties, as much as possible.

But for her perfect night out she heads to Amsterdam to meet friends for cocktails or dinner. The choices are endless.

GIVING BACK

As a former newcomer herself, Arya wanted to help others, so she became a Dutch language coach for a Syrian family via VluchtelingenWerk Nederland. Several organisations helping refugees in the Amsterdam Area welcome volunteers.

Home for now is a rented apartment Arya shares with her sister in Zaandam, just north of Amsterdam but part of the Amsterdam Area. ‘Our hearts are in Amsterdam, it’s our favourite city,’ says Arya. But for now, she’s enjoying all Zaandam has to offer. ‘Zaandam is the perfect spot for singles who want more spacious and light apartments, and Amsterdam is very accessible,’ she says.

Arya, who speaks Dari, Dutch, English and Spanish, always knew she wanted to work for an international company. She studied tourism and international business so she could work abroad. ‘I love everything international,’ she says. ‘It was a tactical approach. I want to explore new cultures and places.’

For now, Arya wants to stay close to her parents in nearby Almere, but her job allows her to travel and work with other internationals. A world citizen indeed.

inamsterdam.com

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FOOD

She spends most of her five-day workweek in the company’s EU showroom in the developing Houthavens neighbourhood, a hotbed of creatives mostly in the fashion industry. Arya says she gets inspiration from people walking by the big picture windows and the harbour beyond. ‘It’s beautiful, peaceful and calm,’ she says. ‘I often work alone, but I have many colleagues. I have a great balance in my working life.’

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16 AMS MVSAʻs Hyde Park Apartments in Hoofddorp

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HOUSING UPDATE

Amsterdam’s building bonanza The Amsterdam Area has a lofty goal: To build 15,000 new homes throughout the region until 2025.

A tall order perhaps, but as the city’s success brings a wealth of newcomers, there’s no shortage of people working to make it a reality.

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text Lauren Comiteau

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HOUSING UPDATE

‘It’s not whether something is located inside or outside the city centre...It’s all about minutes‘

Small-business owner Alexandar Petrovic has been moving out of Amsterdam’s centre in increments. Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, he lived in the De Pijp neighbourhood for over a decade before moving to the Oost and, most recently, to Gein in Amsterdam Zuidoost. ‘I needed space and to escape from the crowded city,’ he says. ‘I love nature and quiet, and now I have a home twice as big as my old one with a garden. Plus, it’s a stone’s throw from the lake.’

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It’s people like Petrovic, among others, who the city is trying to accommodate with its grand ambitions to build 105,000 new affordable and sustainable homes in the region by 2025. ‘If you look at the growth and predictions,’ says Bob van der Zande, Director of Residential Markets for the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam, ‘we really need an extra 250,000 homes in the Amsterdam Area. This period of economic growth won’t last forever. We need to prepare early, so if we speed things up now while things are going well, we can think about how to maintain the speed when the economy slows down.’

IN Amsterdam: Evening the playing field In the Amsterdam Area’s competitive housing market, it’s essential to be in the know and to be quick, which historically put non-Dutch-speaking internationals at a disadvantage. Enter IN Amsterdam, an initiative of eight cities in the Amsterdam Area, along with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the Tax Office. IN Amsterdam's goal, says Project Manager of International Talent Conchita van der Sande, is ‘to level the playing field’. The organisation provides information in English about the housing market and new builds (amsterdamwoont.nl/en), while its partner !Woon provides free walk-in hours in English for internationals looking for information on renting, buying and tenants’ rights. There’s also a ‘map it out’ tool (mapitout.iamsterdam.com) on I amsterdam’s website where newcomers can type in their office address and the time they are willing to spend commuting and then view a range of potential living areas that fit their requirements. ‘There’s an awareness that the Amsterdam Area is like Greater London or Paris,’ says Van der Sande. ‘It’s a green metropolis with different cities nearby and good transport.’ Which makes finding housing for the Amsterdam Area’s 145,000 international workers that much easier.

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GROWING PAINS For sure Amsterdam is experiencing a major growth spurt.

Business is booming and its success is attracting people from around the globe, many of them following the influx of international companies to the city. Indeed Amsterdam’s growth – some 12,000 people per year – is now mainly due to internationals, Brexit-migrants included. City dwellers looking for an affordable upgrade, empty nesters seeking the convenience of apartment life, and students are also part of the equation. And building homes for them all is a city priority.

‘With the growth of the population, and families especially wanting more space, there’s just not enough homes available in Amsterdam,’ says Van der Zande. ‘Prices are increasing, so people are looking outside the centre to the Amesterdam Area.’

Developers, city planners and architects are taking note, with ‘densify’ being the new buzzword in the city’s building sector. ‘We don’t want more sprawl,’ explains Van der Zande. ‘We want to raise density and transform existing areas from industrial purposes, for example, to housing and mixed-use areas. We want to go from mono-function to multi-function, where the urban regeneration of an area transforms it into a viable and mixed-use part of the city. That means huge investments in transport-oriented development, densifying the areas around railway stations.’

Developer Lars van Engelen of Snippe Projects is doing just that. His company was responsible for the Americaninspired Campus Diemen-Zuid, home to 1,000 students and complete with lounges, sports facilities and a wine bar. Now, as Project Director of Hyde Park in Hoofddorp, Van Engelen is responsible for converting the defunct Beukenhorst-West office park into an area with 3,000 to 4,000 new homes.

‘It will be a new metropolitan area, featuring shops, restaurants and other amenities,’ says Van Engelen of the development that’s within walking distance of Hoofddorp’s train station, shopping centre and a city park.Young professionals, small families and empty-nesters will make up the majority of its residents, with location a key factor in attracting internationals. ‘What’s really important is not whether something is located inside or outside the city centre, but convenience,’ says Van Engelen. ‘We are only four minutes from Schiphol Airport and twelve minutes from the Zuidas business district. It’s all about minutes.’

MILLENNIALS MOVE IN This next generation of young professionals is indeed shaping the design of new housing developments. ‘People are going to live smaller than they used to,’ says Roberto

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‘We don’t want more sprawl. We want to raise density and transform existing areas‘

MVSAʻs Kavel O Crossroads development in Sloterdijk, Amsterdam

Meyer, founder of MVSA architects, whose firm is involved in Hyde Park and also designed the residential Kavel O Crossroads development in Sloterdijk. ‘They will use the city as their home, and they care less about owning a house.

They work hard and want everything to be well-organised and clean. They want to focus on work and pleasure.’

To accommodate them, MVSA is now designing modular homes that can be adjusted to future demands. ‘Apartment sizes can be altered,’ says MVSA Director and Senior Architect Charlotte Griffioen. ‘They are modular buildings that don’t look modular. They have the same quality as traditional buildings, but with more integrated technology combined with beautiful architecture, leaving space to create shared spaces such as roof terraces, where you can come together or practice yoga, for instance.’

Sustainability is another trend in new builds. Climate control and integrating greenery into buildings helps reduce their carbon footprint. And providing subsidised housing for workers who need to be near the city – teachers, firefighters and police officers, for example – is also part of the plan.

As builders, developers and city planners race to meet their goals, there are still issues to be resolved. Strict city regulations on pricing and the need for more connectivity – more and longer trains instead of highway lanes – will have to be dealt with.

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I’ll be there for you While the so-called ‘Friends’ living arrangement based on the popular TV show may be ‘a new name for an old concept’, as developer Lars van Engelen puts it, there are some design-specific features in the singles-livingtogether model that move beyond the shared kitchen and living room of days of yore. The new Friends model sees each bedroom – or suite – with its own bathroom, and all rooms must adhere to strict regulations to meet size requirements. Popular with students and young professionals, new ventures such as FIZZ Lofts in the Amstelkwartier (opening this summer) will include co-working spaces, sports facilities and a laundry room. ‘People are looking for new forms of living together,’ says Roberto Meyer, founder of MVSA architects. And so is the city’s Deputy Mayor Laurens Ivens, who is responsible for Housing, Construction and Public Space. He supports 'self-builds', where individuals, families or groups develop an area themselves, such as is being done on IJburg 3.

The UN estimates that by 2050, some 68% of the population will live in cities. ‘It’s crucial for us to densify,’ says Van Engelen. ‘The future is now.’ <

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‘It’s extremely hard,’ says Meyer, ‘but it forces us to be creative. We must solve our residential demands, which include the huge need for affordable housing.’

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20 AMS Sietske van Tuin, IN Amsterdamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Director

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INTERVIEW

Helping Amsterdamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international community

Launched more than a decade ago, IN Amsterdam is a one-stop-shop service centre for international newcomers to help them navigate the first stages of life in the Amsterdam Area.

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text Alex Hibbert photo Iris Duvekot/Phenster

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INTERVIEW

‘An influx of internationals brings creativity and a different perspective on life into the city region‘

On one wall of IN Amsterdam’s office, written in curved letters abutting paintings of famous landmarks from around the globe, is a quote. ‘Of all the books in the world,’ it reads, ‘the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.’ It’s the perfect sentiment for a place where tens of thousands of internationals have come to begin their new lives in the Amsterdam Area.

Launched in 2008, IN Amsterdam – an initiative of eight cities in the Amsterdam Area, along with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the Tax Office – provides a one-stop-shop service for international newcomers to the Amsterdam Area, offering assistance with the crucial first steps of securing residence- and work permits and municipal registration. When it was launched, the service was the first of its kind in the Netherlands, created to better meet the needs of international companies and their employees in the Amsterdam Area. Since then, it has served hundreds of companies and more than 90,000 internationals. It’s one piece of the relocation puzzle that has helped the region become a magnet for both highly skilled international talent and some of the world’s leading businesses in the finance, tech, life sciences and creative industries.

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STREAMLINING THE PROCESS. As the Amsterdam Area’s policies, facilities and institutions have evolved to meet the demands of international talent and firms, so, too, has IN Amsterdam.

‘We were set up to streamline the process that highly skilled non-EU migrants needed to go through when arriving in Amsterdam and Amstelveen,’ explains Sietske van Tuin, IN Amsterdam’s Director, after a quick tour of IN Amsterdam’s expansive visitor facilities in Amsterdam Zuid’s World Trade Centre. ‘But just a few months after we launched, we decided to open up our services to highly skilled migrants from the EU as well.’

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Now, services have expanded even further to help non-EU newcomers negotiate the immigration process: International entrepreneurs can apply for the Start-up visa, a one-year residence permit, while the orientation year permit allows scientific researchers and international graduates to live and work in the Netherlands for 12 months. IN Amsterdam also works with several municipalities, its partners (which include mortgage brokers, banks and healthcare providers, among many others) and various organisations to shape and improve services in the city to guarantee the highest quality of life for both Dutch and international residents. The Strategy for International, for example, sees IN Amsterdam working ‘at a policy level to improve life in the city region,’ explains Van Tuin. ‘We are also working on a regional level to promote the greater Amsterdam Area as a destination for living and working.’

IN Amsterdam’s continued success, though, is best measured by the people who use its services – arrivals from around the world who are guided through bureaucratic procedures with skill. And warmth. IN Amsterdam’s ‘happy or not’ poll lets users rate their satisfaction with its services. Last year, 98% said they were positive about the service they had received, with 94% of those saying they were ‘very happy.’

‘On a daily basis, that gives us insight into how we’re doing,’ Van Tuin says. In its most recent client feedback survey, its users ranked IN Amsterdam’s service 8.5 out of 10, a huge improvement from the 5.7 ranking given to

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16,710 NEWCOMERS IN 2018 IN Amsterdam is constantly evolving as the needs and profiles of international newcomers change. Traditionally, the expat community is seen as being comprised of highlevel employees of big companies who are well-paid, get extra financial support for living costs and only stay in Amsterdam for a few years. But internationals who come to the Amsterdam region don’t usually fit that profile.

Sometimes they apply for a job here, attracted to the city by its culture and opportunities, and often they are young, receive average wages and are looking to build a life in the Netherlands. Research conducted by economic research agency Decisio in 2017 and compiled by IN Amsterdam found that more than 80% of all internationals in the Amsterdam Area make less than €50,000 a year, and that most companies in the region offer long-term contracts to encourage international employees to stay.

Van Tuin – who grew up near Alkmaar, moved to Amsterdam as a university student and now lives in Haarlem – says the city’s diversity is what helps make it so special. ‘I think that an influx of internationals brings creativity and a different perspective on life into the city region,’ she says. ‘There are so many benefits to having a diverse population, where we can all learn from each other.

And of course, many people are here for economic reasons, which is good for Amsterdam. I like the international vibe.

It’s so alive, and you see different people from all countries and religions.’

In fact, the international community has evolved so quickly in Amsterdam that in 2017, IN Amsterdam rebranded to better reflect its new identity. ‘When we started, we were called Expatcenter Amsterdam,’ Van Tuin explains. ‘But over the years we saw the changing profile of internationals and spoke to our clients about how they saw themselves, and the name didn’t seem to properly convey what we were doing.’

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Van Tuin says IN Amsterdam’s biggest challenge has been meeting the demands of the rapidly growing Amsterdam region: IN Amsterdam helped 16,710 newcomers in 2018, compared to just 3,298 in 2009, its first fully operational year. ‘Our biggest success is that we have been able to accommodate the growth we have experienced,’ Van Tuin says, ‘and that people still really appreciate coming here and using our service. I can’t ask for any more than that.’ No doubt IN Amsterdam will be there to help in the telling of future passport stories. <

International Customer Service IN Amsterdam’s service for highly skilled migrants is a simple process. It begins with an employer using the Immigration and Naturalisation Service’s (IND) website to indicate it would like to use IN Amsterdam’s services.

By submitting a single form, an employer can initiate all necessary official procedures while an employee is still living abroad, scheduling an appointment with IN Amsterdam for when the employee arrives.

Approximately four weeks later, the highly skilled migrant can visit the IN Amsterdam office to collect the necessary documents and register with the municipality, allowing them to start work immediately. IN Amsterdam’s international customer service team also specialises in the procedures internationals must complete in order to live and work in the Netherlands. This highly skilled migrant service is available for all companies based in Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Almere, Diemen, Haarlem, Hilversum, Haarlemmermeer and Velsen that are official sponsors or recognised partners of the IND.

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its former procedure. ‘Getting that score was one of my proudest moments,’ Van Tuin beams, ‘as we had changed management, moved offices and saw our user numbers grow by 2,000 people a year since 2014. Despite everything, we were able to give the high level of service we have always given.’

Van Tuin is also reminded of the impact IN Amsterdam has on people’s lives via chance encounters with service users in her day-to-day life. ‘Just the other day I met a woman who was carrying the same IN Amsterdam bag I was at the time,’ she says. ‘She had used the service and was telling me how happy she was with everything and her life in the Netherlands. That’s always a special thing to hear.’

‘People still really appreciate coming here and using our service. I can’t ask for any more than that‘

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SETTING UP IN THE AMSTERDAM AREA

Your complete guide to setting up in the Amsterdam Area

With so many resources available to assist international residents, it doesn’t take long to feel at home in the Amsterdam Area. From finding housing to arranging healthcare, here’s the how and where to make your relocation seamless.

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text Alison McGarry illustrations Edith-made-it

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Historically, Amsterdam has been an open-minded international city, and it continues to attract new residents from around the world, drawn to its diverse cultural scene, spirit of commerce and laidback lifestyle.

On arriving in any new city, there can be an overwhelming number of decisions and arrangements to make. Here’s where to start.

‘Residents of the Netherlands have access to some of the best healthcare services in the world‘

NAVIGATE THE HOUSING MARKET Due to its popularity, Amsterdam’s housing market is unsurprisingly competitive, so expect to do the research before landing your perfect home. For those looking to rent a property, there are two markets in the Amsterdam Area: The social housing sector and the private sector.

While the Netherlands boasts the largest social housing sector in Europe, strict criteria and 8- to 14-year waiting lists make it an unlikely option for most newcomers.

However, both sectors are governed by regulations that protect tenants’ rights and limit unnecessary service costs. Residents also have access to the independent tenant support agency !WOON, which offers free advice in English on all aspects of renting a property.

GET THE PAPERWORK DONE It’s a legal requirement for everyone living or setting up a business in the Netherlands (including Dutch citizens) to officially register in their municipality. Residents will also need the citizen service number (burgerservicenummer, BSN) that’s given during registration for work and to open a bank account. For registration, make an appointment at your local municipality and bring documents including your passport, original birth certificate, marriage certificate (if applicable) and proof of address. To make this process easier, IN Amsterdam offers streamlined services for companies and their highly skilled migrant employees so internationals can complete immigration procedures and registration in one appointment.

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BUYING A HOME The first step towards buying a home is to meet with a mortgage (hypotheek) advisor to discuss your financial options.

Estate agents, known as makelaars, arrange viewings, negotiate sales and offer advice throughout the process. Residents can also seek assistance from the MVA, the professional association for estate agents in the Amsterdam Area.

Interest payments on mortgages are tax deductible if your house is your primary residence. Many residents are expanding their search into other parts of the region, seeking a greater selection of spacious homes, quieter areas, or a countryside or coastal lifestyle. Areas such as Amstelveen, Almere, Haarlem and Hilversum are home to active international communities and a variety of international schools while still only a short distance from the city centre.

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‘The Amsterdam Area is teeming with excellent international and bilingual schools‘

CHOOSING A SCHOOL When it comes to education, the Amsterdam Area is teeming with excellent schools that offer various educational philosophies. There are many international schools throughout the Amsterdam region, as well as bilingual schools that teach some subjects in English and others in Dutch. Many internationals are also opting to enrol their children in traditional Dutch schools, which are continually adapting their curriculums and policies to better meet the needs of English-speaking families. For more in-depth information, see our article on schooling in this issue.

HEALTH INSURANCE Residents of the Netherlands have access to some of the best healthcare services in the world. Health insurance is compulsory, even for those only residing in the country temporarily.

Everyone receives a standard package for the same cost (which includes GP (huisarts) visits, dental care until the age of 18, medical aids and more), regardless of factors such as age and wellness. Insurance providers are obligated to accept anyone applying for the standard package. Applicants are free to switch providers at the end of each year.

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WHO’S WORKING IN THE AMSTERDAM AREA Who exactly counts as an international employee? International employees are defined as those in paid employment at organisations based in the Netherlands who hold foreign nationality (and not Dutch citizenship), and for whom tax and insurance contributions are paid to the Dutch tax office.

In the Amsterdam Area, there are: • 144,766 international employees (based on 2015 figures; new data expected in 2019)* • 11,000 international students** • 23,750 international children*, set to increase 23% between 2017 and 2023*** • 74% of international employees staying longer than five years****

FIND EMPLOYMENT The Amsterdam Area is home to a multitude of international companies, including some of the world’s biggest names. It’s the startup capital of Europe: Innovation is a way of life and the economy is thriving, meaning opportunities abound. The Dutch work-life balance is famous, with the OECD ranking the Netherlands first in the world in that regard. Job seekers can find more information and browse employment opportunities for Englishspeakers on I amsterdam’s work portal (iamsterdam.com/work).

English is the primary business language in a growing number of companies, so while it’s always recommended to learn Dutch, you can certainly get started in the city if you haven’t yet mastered the guttural G.

*Figures from Decisio, Economic analysis of international employees, students and the self-employed in the Netherlands – Region report Amsterdam 2017 **Figures from Nuffic diploma and exchange students (2017) ***Figures from Decisio, Update analysis of regional supply of international education in the AMA (2018) ****Figures from ICAP Education Survey 2017, Educating the International Community of the Netherlands

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BUSINESS: THE KNOCK-ON EFFECT Internationals relocating to the Amsterdam Area have an advantageous effect on the Dutch economy and business in general.

Employees from abroad bring with them knowledge of international markets, access to cross-border networks and cultural diversity, which leads to increased productivity and innovation.

• International businesses account for 30% of the Dutch economy. The majority (18%) are foreign international companies, while 12% are Dutch international companies.

• Foreign international businesses create 32% of all private sector jobs within the Amsterdam Area.

• On average, for every job given to a knowledge migrant by foreign businesses in the Amsterdam Area, 11 additional jobs are created.

Figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS)

SETTING UP IN THE AMSTERDAM AREA

30% TAX RULING International employees who are considered ‘highly skilled migrants’ receive a tax advantage known as the 30% reimbursement ruling. This means they receive a 30% tax reduction as compensation for expenses. The 30% ruling is a clear incentive for working in the Netherlands and an innovative way for Dutch companies to attract top-level talent from overseas. Recipients must meet strict criteria, including a minimum salary. Applying for the 30% ruling is another process that IN Amsterdam can assist with as part of its one-stop-shop service.

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RUN YOUR OWN COMPANY It’s relatively simple to set up a business or to work as a freelancer in the Netherlands, and a wealth of resources and support is available to help internationals with the process. The Dutch Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel, KvK) is a good starting point. To get acquainted with the basics, attend a free Q&A information session hosted by the KvK and IN Amsterdam.

Working as a freelancer is known as being a zelfstandige zonder personeel (ZZP) and follows a similar process to registering a company.

Amsterdam inbusiness is available to assist larger companies with establishing or expanding in the region. From hiring talent to securing permits and finding the ideal office space, free and confidential advice is at your fingertips, along with detailed reports on market and industry trends. Find out more on iamsterdam/business.

Entrepreneurs can find invaluable assistance with setting up and scaling up in the region with StartupAmsterdam.

The organisation proactively connects start-ups with talent, co-working spaces, incubators and accelerators, including the City of Amsterdam’s own Startup in Residence programme.

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‘Although English proficiency is exceptionally high, learning Dutch is proven to help newcomers feel at home‘

ORGANISE FINANCES, TAXES AND BENEFITS Opening a Dutch bank account is the next step towards getting set up. Many of the major banks are experienced in working with internationals and offer information in English. Make an appointment at your local branch and bring the required identification and your BSN number. The tax year runs from 1 January to 31 December, and income tax returns are filed by 1 May the following year with the Dutch tax office (belastingdienst). Employment benefits vary between employers. A pleasant surprise for many newcomers is that most contracts include an 8% holiday allowance (vakantiegeld) paid in May of every year, just in time for summer break.

GET BEHIND THE WHEEL Amsterdam might be the city of bicycles, but there are times when driving a car is also required. Driving licences from outside the Netherlands are only valid for six months after registering with the municipality (or for 15 years from their date of issue for EU and EFTA countries; 10 years for those issued before 2013). After this period, residents need a Dutch driving licence. Those coming from EU or EFTA countries who meet certain criteria can simply exchange their current driving licence for a Dutch one, while others need to complete a theory and practical test first.

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HOUSING AND EDUCATION With the right planning and resources, it’s easy to get settled in the Amsterdam Area. Here’s a guide to how international newcomers in the region are doing it.

Of international employees in the area: • 45% choose international schools for their children*

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• 55% choose bilingual or traditional Dutch schools* • 37% of children remain in school for six years or longer* • 14% buy a property within their first year of living in the Netherlands** • Less than 3% of international employees receive structural compensation for living expenses**

*Figures from Decisio, Update analysis of regional supply of international education in the AMA (2018) **Figures from ICAP Housing Survey 2017

LEARN THE LANGUAGE Although English proficiency is exceptionally high in the Netherlands, following the Civic Integration (inburgeren) programme, which includes a basic level of Dutch, is required for certain immigration procedures. It’s also proven to help new residents feel at home. A large variety of Dutch language courses are on offer, and some internationals may qualify to follow the City of Amsterdam’s free language courses. <

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nnn

Colleen Geske

Recently I was having coffee with a Dutch friend, and as I ordered my complicated ‘coconut-decaf-latte’ in Dutch, she chuckled loudly. I immediately knew why she was amused, and at least this time it had nothing to do with my choice of words or my accent.

She laughed knowingly, as the café we were sitting in was packed wall-to-wall with patrons happily ordering in English. International students, residents and tourists filled the air with a linguistically diverse symphony of sounds.

Clearly our Dutch waiter was used to, and fully capable of, speaking English, so why had I purposefully chosen to speak Dutch?

‘Showing off your Dutch skills?’ my friend asked, amused. ‘You don’t want to be confused with one of the newbies, right?’ she continued, gesturing to a group of English-speakers who were loudly talking about which Amsterdam neighbourhood they now called home.

Sadly, she had me pegged. The last few months I have found myself suddenly wanting to speak Dutch during my daily encounters. I hadn’t consciously analysed this decision, but I suppose it had to do with wanting to differentiate myself from the stereotypical archetypes of ‘baffled backpacker’ or ‘temporary expat’. The waiter thankfully humoured me, but it got me thinking: If I didn’t want to fall into any of the above categories, then what the heck was I? I had clearly outgrown my ‘expat’ title a decade or so ago. ‘Highly-skilled worker’? ‘Labour migrant’?

None of those labels really fit the bill. Could I finally, after 14 years (and 14 wet winters), bear the title of a real ‘Amsterdammer’?

My question is not new. Many settlers grapple with identity in their adopted cities. Bubbling under the surface of any initial interaction between two Londoners is the underlying

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question: Who’s been here longer? And who is actually allowed to call themself a native?

Cross the Atlantic to yet another cosmopolitan city, and you’ll find that diehard New Yorkers stick to a strict rule of thumb.You can only call yourself a real New Yorker if you’ve lived in the Big Apple consistently for 10 years. A few weeks or years short of this milestone? Then nope.You get lumped into the mish-mash of the transient population and might as well spend your weekends hanging out in Times Square with a selfie stick. Of course, on your 10-year anniversary, there will be little pomp and circumstance; no permit or certificate will arrive on your doorstep proclaiming your newly acquired status, but I’ve had friends tell me they held their heads a little higher walking in Midtown knowing they had finally made it into the club.

According to these rules, I could proudly call myself a local, a real Amsterdammer. However, ask my cranky neighbour who has lived on my street for 50 years and she’ll likely shake her head. But the true beauty of Amsterdam has always been its ability to make you feel at home, whether everyone agrees or not.

Amsterdam has been an open and tolerant city for centuries, and its diversity –180 nationalities and counting – means that no single definition can truly include, or exclude, anyone. After all, Amsterdam’s nickname, Mokum, is a Yiddish word that literally translates as ‘safe haven’.

For now, I’ve settled my existential dilemma, and in the process, I’ve developed a handy new rule of thumb for Amsterdam: If you’re a real Amsterdammer, you just know it – and if you’re unsure, you’re probably not. At least, not yet.

The good news is: however long that takes, Amsterdam is here patiently waiting for you with open arms.

Going Dutch Colleen Geske is the blogger and bestselling author behind the brand Stuff Dutch People Like. Described as ‘blunt, provocative and wickedly funny’, her blog and books offer a satirical look at Dutch culture as seen through the eyes of an outsider. The Stuff Dutch People Like social community now numbers over 500,000 followers. Originally from Winnipeg, Canada, Geske has called Amsterdam home since 2004. When not writing, she is a communications and social media consultant. stuffdutchpeoplelike.com photo Rudi Wells

ʻCould I finally, after 14 years (and 14 wet winters), bear the title of a real ‘Amsterdammer’?

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A journey from expat to Amsterdammer

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UPDATE: FASHION

Amsterdam and the sustainable fashion revolution

The biggest trend in fashion – sustainability – isn’t a trend at all. Amsterdam’s innovative community of entrepreneurs, designers and professionals are making green the new black.

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text Hallie Engel

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©Renata Chede

31 AMS Lise Bonnet and Martin Johnston – Crafted Society

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Antoinette van den Berg – RE LOVE Foundation

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UPDATE: FASHION

‘Amsterdam’s sustainable designers are paving the way for a wardrobe overhaul for all of us’

A few years ago, ‘haul’ videos were all over YouTube. Excited shoppers would empty bags of low-quality clothing on camera, breathlessly showcasing their purchases to millions of viewers.

Somewhere along the way though, things began to change. Awareness about global warming inspired people to think about their wardrobe’s environmental impact, and they began demanding clothes that don’t harm the planet. Now, going green is simply considered the responsible thing to do. Far from a trend, sustainable clothing is fast becoming the new classic.

Unrobe

TAKING RISKS AND TRYING NEW THINGS Many of the agencies, labels and businesses focused on sustainable style in Amsterdam aren’t huge. Martijn Nekoui, founder and CEO of MOAM, an agency that connects young talent with established brands such as Zalando and HEMA, doesn’t believe this is a coincidence.

He thinks smaller companies enjoy greater flexibility and can take risks in a way big corporations can’t.

This adventurous perspective served MOAM well in 2014, when the agency partnered with KLM on one of its first major projects. Instead of going the tried-and-tested route, Nekoui and his team visited a warehouse filled with materials salvaged from planes. Following their creative instincts, they transformed old seat belts, fabrics and other items into a couture collection that was displayed in the Rijksmuseum. Soon, Nekoui found himself fielding requests from prominent companies looking for a partner to help them launch eco-friendly projects. The agency has been on the rise ever since, and its work was chronicled in the book MOAM – Contemporary Fashion & Arts in Amsterdam, which was published by MENDO in March of this year.

AMFI

MOAM

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©Peggy Kuiper

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For Nekoui, an eco-centric approach comes naturally.

‘We are in the creative field, where sustainability and the environment are super important. It’s not just something we do for PR, it’s something that’s inside our veins,’ he explains. He also believes companies are hungry for green ideas – they just need a little help. ‘Everyone is finally clear that sustainability is a big topic. Five years ago, we had to go to brands and say, “Hey, would you like to collaborate

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‘The days of buying a T-shirt without a second thought about its origins are disappearing’

with us?” But now, they’re coming to us because they see the success we’ve had. They think: “Wow, this is a new point of view”.’

LUXURY WITH A SIDE OF HONESTY Though sustainability is a hot concept, transparency is increasingly important. The days of buying a T-shirt without a second thought about its origins are disappearing. People want to know where their clothes come from, how they were made and if the people involved were treated well.

©Peggy Kuiper

Martin Johnston, founder of the new luxury label Crafted Society, has tailored his business around this shifting perspective. ‘I’ve been in this industry for 20-plus years,’ he says. ‘When we started thinking about sustainability with Crafted Society, we wanted to look at it from a more holistic standpoint, so we created this concept called “luxury for good”, which is about utilising our business operations and products as a vehicle for positive social impact. Through that, we decided to adopt a completely transparent business model, and what transparency means is that you’re forced to be sustainable, ethical and socially responsible. Being a new brand, we recognised that we needed to do and show more than what is currently going on within other labels in the luxury sector.’

Unrobe Founded in 2017 with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, Unrobe is ‘dressing people by undressing the industry’. This Amsterdambased label, which uses only organic cotton and recycled nylon, has a completely transparent production process and pricing model. Every Unrobe product is made in a socially responsible factory, where workers are guaranteed overtime pay (among other things), and even the laundry in one of them is circular (its retreated water is used to nourish a neighbouring kiwi plantation). While the average T-shirt requires some 2,700 litres of water to produce, an Unrobe shirt uses only 200 litres. Unlike many sustainable brands, Unrobe claims its clothes are more affordable for people on a budget and cost some 50% less than its competitors’ garments. The brand’s commitment to quality has led to partnerships with the likes of Heineken and Amsterdam Open Air Festival, making it easier to bring sustainable apparel to the masses.

Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) The apparel industry is the world’s second-biggest polluter after the oil industry, and textile factories contaminate water with substances including lead, mercury and arsenic.

In response, AMFI is teaching a new generation of designers to make the planet a priority. Offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees, AMFI is the largest school of its kind in the Netherlands. Every year it hosts Beyond Green, a series of talks on fashion and sustainability. The school also follows a manifesto that declares fashion a force for good, believing environmental considerations should influence every aspect of how clothing is designed, manufactured and sold. For AMFI, focusing on green practices isn’t just good PR; the institute believes it’s key to meeting the demands of consumers – including students – who are fed up with business as usual.

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And though MOAM is likely to continue growing, Nekoui knows being part of an intimate organisation open to experimentation has helped immensely. ‘If you are a small, new designer, you can immediately change a few things, and then you’re more sustainable, and you have a smaller footprint on the Earth. As a big multinational, you have to change a lot more.’ He also says many companies are waiting for someone new to take the lead. ‘They’re open to our vision, because we’re the new generation, and we can make a change and think outside the box.’

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UPDATE: FASHION

‘Five years ago, we had to go to brands and say, “Hey, would you like to collaborate with us?” But now, they’re coming to us’

Throughout his career, Johnston was dismayed that luxury fashion brands are some of the most polluting. The higher price tag rarely translates into cleaner water or less waste, and it made him consider how he would do things differently. He wanted a brand that didn’t hide an unsavoury legacy behind a fancy name, and he didn’t want to flood landfills with unwanted goods. ‘From a sustainability standpoint, we wanted to restrict the number of products we make. It’s all limited. With our footwear, we normally make around 12 pairs of each style and colour. When they’re sold, they’re sold. And customers absolutely love it.’

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The people who make Crafted Society’s pieces also get their due. The label’s website details the processes and faces behind the brand. Nothing is hidden, so everything is made without harming people or the planet. Increasingly, shoppers won’t invest in a backpack or scarf if they know it was produced by exploited workers or soaked in toxic dye. Johnston is up to the challenge, saying, ‘When we pick a raw material manufacturer or company, because we’re openly promoting who these people are, we’re very strict in terms of their code of conduct and the type of certifications they have. I think if more brands would adopt a transparent modus operandi, end consumers would have all of the facts to decide whether they wish to buy or don’t wish to buy.’ Informed decision-making lies at the heart of sustainability.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Unfortunately, the world’s issues aren’t going to disappear overnight. But the push for sustainable style isn’t going to vanish, either. Antoinette van den Berg, a trend forecaster and creative director of the RE LOVE Foundation, which helps people reuse, retouch, restyle and repair clothing, believes companies don’t have a choice. ‘It’s absolutely the most important thing for the future,’ she says. ‘We will all have to consume less. People say it’s not good for the economy, but in the end, it’s either that or we don’t exist anymore.’

Van den Berg’s words don’t just reflect her personal feelings: They reveal what she believes people want from the fashion industry. ‘Consumers are not going to buy from companies that behave badly towards the Earth. The ones who don’t care, they are out.’ She thinks companies should treat the demand for sustainable style the same way they would any other trend – from polka dots to flared   jeans – and give people what they crave.

She also says minimising the consumption of new clothing is the way forward, whether that means buying secondhand, repurposing old textiles or transforming used pieces into new ones. ‘Everybody is focusing on sustainable production, which is good, but it still means you can consume as much as you want. The most efficient solution is simply to consume less new stuff. That is the next thing we are going to realise.’

Though this sentiment might scare some retailers, it’s unlikely to bother Nekoui, Johnston and the other leaders of Amsterdam’s sustainable style scene. They understand the importance of quality over quantity and know dressing well goes beyond carrying a different bag every day of the week. Consumers are also catching on, looking for pieces they can buy in good conscience. There’s little point in looking pretty, after all, if it leaves you feeling ugly on the inside. Thankfully, Amsterdam’s sustainable designers are paving the way for a wardrobe overhaul for all of us. <

Fashio

Fashion for Good Style start-ups with a global vision can take things to the next level with Fashion for Good – Plug and Play. This accelerator programme offers a biannual three-month programme that seeks out promising young companies specialising in areas such as raw materials, transparency and manufacturing.

Participating start-ups benefit from introductions to industry leaders, retailers, brands and manufacturers, providing them with the connections needed to succeed internationally.

Mentors and sustainability experts offer guidance, while free office space in the centre of Amsterdam – shared with other innovators – provides room to come up with big ideas. There’s even a chance to spend time in Silicon Valley, an opportunity for ambitious companies looking to make a difference. Dozens of start-ups have completed the programme, which counts Zalando, Adidas and Stella McCartney as partners.

Crafte

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Crafted Society

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We exist to save our planet

Consistently at the forefront of sustainability and environmentalism, outdoor apparel company Patagonia has a new, slightly larger mission: Saving the planet.

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text Alex Hibbert photos Jasper Zwartjes/Phenster

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TESTIMONIAL: PATAGONIA

ʼWe feel very passionately about sustainability, and I think it’s a great credit to the community of Amsterdam that so much is happening hereʻ

If superheroes were real, you could well imagine that one might work for outdoor apparel firm Patagonia. Obviously not in their spandex-clad, crimefighting guise (vigilante work is a headache for any HR department), but for a superhero’s alter ego, it’s a perfect fit. Why? Because Patagonia is on a mission to save planet Earth.

It might seem overblown, but make no mistake, the company is deadly serious. ‘If there’s a theme to what we do, it’s that we exist to save our home planet,’ Patagonia’s European General Manager Ryan Gellert tells me from the firm’s office in the Dutch capital. ‘That’s why Patagonia exists, and we have made that very clear.’

A HISTORY OF SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTALISM A timeline of Patagonia’s history goes something like this: It was founded in 1973 by Chouinard, a leading rock climber and alpinist who had already built a successful climbing gear business. In 1986, Patagonia committed 1% of its revenues to environmental activism, and in 1996, it vowed to only use organic cotton. Its history is also punctuated with acts that have consistently positioned the company at the cutting-edge of sustainability and environmental activism, including investing in sustainable start-ups, lobbying for the protection of public land, developing and expanding used-clothing programmes and even launching an activist hub to connect customers with grassroots organisations.

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In fact, Patagonia really couldn’t have made it any clearer.

At the end of last year, its 80-year-old American founder Yvon Chouinard informed employees that the company’s mission statement had changed: ‘Patagonia is in business to save our home planet’. Direct and unequivocal, as statements go it’s about as strong as they come. But really, it’s just a more focused version of the work the firm has been carrying out over the past few decades.

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A THRIVING SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNITY In Europe, Patagonia’s mission is spearheaded by Gellert and his team at the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam’s Eastern Docklands area. It’s a space that perfectly sums up the Patagonia ethos: On one wall a picture of Chouinard proudly beams down at staff from a Yosemite mountainside, books documenting the Earth’s dying indigenous tribes wait to welcome guests on coffee tables, and employees dine on falafel and pitta bread before heading off for yoga sessions.

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Before lunch arrives, Gellert explains why Patagonia chose Amsterdam for its European base. ‘We established the headquarters here about five years ago. We wanted a place where we could attract and retain pan-European and global talent, that we could move in and out of easily,

and where there was an active community of organisations and individuals working on topics in sustainability,’ he says. ‘As we worked through potential locations across Europe, Amsterdam kept being high on the list.’ As of 2019, Patagonia’s European business amounts to roughly 10% of its global sales, and it currently has around 1,200 wholesale sellers, 8 retail stores and 12 partner stores across the continent.

WHY AMSTERDAM IS PATAGONIA’S PERFECT HOME IN EUROPE The last five years have proved that Patagonia made the right decision, Gellert says. ‘We employ 85 people from 20 different nationalities here. That means we can support dealers and customers across Europe from Amsterdam. The city has been tremendous to us in that regard, and it only

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seems to be getting better in terms of talent coming into the city. I think being based in Amsterdam helps us to be responsive and move into new markets; it’s also very easy to travel in and out of.You can get to almost every capital city in Europe and, in lots of cases, be home the same day.

I also really appreciate the openness and directness of the business culture here; it’s probably the best thing about it.’

HOW PATAGONIA GIVES BACK TO THE AMSTERDAM COMMUNITY As per Patagonia’s spirit, its relationship with Amsterdam is symbiotic: the company reinvests in the community by supporting sustainable ventures around the Netherlands and hosts regular events focusing on green issues, such as the circular economy. Patagonia also partners with Urgenda, a citizens’ alliance that filed a successful lawsuit against the Dutch government’s climate policy in 2015, and supports a host of Dutch initiatives, including Sea Ranger and Plastic Whale.

that every hour of every day in this office.’

ʻWhen you’re out on a bicycle with what feels like half the city, it’s magicalʼ

Another one of Gellert’s proudest achievements is Patagonia Europe’s work to protect the continent’s last wild rivers in the Balkan Peninsula. ‘For the first time in our history, we have globally championed a campaign in Europe to prevent new hydropower construction in the Balkan Peninsula. We have helped fund activists and NGOs working to prevent that development and created a film that we screened across the world, including at the European parliament.’

Personally, Gellert says he’s loved every minute of his time in Amsterdam with his wife and two children. ‘Living here has been a humbling and very valuable process. It has taught us so many new things and opened our eyes to a new way of living. Sometimes, I am cycling with my wife to a restaurant and we say, “Wherever we go next and wherever we may be, we will always miss this”, because it’s just such a spectacular place – rain or shine, day or night, summer or winter. When you’re out on a bicycle with what feels like half the city, it’s magical; I don’t know anywhere else in the world like it.’

For now, Gellert is focused on growing Patagonia’s presence in Europe and helping to plan the next steps in the firm’s mission to save the planet, including launching its own food service. ‘The overall health of the planet is getting exponentially worse quicker than any of us thought possible,’ he says. ‘Companies are also selling things in a way that act as never-ending triggers to buy, buy, buy. I think it’s fundamentally evil, and we have a responsibility to behave differently. As I said, we exist to save our home planet. That’s a big standard to live up to.’

Spending time with Gellert is a pleasure; relaxed and clearly They say not all superheroes wear capes, and after spending an afternoon at Patagonia, that sentiment has never seemed driven by Patagonia’s commitment to do good, his passion so apt.< for environmentalism is infectious. But it’s when he speaks about his colleagues in Amsterdam that he seems most energised. ‘I am so proud of the team here,’ he says. ‘I’m constantly inspired by how many of our employees take on environmental internships and volunteer. That, to me on a personal level, is the most inspiring thing. And I see

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SAVE OUR HOME PLANET The outdoor apparel company has a new mission: ‘Patagonia is in business to save our home planet’.

And in the best think globally-act locally tradition, that drive starts at home, which for Patagonia Europe is an industrial space in Amsterdam’s Eastern Docklands.

Patagonia chose Amsterdam for its committed sustainability agenda, its global talent pool and the city’s accessibility to the rest of Europe. Amsterdam’s open and direct business culture also featured prominently.

With a long history of environmental activism, the purpose-driven company today supports several local sustainability initiatives, including those working to prevent climate change and another that rids the city’s canals of plastic waste one bottle at a time. ‘Amsterdam is more of a hub than I think a lot of people realise,’ says Patagonia’s European General Manager Ryan Gellert. From its base here, Patagonia has expanded its environmental activism across the continent to the Balkans, taking the company one mountain-climbing step closer to its goal of helping save the world.

TESTIMONIAL: PATAGONIA

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GIVING BACK

Firm believers in playing a role in education, Merijn serves as a class mother at Melle’s school. There are ample opportunities for English-speaking volunteers in Utrecht.

SPORTS

Avid runners through Utrecht’s farmlands, Joost and Merijn hope one day to run at least a half-marathon, such as the one TCS sponsors every October in Amsterdam. Melle plays soccer at a local club.

HOUSING

The Galemas live in Utrecht’s Tuindorp neighbourhood (literally, ‘garden village’), a five-minute cycle from the city centre. The area boasts spacious homes with lots of green, offering an affordable mix of city and village life while still only 35 km from Amsterdam.

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WORK

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With flexible working hours and a four-day week, Joost relishes his work-life balance. He also finds his Zuidas location inspirational.

‘It’s a vibrant, international office district with public transportation connections that are phenomenal.’

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

MOBILITY

While both Merijn and Joost cycle locally, when it comes to commuting, Merijn takes the car while Joost prefers public transport. There are 67 trains daily from Utrecht to Amsterdam Zuid, leaving at 16-minute intervals.

Working for an international company: Joost Galema, Merijn, Melle & Janna

Life for Joost Galema, Director of Communications at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), his paediatric physiotherapist wife text Lauren Comiteau and their two young photo Marijn Scheeres children is a welloiled partnership.

Equally sharing childcare, cooking and school runs, even their grocery shopping and dinner time is down to a routine. ‘It’s quite an efficient household,’ says Joost, ‘but that’s part of having young children.’

Take Joost’s commute. He drops Melle off at a school near the family home in Utrecht and 10 minutes later, he’s on a train to Amsterdam Zuid, a direct 20-minute ride. ‘It’s a very efficient way to travel,’ says Joost of the arrangement.

‘And Utrecht is a very central location.You can get practically everywhere in an hour.’

Utrecht was their first choice when it came to buying a home. Joost is from the north of the country and Merijn from the south, which means meeting in the middle made perfect sense. ‘We love Utrecht and its dynamic energy,’ says Joost. ‘People call it a small Amsterdam. It’s less crowded, but with the same character, history and charm.’

The Galemas keep things efficient by shopping at their local Albert Heijn or ordering from online supermarket Picnic. For those with more time, head to Utrecht’s Vredenburg market for meat, vegetables and, yes, herring.

SCHOOL

Janna attends day care while Melle is enrolled in a nearby public school featuring an afterschool programme on a local farm. ‘If you’re happy, you learn better,’ says Joost. For internationals seeking an IB programme, there’s the International School Utrecht.

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Having previously worked on international projects for Vodafone Netherlands, moving to the global TCS was Joost’s ‘next logical step’. Drawn to the challenge of working at an international company, Joost says he is fascinated by the intercultural dynamics that go with it. ‘We can learn from each other instead of re-inventing the wheel,’ he says.

‘And if you work with people from different cultures, you get to look at your country with a fresh pair of eyes.’

One thing Joost appreciated anew was his work-life balance.

‘To have a challenging career and still be able to play an active role in family life is really possible here,’ he says. ‘It’s a great thing about the Netherlands.’

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FOOD

But, they say, with more affordable space. The couple bought their 135-square-metre townhouse with a garden five years ago and are currently renovating it. ‘Utrecht offers more choice if you’re looking for a spacious house, which is unusual in many cities,’ says Joost.

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Want to connect to Amsterdam’s impact-driven economy?

Here’s how...

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Amsterdam is building a region where citizen well-being and economic growth go hand in hand. If you want to join forces with the companies, impact enterprises, knowledge institutes and government organisations making the Amsterdam Area one of Europe’s most sustainable innovation hotspots, read on. text Catalina Iorga

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© Gerrit Alink

CONNECT TO THE AMSTERDAM AREA

The Impact Hub

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CONNECT TO THE AMSTERDAM AREA

‘If you are into creative, disruptive models, Amsterdam is the place to be’

In 2016, Ger Baron, the City of Amsterdam’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), said, ‘If you are into creative, disruptive models, Amsterdam is the place to be’. Three years later, the city is living up to its pioneering reputation. In 2019, the municipality teamed up with professional service company KPMG to ensure the local government develops and uses ethical algorithms in all its municipal programmes. Among them are ambitious initiatives to make Amsterdam more circular, healthier, better connected and more inclusive – precisely the aims of the CTO Innovation team. To achieve their goals, which include fully closing the loop on waste and becoming climate-neutral by 2050, the City of Amsterdam is working closely with businesses, knowledge institutes, start-ups, and non-profit organisations.

Long-standing partnerships between the scientific and business communities play an essential role in the Amsterdam Area’s innovation and tech ambitions.

Take Amsterdam Data Science (ADS), a joint initiative of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam (UvA), and the Dutch Research Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science. ADS aims to develop world-class data science and artificial intelligence (AI) talent and technology within the Amsterdam Area. Among the gold partner companies of ADS since 2016 is Elsevier, a Dutch-by-origin global leader in information analytics in science and health. ‘It’s exciting to be part of the ADS network, working with local knowledge institutes to help develop our home city into a national and international data hub,’ says Alexander van Boetzelaer, EVP Strategy at Elsevier, ‘and seeing it evolve into an even more attractive place for technologists and data science researchers from around the world.’

Elsevier With its Dutch heritage and Amsterdam base, Elsevier invests in Amsterdam’s knowledge economy and tech talent pool by focusing on innovative technologies that turn information into actionable knowledge for users in research and healthcare across academia, government, corporations and non-profits. Earlier this year, Elsevier opened the Amsterdam-based TechHub, its fifth global tech centre of excellence after London, Oxford, Philadelphia and Chennai.

By 2020, the TechHub will employ 200 technologists to develop solutions to support the decision-making of researchers and health professionals around the globe.

What’s more, through its long-term collaboration with the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit, students and PhD researchers can work on their theses with Elsevier. This means the latest insights from data science and artificial intelligence are brought into the company, while researchers work on practical cases, get collaboration opportunities and often roll directly into jobs at Elsevier. elsevier.com

product development with their academic counterparts to fuel innovation and tech solutions with immediate practical applicability. ‘With our global headquarters here in Amsterdam, the ICAI & Elsevier AI Lab will allow us to learn how AI can be used to serve the interests of our customers while simultaneously investing in talent development, creating new jobs, and drawing AI experts to Amsterdam,’ says Van Boetzelaer.

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CONNECT TO AMSTERDAM’S INCLUSIVE AND SKILLED LABOUR MARKET Tech talent who can wield the power of data to create products and services that make a difference abounds in Amsterdam. For companies looking to attract top talent from abroad or to recruit from the homegrown generation, the Amsterdam School of Data Science – a collaboration between four of the Amsterdam’s research and applied sciences universities – offers over 300 data-science driven bachelor’s, master’s, postgraduate and professional programmes. Here, students have the opportunity to work In 2018, Elsevier’s partnership with ADS, as well as its ongoing research programmes with the VU and UvA, led to on data challenges with companies such as Google, Air the opening of the ICAI & Elsevier AI Lab, a collaboration France-KLM and Ahold Delhaize. Upon graduating, there’s a ready job market waiting for them: More than 1,600 between Elsevier and the City of Amsterdam, VU and tech companies, from seed start-ups to scale-ups such as the UvA-led Innovation Centre for Artificial Intelligence online supermarket Picnic and established names such as (ICAI). Located at the 70-hectare Amsterdam Science Park, the lab connects Elsevier’s data scientists working on Booking.com, make for a lively tech job market with 69,000 positions – the equivalent of 13% of the Amsterdam Area’s employment market.

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In addition to supporting higher tech education, Amsterdam’s local government, the business community

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Ger Baron, Chief Technology Officer

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© Gregor Servais

Elsevier offices

Amsterdam Science Park

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Makers Unite

Impact Days Amsterdam

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CONNECT TO THE AMSTERDAM AREA

To ensure an inclusive labour market, the City of Amsterdam, which signed a Diversity Charter with 20 other Dutch municipalities, is leading by example.

In 2017, Amsterdam’s local government launched the ongoing Young Professionals Programme for Status Holders, a two-year traineeship for highly educated newcomers with a refugee background. During the traineeship, newcomers learn Dutch, make valuable professional contacts and perform assignments in areas ranging from waste and raw materials to accounting and data visualisation. Complementing the municipality’s efforts, start-ups like Makers Unite are connecting newcomers to companies in Amsterdam’s creative industries. In Makers Unite’s Creative Lab, a professional skills course, newcomers craft contemporary designs

House of Skills As digitalisation and artificial intelligence shape the future of work, manual skills will be less needed than tech, social and even emotional skills. House of Skills is here to bridge the gap by promoting Lifelong Learning in areas such as engineering, healthcare, hospitality and ICT. It acts like a lab, where the Amsterdam Area‘s business community, trade associations, employee and employer organisations and knowledge institutes closely collaborate and run pilot projects to develop skillsoriented career programmes. In a future 2019 training exercise, engineers, technicians and team leaders from various companies will upgrade their knowledge about energy transition, its implications for their work and what steps they can take to fully participate in the shift to renewable energy. House of Skills also wants to help employers think in terms of skills and learn how to attract staff based on the ones that complement their long-term strategies and goals. houseofskillsregioamsterdam.nl

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Amsterdam Economic Board The Amsterdam Economic Board wants the Amsterdam Area to become one of Europe’s three most innovative regions by 2025 and a role model for solving urban challenges, ranging from digital connectivity to the circular economy.

Such ambitious goals are hard to achieve without close cooperation across different sectors. Enter the Corporate Network of the Amsterdam Economic Board, which includes over 80 innovative start-ups in addition to innovation managers from the likes of Philips, Microsoft, KPMG, ABN Amro, TomTom and KLM. Being part of the network comes with the added benefits of new opportunities and data-driven insights for innovation in Amsterdam’s key urban challenges, the possibility to join consortia of cross-sector partners for innovative projects and access to regional and international networks of government organisations, knowledge institutions and like-minded companies. For organisations that want to redesign their procurement process, the Board also hosts an annual community of practice for the purchasing of circular products and services. amsterdameconomicboard.com

from responsibly sourced materials, such as the life vests worn by refugees as they journeyed to Greek shores. The process instils newcomers with the confidence needed to take their next career steps.

CONNECT TO AMSTERDAM’S IMPACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM Makers Unite is just one of Amsterdam’s hundreds of impact enterprises devoted to positive impact in areas ranging from renewable energy to inclusive growth and circular cities. The remarkable growth of Netherlandsbased impact ventures is underscored by the €3.5 billion turnover the sector realised between 2010 and 2015 alone.

‘Impact entrepreneurs are the pioneers of a broader movement that includes large companies, SMEs, universities and government organisations, who are all striving to add more societal value and solve pressing challenges,’ says Ellen Oetelmans, Programme Manager at Amsterdam Impact, the City of Amsterdam’s Impact Entrepreneurship Programme.

Amsterdam Impact’s objective is to strengthen the ecosystem for impact entrepreneurship, to support the development of entrepreneurial skills for young people and to position the city internationally as a prime location for impact-driven organisations – from established companies to up-and-coming ventures. After a successful run between 2015 and 2018, Amsterdam Impact is set to continue for another four years. ‘We are looking for more partners who want to team up for the accelerators and challenges we aim to organise using the Sustainable Development

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and knowledge institutions have established House of Skills, a private-public partnership to advance a flexible, skills-driven labour market in which lifelong learning is the norm. House of Skills supports professionals in acquiring and renewing the skills needed for the jobs of the future, which must respond to the rise of AI and digitalisation, as well as new societal challenges. In 2018, more than 90 organisations signed the Regional Skills Agreement for the Amsterdam Area, including consulting firms Accenture and Deloitte, housing corporation Ymere, telecom player VodafoneZiggo and airport operator Royal Schiphol Group, underscoring how serious companies in multiple sectors are when it comes to creating a future-proof workforce. House of Skills is there to help them: From ascertaining companies’ five-year plans for digitalisation to assessing required skills to matching them to the right talent and supporting on-the-job training schemes.

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CONNECT TO THE AMSTERDAM AREA

Goals (SDGs) as a framework,’ adds Oetelmans. ‘We invite companies to become impact entrepreneurship ambassadors and join awareness events such as our yearly The Impact Days in November, which encourages consumers, companies and other organisations to buy more products and services that make a difference.’

To facilitate connections between established companies and impact entrepreneurs, Amsterdam Impact has codeveloped several Buy Social events with key partners, including Social Enterprise NL. During these events, which introduce procurement professionals from large organisations to the products and services of impact entrepreneurs, more than 30 business deals have been closed in areas ranging from sustainable food to circular electronics and inclusive labour, including the collaboration between digital agency Swink and PwC Netherlands. At Swink, employees with a form of autism use their above-average analytic skills to build websites and SEO strategies. ‘We think it’s important to do good with social entrepreneurs, but ultimately, it’s also about the quality of the companies we work with,’ says Jacqueline Marell, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at PwC Netherlands. ‘Swink rebuilt our recruitment website; it was a great cooperation.’

In addition to continuing its Buy Social series, Amsterdam Impact encourages more young people in the development of entrepreneurial attitudes to solving societal issues, which perfectly complements the rise in local impact initiatives launched by bright young minds.

Take the SDG World Tour founded by young people for young people with the support of Randstad and the Goldschmeding Foundation and the endorsement of the City of Amsterdam. The tour will sail from Amsterdam to New York between 2020 and 2022 to create awareness of – and opportunities for – the UN’s SDGs. Meanwhile, the growing Young Impactmakers community co-hosted

by Impact Hub Amsterdam and Starters4Communities supports and regularly brings together young people who want to do good while doing business, either through starting an impact enterprise or making a change from within an existing organisation.

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Nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurial impact-makers is one of the ways in which Impact Hub Amsterdam accelerates the transition to a new economy

Impact Hub Amsterdam In 2018, Impact Hub Amsterdam, which is based at KIT Royal Tropical Institute / SDG House (see the magazine’s cover), celebrated a decade of bringing together innovators and organisations committed to building a sustainable world – from entrepreneurs, investors, SMEs and corporates to governments, techies and creatives. Together, they offer a well-developed network, design knowledge-sharing events, run acceleration programmes and scout for innovative solutions. Impact Hub Amsterdam sourced inclusive fashion start-ups and scale-ups for the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge, low-carbon economy business plans for the Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge, and plastic and clean water student solutions for the Dopper Changemaker Challenge. Impact Hub Amsterdam also works closely with Amsterdam Impact, the municipality’s Impact Entrepreneurship Programme, to enhance the collaboration between the City of Amsterdam and impact entrepreneurs by building an effective ecosystem that includes impact start-ups, civil servants, capital providers and businesses large and small. amsterdam.impacthub.net

Tatian Mana

that works for all. ‘We build impact ecosystems around key issues, such as food, plastics, circularity and an inclusive society,’ says Tatiana Glad, Co-founder and Director of Impact Hub Amsterdam. ‘This approach offers us an extraordinary opportunity to take responsibility for the state of our world together with our growing Impact Hub network of entrepreneurial innovators in over 100 cities worldwide.’ Since 2008, Impact Hub Amsterdam has helped more than 1,000 impact entrepreneurs to start, grow and scale. They’ve also helped numerous large companies and organisations, such as Tommy Hilfiger, WWF and the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, to achieve their innovation and impact goals.

CONNECT TO AMSTERDAM’S CIRCULAR ECONOMY PIONEERS Impact Hub Amsterdam is also one of the organisations helping to grow the circular economy eco-system in the Amsterdam Area and beyond. It recently signed a partnership with the Province of North Holland, which aims to become fully circular by 2050. A major player in realising this target is the Amsterdam Economic Board, the agency tasked with strengthening collaborations between businesses, knowledge institutes and government organisations, including the City of Amsterdam, the Province of North Holland, directors of knowledge

Impac

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institutions such as the UvA and business leaders from companies such as the Royal Schiphol Group, Rabobank and Salesforce.

ʻWe invite companies to become impact entrepreneurship ambassadorsʼ

As a private-public partnership, the Amsterdam Economic Board encourages innovation and collaboration to help address five key urban challenges: Health, mobility, digital connectivity, jobs of the future and the circular economy.

It already has plans to hit crucial milestones for each of these challenges by 2025: Adding two years to the lifespan of local residents, ensuring emissions-free urban traffic, making Amsterdam Europe’s top location for both datadriven innovation and job opportunities and turning the Amsterdam Area into a role model for smart solutions to the shortage of raw materials.

Tatiana Glad, Co-founder and Director of Impact Hub Amsterdam & Ellen Oetelmans, Programme Manager Amsterdam Impact, City of Amsterdam (Department of Economic Affairs)

A circular economy approach, in which raw materials never become waste, is essential for a region with growth goals as ambitious as Amsterdam’s. When it comes to the built environment, for example, some 230,000 new homes will be constructed in the Amsterdam Area by 2040. New organisations such as C-creators want to make circular construction the norm. Officially launched in 2018, this joint initiative of the City of Amsterdam, the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer, Rabobank Schiphol and the Royal Schiphol Group aims to speed up the transition to a circular economy within the Amsterdam Area. One of its core activities is the Construction Programme in cooperation with Cirkelstad, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and the European Investment Bank.

For those who believe we should, the Amsterdam Area offers plenty of opportunities to connect with like-minded organisations working towards a sustainable future. <

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The Construction Programme welcomes new companies and organisations keen to exchange expertise through events such as masterclasses and lectures. Current partners range from private-public partnerships, including the Amsterdam Economic Board, to established construction corporations such as the Royal BAM Group, circular strategy and revenue model consultants Copper8 and architecture firms such as Architekten Cie. In a C-creators talk, Architekten Cie associate Hans Hammink said: ‘I share everything. I currently spend my days promoting circular construction through lectures and guided tours. My children have the right to a healthy world and, if circularity is how we can get there, shouldn’t we all embrace it?’

Impact Hub Amsterdam

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Science that saves lives

How the Amsterdam Area’s remarkable ecosystem helps its Life Sciences & Health cluster to the world top – and its plans for extending its residents’ lives by two years.

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text Hans Kops

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‘The Amsterdam Area’s ecosystem of life sciences and health-related activities is vibrant and remarkable’

The scale-up of Kite Pharma is a prime example of how the ecosystem of the Life Sciences and Health sector (LSH) in the Amsterdam Area helps a company grow and flourish faster than expected.

The daughter of Californiabased biopharma giant Gilead Sciences decided four years ago to set up a research team of immunotherapy specialists in Amsterdam Science Park, chosen for its rare combination of affordable office space, start-ups in bioscience, e-health and deep learning, and easy access to the wet labs and other essential research facilities of the nearby University of Amsterdam medical campus.

In the years since, the team has made a breakthrough in cancer research, with the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) as one of its promoters. Kite Pharma’s T-cell immunotherapy reprogrammes the immune cells of cancer patients to recognise cancer cells and eliminate them.

Recently Kite Pharma announced it was investing in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for its cancer cell therapies at SEGRO Park Amsterdam Airport in Hoofddorp. Gilead’s CEO at the time, John Milligan, said: ‘This facility will enable us to manufacture personalised cell therapies close to the patients who will receive them, potentially shortening the turnaround time for people who urgently need care.’

What started as a research project in Amsterdam Science Park will by 2020 evolve into a 117,000-square metre, high-biotech production facility, creating 300-plus jobs and making the developed immunotherapy available to cancer patients around the world. Flourish indeed.

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STANDING OUT The ecosystem of life sciences and health-related activities in and around the Amsterdam Area is vibrant and remarkable in numerous ways. But it most stands out compared to the other 230 LSH-clusters worldwide because of its high degree of interconnectivity and its low thresholds.

There are some 300 companies in the Amsterdam Area involved in a wide variety of health-improving activities, including med-tech manufacturers Stryker Corporation

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and Philips, and (bio)pharmaceutical brands Novartis and Genzyme. Pioneers in e-health applications, such as Castor EDC, gather in one of the region’s four science parks designed to facilitate their scale-up, with a network of service providers that grows with the ecosystem in size, number and professionalism.

Although their business perspectives differ, all are drawn to the region’s superior infrastructure – both physical and digital – an international-oriented talent pool and relatively easy access to both a rich source of independent scientific research and public medical data. There are two academic medical centres, which recently merged to form Amsterdam UMC, and a specialised cancer research institute (NKI/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek) within a fivemile radius from the heart of the capital. Together, they produce the third-largest health-related scientific output in the world, in addition to the necessary patient data for clinical and bio-medical research.

CLOSE TO THE GATEKEEPER By the end of 2018, the ecosystem was given an extra boost when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) moved from London to Amsterdam following the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The EMA does roughly for continental Europe what the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does for the US: It decides whether new medicines and therapies should be allowed access to Newcomers In November 2018, US-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced it was expanding its operations in the Netherlands by opening new offices in the Amsterdam Area. The world leader in RNA-interference therapeutics for genetically-defined diseases chose its location after careful deliberations, says CEO Barry Greene. ‘This is a testimony to the country’s vibrant biotech ecosystem and to its attractive environment, which makes it possible for companies with groundbreaking innovation to flourish.’

Start-up 3EGA also has plans to flourish. The company has found its way to the investment and business networks needed to realise its groundbreaking ideas for a depression-treating methodology. 3EGA aims to help therapists with early identification of psychological disorders and in making evidence-based decisions in medication management. According to Milena Cukic, founder and owner, her company’s success was helped by the support of the Amsterdam Health and Technology Institute and the HealthInc programme, an accelerator for early-stage HealthTech start-ups. ’I think we will get there, it simply takes time,’ she says.

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‘The Amsterdam Area is one of the worldʻs most attractive locations for LSH organisations’

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The Rotterdam Connection Neighbouring the Amsterdam Area’s ecosystem is the Amsterdam-Rotterdam life sciences and health cluster.

Last year, GE Healthcare opened a representative office at Cambridge Innovation Center Rotterdam, in the former Groot Handelsgebouw. ‘We want to get closer to our key customers, one of which is Erasmus Medical Center,’ explains Country Imaging Sales Manager Jawad Handizi. ‘We have 10 MRs installed [there] and a high-end cyclotron. If needed, I can just hop on my bike and cycle over to be with them now. Besides, we have developed a close partnership that enables us to innovate based on their broad clinical experience.’

Another advantage of being part of the Rotterdamextension of the Dutch LSH-cluster is that Handizi and his colleagues get the opportunity to meet potential future partners who excel in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. ‘As a med-tech manufacturer, GE Healthcare is based on three pillars: Diagnostics, therapeutics and monitoring,’ he says. ‘The next generations of these appliances will be powered by AI, and machine and deep learning. It is important to be challenged in these fields.

And since there are over 250 start-ups around us, this is where that happens.’ Many can also be found in the nearby Leiden Bio Science Park.

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European markets, and supports health-related developments and innovations.

That the EMA is located on the doorstep of the LSH-cluster means the complex approval process for new medicines and therapies can be observed, and guided if needed, from close by. This has the potential to considerably shorten the time to market for new products and treatments, and it is a proven nucleus for new activities.

‘Many companies like to have offices close to us,’ says EMA’s Executive Director Guido Rasi. ‘It happened in London, and it will happen in Amsterdam, too.’

Professor Rasi’s prediction is already proving true.

Following EMA’s announcement that it would set up shop in Amsterdam, many firms followed its lead. Legal firm Bird & Bird opened an affiliate in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district, where EMA will be located when its permanent home is completed at the end of 2019. As a specialist in patent rights, Bird & Bird wants to be close to the gatekeeper of European markets. Pharmaceuticals firm Novartis is also moving its Dutch operations to the Amsterdam Area in EMA’s wake.

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©Sarah Wijzenbeek/Phenster

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Professors Bert Windhorst and Guus van Dongen

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UPDATE: LIFE SCIENCES AND HEALTH

LOW TRESHOLDS Another competitive advantage of the Amsterdam Area ecosystem is its accessibility, as seen in the creation of the Amsterdam UMC Imaging Center. Professors Guus van Dongen and Bert Windhorst, renowned specialists in radiology and nuclear medicine, have brought together every known cutting-edge imaging technique to one location on the Amsterdam UMC Medical Center’s campus. This shortens the waiting time for patients in need of MRI-, CT- or PET-scans and improves the quality of medical diagnoses; it also enables attending physicians to observe the effects treatments have on patients in real time – a big step up for healthcare in Europe.

In doing so, they’ve also created a unique lab allowing pharmaceutical and biopharma companies to reduce their research time while cutting costs. ‘Using our imaging facilities, by far the most sophisticated in Europe, makes it possible for them to establish at an early stage whether a newly-developed medicine or treatment is doing what it is expected to do, and especially, what it is not supposed to do,’ explain Windhorst and Van Dongen. ‘Knowing this shortens the expensive development process by at least half a year, reducing costs considerably.’

It is essential for the Amsterdam UMC Imaging Center to cooperate closely with companies interested in using its facilities. The contributions of these commercial partners are vital to making the expensive project feasible in the long term. And their numbers are growing as opening day, slated for the autumn of 2019, draws closer.

was drawn up under the supervision of the Amsterdam Economic Board – the agency tasked with strengthening collaborations between businesses, knowledge institutes and government organisations – and a committee hosted by former minister and UMC chairman Wouter Bos, who also heads the government’s new development and investment institution Invest-NL. And its ambitions are high. Amsterdam celebrates its 750th birthday in 2025, and as a birthday gift to its inhabitants, city officials want to extend the average life expectancy of all their residents by two years. But it needs the help of local life sciences and health companies to meet its goal .

‘We add a new dimension by combining the strength of our data science cluster with that of the life sciences and health ecosystem,’ says Jeroen Maas of the Amsterdam Economic Board. ‘The future is in precision health.

This demands a close collaboration between the two.

Applications based on artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning will change the world of both cure and care immensely by setting new standards for both health prevention and clinical and pharmaceutical treatments to be customised for individual patients. We want to create business examples of the successful integration of data and medical science here.’

The Amsterdam Area already has all the key elements needed, and they’re only growing. The region has a strong track record in data collection, machine learning and data ethics. And as home to one of the busiest Internet crossroads in the world, global connectivity is practically guaranteed. Happy birthday, Amsterdam! <

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BIRTHDAY GIFT Being among the world’s top five most attractive locations for life sciences and health organisations also brings new challenges. In order to keep pace with competing topranking clusters in places such as Cambridge, UK, or Boston in the US, an action plan for future next steps

‘The Amsterdam Area remains a world leader in innovative medicines and treatments’

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Jaap Bonjer, Amsterdam Skills Centre

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TESTIMONIAL: AMSTERDAM SKILLS CENTRE

The Amsterdam Skills Centre for Health Sciences opened in February 2019 as an answer to the worldwide shortage of surgeons. Its ‘New Way of Learning’ curriculum is a paradigm shift in surgical training methods that shortens learning times and steepens the curve.

Creating a Silicon Valley for surgical skills

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text Hans Kops photos Sarah Wijzenbeek/Phenster

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Nearly 400 years after Rembrandt visited an anatomy lesson and created his world-famous painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, Dr Jaap Bonjer revealed his ‘New Way of Learning’ surgical skills curriculum just a few kilometres from where the operating theatre of the infamous Dr Nicolaes Tulp once was.

A renowned surgeon himself, Dr Bonjer always wondered why his medical education took so long and cost so much.

On average, it takes more than 30,000 hours of learning and on-the-job practice before a surgeon can operate independently and lead a surgical team – almost four times the hours required to train a helicopter pilot and three times longer than it took Jimi Hendrix to become arguably the world’s best guitar player.

Why do surgical students have to perform on real patients before a live audience? Not only does this drive up costs (easily up to €1 million per student) and increase health risks, it also creates a bottleneck-effect. In lowand middle-income countries, 271 essential surgeries every minute can’t be performed due to a shortage of qualified surgeons. In the coming years, at least two million additional surgeons must be trained to guarantee two-thirds of the world’s population has access to basic surgical care.

‘With the existing educational model, it is impossible to achieve this,’ Dr Bonjer says. ‘That is what the ‘New Way of Learning’ surgical skills is all about: Creating a paradigm shift in surgical training methods by shortening the learning time by at least a third and steepening the

SCALING UP AMBITIONS (1) The realisation of Dr Bonjer’s vision took a giant leap forward when he met Kevin Lobo, CEO of the American MedTech firm Stryker. Dr Bonjer had actually seen a picture of Lobo in Stryker Europe’s Amsterdam offices and remembered working with him in Canada.

‘Kevin shares my vision of how we need to change our learning model,’ Dr Bonjer says. ‘We must learn to integrate new technologies into our procedures.

The future will only bring more disruptions. Minimally invasive surgery is advancing, and through advanced imaging techniques, we can now diagnose the effects of surgery and other forms of treatment in real time. To take advantage of this, surgeons must constantly redevelop their skills. As a manufacturer of medical equipment, Kevin and his management team are aware of the necessity to improve and scale-up the aptitude of surgeons in, for example, eye-to-hand coordination and controlling robotically-powered medical instruments.’

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‘By offering students the latest technologies and methodologies for e-learning, they can literally take their training home’

learning curve. We do this by building an open-source learning platform. We combine the latest available technologies, scientific insights and learning methodologies and present them in a competency-based and learning-off-thejob curriculum for surgeons and students from all over the world.’

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE The physical manifestation of this ambition is the newlybuilt Amsterdam Skills Centre, which is owned by Amsterdam UMC and located on the southeast campus of the Amsterdam Medical Centre, less than a 15-minute taxi ride from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

When I met Dr Bonjer and his operational manager Peter van Felius before the centre opened in February 2019, they were proudly testing the centre’s new furniture, which had arrived earlier that morning and was waiting to be used by the first of the expected 3,000 students due to start training after the centre’s launch. Dr Bonjer and Van Felius were also guiding a group of visitors around the state-of-the-art wet and dry labs and the luxurious classrooms and leisure rooms.

The architectural layout of the building is true to Dr Bonjer’s early sketches, with the operating theatre at its heart. Twelve highly-advanced operating tables are available for training 24/7, allowing students to learn complex procedures on preserved human tissue and to improve their hand-to-eye coordination by working with surgical robots. Virtual reality simulators are also on hand to replicate emergency situations a surgeon may encounter, such as unexpected interventions or malfunctioning robotics while performing microsurgery.

The star of the show here is the Dutch-designed simulator for cataract surgery, which focuses on improving the basic surgical skills needed for similar essential surgeries, including caesarean sections, appendicectomies, laparotomies for acute abdominal disorders, and surgeries to repair fractured bones.

EXPORTING THE CURRICULUM By offering students the latest technologies and methodologies for e-learning, they can literally take their

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SCALING UP AMBITIONS (2) Before the first batch of trainees arrived, their freshly-appointed CEO and senior tutor was already sharing his vision for the future.

During my visit, Dr Bonjer pointed out the empty spaces on campus and gave a virtual reality presentation on the future expansion of the Amsterdam Skills Centre: A series of five buildings, each dedicated to training a specific capability vital to successful medical care.

‘We can build the equivalent of Silicon Valley for surgical cure and care here,’ Dr Bonjer said.

‘There are many elements in our new way of learning we are not addressing yet, and we invite partners to join us and make their contribution to complete the learning cycle.

Our final goal is to build a scalable, low-cost and mobile learning environment that can be implemented anywhere in the world.’

AMS

training home. Trainees can also use mobile training kits to practise their newly-acquired skills.

The centre’s state-of-the-art training equipment enables Dr Bonjer and his fellow tutors to move away from a ‘master-apprentice’ approach and instead stimulate students by allowing them to personalise their own training. ‘We can actually export our curriculum,’ Dr Bonjer explains. ‘Each part of the programme is designed as a building block. This makes it possible for our students to personalise their programmes and to decide when to come to Amsterdam for a boost or to do it in their own time and own hospital. Some are here for just a couple of days, others for weeks or months. All will stay online for the rest of their careers. That is the plan.’ <

Amsterdam Skills Centre

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SPORTS

Although Margit misses the wild nature of her native Estonia, she loves walking or cycling through the nearby Haarlemmermeerse Bos, one of the Amsterdam Area’s many forests.

CULTURE

Estonian folk dancing and cinema rank high on Margit’s leisure list. But she also organises bike rides and other events with one of the area’s many international groups, including expatsHaarlemmermeer.

GIVING BACK

HOUSING

Margit rents a home with two roommates, but she could have chosen to buy. Freelancers are becoming more accepted, and there are several lenders (hypotheekers) in the Amsterdam Area to help.

Margit is a leader in the Netherlands’ active Estonian community. People from more than 180 nationalities call Amsterdam home.

WORK

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Margit teaches two days a week at Hoofddorp’s only international school and spends another four days teaching English. ‘Women like to work part-time in the Netherlands,’ she says. The Amsterdam Area is home to some 30 international schools.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

MOBILITY

‘Public transport here is great,’ says Margit. ‘When I feel like it, I can go anywhere inside or outside of the Netherlands.’ Hoofddorp is a four-minute train ride from Schiphol and 15 minutes from Amsterdam.

How internationals live and work in the Amsterdam Area: Margit Tera

Native Estonian Margit Tera found herself in Hoofddorp by accident. After receiving her text Lauren Comiteau teaching degree photo Marijn Scheeres/Phenster from the University of Tartu in Estonia and a year teaching there, she decided she ‘needed a little adventure’. Margit took an au pair job with an English family living in Hoofddorp, and, as is the case with so many other internationals, what began as a one-year posting in 2003 turned into a lifelong choice. ‘It feels like home now, so I’m planning on staying,’ says Margit.

Margit has indeed settled in Hoofddorp, where she works as a primary school teacher at the new Optimist International School and runs a business teaching English to local families.

‘I know the place!’ she says of her decision to stay. ‘It’s a nice and quiet place to live without the busyness of Amsterdam. If you are a young international and want a lively nightlife, Hoofddorp is not for you. But it’s great for families who enjoy more quiet and nature.’

An ‘outdoorsy’ person, Margit shuns the automobile in favour of bike, bus, train and metro. She mostly cycles to her office near Hoofddorp’s train station from the home she shares with two flatmates. ‘I like the idea of freedom that comes with renting,’ says Margit. ‘You never know how long you’ll stay.’

But for now, Margit is staying put. She is an active member of the Estonian community in the Netherlands. She sits on the board of the non-profit Estonian House and is a leader of the Estonian School in the Netherlands, where one Sunday a month children can take Estonian language, art and dance classes while their parents converse in their mother tongue. Margit herself is a dancer in the 20-women strong Estonian folk group Daughters of the Wind.

’I’m always working, but that’s because I like what I do,’ says Margit. ‘It’s my choice.’

But she appreciates that working regular hours as the majority of Dutch people do is an option.

‘It’s very important to me,’ says Margit of keeping up her Estonian connections. ‘These are my roots.’

Her advice to other internationals thinking of going Dutch?

‘Observe the locals and try to join in when you can,’ she says. ‘Dutch people are lovely and friendly, even if they first come across as very direct and rude. When you get to know them, they’re not like that at all.’

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WORK-LIFE BALANCE

inamsterdam.com

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62 AMS Hiroyasu Matsubara

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TESTIMONIAL: YAKULT

The small bottle that packs a big punch

With some 40 million of its products consumed daily worldwide, the Almere-based Yakult is one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest health product manufacturers.

Yakult Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Managing Director, Hiroyasu Matsubara, talks clean water, cultural diversity and the importance of the gut.

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text Hans Kops photo Mark Horn/Phenster

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TESTIMONIAL: YAKULT

‘The Amsterdam Area’s openminded business culture and the Netherlands’ above-average language proficiency were also important factors in Yakult choosing it for its European base’

All things considered, newly appointed Managing Director Hiroyasu Matsubara feels the best thing Yakult has brought to the Netherlands is awareness of the importance of the gut. ‘It is our mission to contribute to a healthier life for people all over the world, and we are very proud to do this here, too,’ Matsubara says when we sit down in his office in Amsterdam’s neighbouring city Almere.

‘Actually, the Netherlands is our pilot market for the rest of continental Europe.’

A SMALL BOTTLE WITH A BIG STORY Yakult’s probiotic drinks might be served in very small bottles, but the firm’s rich history means it has a big story to tell. It began 85 years ago, when Japanese microbiologist Minoru Shirota, inspired by the fermentation process that turned milk into curd, selected and cultivated a bacterium that was resilient to gastric acid and therefore reached the gut alive.

Naming the microorganism ‘Lactobacillus casei Shirota’ (LcS), he launched ‘Yakult Honsha’ based on his unique fermented milk drink containing the LcS bacteria. Each bottle contains a minimum of 6.5 billion of Shirota’s bacteria.Yakult’s tasty probiotic drink is now one of the most successful products in the probiotic market and has made the firm that produces it one of its biggest international players.

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Outside Japan,Yakult operates in South America, Asia, the Middle East, the United States and Europe, meaning consumers in 39 countries and regions benefit from Dr Shirota’s early innovation in probiotics.

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YAKULT’S EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS To serve the European market,Yakult set up its European headquarters and production facility 25 years ago in Almere, about 30 kilometres east of the Dutch capital.

Today, the plant employs about 120 people and produces hundreds of thousands of Yakult bottles daily. Matsubara says that, for his predecessors, selecting Almere for Yakult’s operational base was an easy choice.

One reason is Amsterdam’s reputation as a ‘gateway to Europe’, especially important for an international marketing and production company like Yakult. And having Amsterdam Airport Schiphol so easily accessible also played a big role. This connectivity makes distribution to continental Europe relatively easy, as does the nearby Port of Amsterdam and Almere’s central position in the Amsterdam Area’s logistic support network. The Amsterdam Area’s open-minded business culture and the Netherlands’ above-average language proficiency were also important factors in Yakult choosing the Amsterdam Area for its European base.

YAKULT’S SUSTAINABLE ETHOS Decisive, too, is the Amsterdam Area’s ample supply of clean water. The company’s fermentation process requires a stable and guaranteed flow of fresh and unpolluted water.

The water Yakult (and the rest of Almere) uses comes from a natural source under the province of Flevoland.

This water originates from areas such as the Hoge Veluwe National Park, which lies east of Almere. For thousands of years, this water has been infiltrating the soil and clay layers, slowly streaming towards Flevoland. This process means it is regarded not only as the cleanest water in the Netherlands, but is considered unique in northwestern Europe. Its exceptional quality makes it attractive to businesses working in the food sector.

‘To work the various European markets, we very much rely on the international orientation of our Dutch colleagues,’ says Matsubara, who joined Yakult almost 30 years ago after working as a stockbroker in London. ‘Our trade is the production and marketing of probiotics, and therefore we think and act like people with an agricultural background.

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In return,Yakult does everything it can to reduce its intake of water and to close its production cycles. The company is an active member of the Dutch Dairy Association (NZO), which aims to enhance the cooperation of companies active in the dairy sector by sharing knowledge on process efficiency and sustainability. The factory is certified to FSSC, ISO 90001 and ISO 14000 (environmental) standards. ‘This is another important feature of our mission: We feel a strong responsibility to preserve the continuity of the world we are living and working in,’ Matsubara says.

GIVING BACK Yakult also takes its social responsibilities seriously. It is a sponsor of the world-renowned Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. And it supported the Micropia Museum at ARTIS-Amsterdam Royal Zoo from its beginnings. ‘This helps us to relate our message, especially to younger generations,’ Matsubara adds. On a local level,Yakult donates products to support people relying on Almere’s food bank. ‘Yakult strongly believes in actively engaging with our social and cultural

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environments and trying to do everything in our power to improve them,’ he says. ‘Also, building a brand name as an employer and benefactor of the local community is a sound commercial investment.’

‘We feel a strong responsibility to preserve the continuity of the world we are living and working in’

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS IN THE AMSTERDAM AREA Now that the marriage of Yakult and Almere is nearing its silver anniversary, how does the Japanese probiotics company ensure its continued and fruitful union? Yakult is sold in 13 out of the 27 EU member states, meaning it still has more of the market to conquer. On a wider scale – including non-EU members – there are 54 European countries where the demand for probiotics (like Yakult) can still be galvanised.

Matsubara admits that although the potential is huge, there are still some legal obstacles, most importantly the lack of a European legal framework for probiotics. But Yakult is confident the issue will be resolved, and that in the future, it will receive an approved health claim, something the company doesn’t currently hold. ‘From that moment on, it will be a different ball game,’ says Matsubara. For now, Yakult continues to play in the big leagues. <

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Our motto is: “You must sow before you can harvest”. This requires a lot of patience and good planning. Everyone here understands this and acts upon it. If there is cultural diversity, then that translates into the decisions that we make.

‘Before this, I was assigned to Yakult in the UK. The British and the Japanese are very much alike in their management styles; both are not very direct in expressing their views and are inclined to close deals outside of the conference room.

My Dutch colleagues, though, are very direct and expect their leaders to make decisions as soon as all discussions have been heard. This troubled me at first, but now I find it liberating. Combined with the Japanese way of creating consensus, it works.’

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SHARED MOBILITY

How Amsterdam and its many start-ups are building a field of dreams for shared mobility.

A perfect storm for shared mobility AMS

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text Lauren Comiteau

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SHARED MOBILITY

‘Car sharing is definitely on the rise, and Amsterdam is the perfect city for sharingʻ

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Six years ago, when friends Alex van der Woerd and Johan Janse were buying business cars for their traffic consultancy, they decided to go electric. Because businesses could purchase electric vehicles tax-free, it was an easy choice. But for consumers, who must pay full taxes for electric cars, that option was unaffordable. ‘If you want to drive electric,’ says Van der Woerd, ‘you have to share.’

Felyx

And thus Buurauto, which translates as ‘neighbour car’, was born, with closed neighbourhood groups sharing an electric car and using it via an app. ‘It’s shared mobility with people you know,’ says Van der Woerd of his ownership-like/sharing hybrid. ‘It adds a social dimension to car sharing.’ Buurauto arrived in Amsterdam last spring, one of the latest players to join the city’s explosive shared mobility scene.

Indeed, Amsterdammers invented one of the world’s first car sharing schemes back in the 1960s, created by the same activists who introduced the famous White Bicycle Plan, the first shared cycle scheme. The white cars were electric and simply needed a coin to operate. ‘They were so advanced,’ says Groag. ‘But 50 years later, we’re still struggling with the same problems: pollution, parking and traffic. And the city is expanding exponentially.’

SHARING IS CARING ‘Car sharing is definitely on the rise, and Amsterdam is the perfect city for sharing,’ says Ananda Groag, the mobility expert at shareNL, a hub for developing the collaborative economy. ‘The size is perfect, public transportation is good, and it’s in the city’s DNA to be open to these kinds of initiatives.’

What’s evolved is the global – and the city’s – response.

Policymakers and consumers increasingly demand emissions-free mobility. Amsterdam has pledged to be emissions-free by 2025, and its latest plans include removing 10,000 parking spaces and prohibiting acces to the city centre for all vehicles powered by fossil fuels by 2030. Add to that a younger generation focused more on access than ownership, and there’s almost a perfect storm brewing for shared mobility.

Felyx The desire to use different modes of transport to support different needs also gave rise in 2017 to Felyx, the shared electric scooter start-up that aims to provide ‘compact, shared and sustainable’ transportation to city dwellers. ‘We see people using our service in combination with other services,’ says Luc van Emmerik, Felyx’ Global Head of Expansion. ‘Amsterdam is very well-connected, but if you want to go further into the city, our service is a great addition to your journey or daily commute.’

‘It’s not about owning a car anymore, but about finding the right transportation at the right moment,’ says Robert Bosman, Location Manager of car sharing company car2go Amsterdam. ‘So much is happening in this sector, and everyone wants a piece of the cake.’

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Car2go has seen a 30% increase in users over the past year. Eleven hundred businesses utilise its fully electric fleet, a number that’s expected to rise now that car2go offers reserved parking at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

‘Car sharing really complements public transport,’ says Bosman. ‘And if there are large numbers of

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public transport users, like in Amsterdam, car sharing succeeds.’

PAVING THE WAY But there are still some bumps in the road to shared mobility. The city’s effort to eliminate thousands of parking spaces affects shared cars, too. While the number of freefloating cars allowed per provider will increase from 350 to 500 next year, Bosman says the city needs to provide parking solutions for them. ‘It’s good to get rid of on-street parking, but there needs to be an alternative,’ he says. ‘I’d like to see a shared mobility hub, like in Germany, where you can find bikes, scooters and shared cars in one place and take what you need.’

Meanwhile, more traditional car manufacturers are entering the shared mobility arena. Renault launched its Fetch Car Sharing service in Amsterdam earlier this year.

And traditional rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz have recently formed one company, Share Now, combining car sharing brands car2go and DriveNow. Businesses in the Zuidas international knowledge and business centre are encouraging employees to look for alternatives to driving to work, with personal mobility budgets replacing the once prized leased car. Large employers in the Zuidas are working with the city on developing MaaS, or mobility as a service, where all options come together, and are paid for, in one Smart app, such as the Finnish Whim. ‘The only way Amsterdammers will consider leaving their car behind is if they have

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a better and cheaper alternative and therefore experience ‘freedom of mobility’,” says Tijs Roelofs, Amsterdam’s Smart Mobility Manager. Two years ago, leasing and insurance companies, municipalities, mobility start-ups and environmental groups formed a Green Carsharing Deal with the goal of increasing car sharing to 100,000 vehicles by 2018. While it didn’t reach that milestone, there are currently 41,000 shared cars in the Netherlands, almost double the 2016 amount.

But for Groag, it’s not just about the numbers. ‘The goal was to work with all the actors and bring awareness and use to car sharing,’ she says. ‘Governments, organisations, employers and developers are putting it on their agendas.

It takes time, but the conversation has been sparked and that’s the goal.’ Success indeed. <

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ViaVan

ViaVan A joint venture between Via and Mercedes-Benz Vans in Europe, this on-demand transit system launched in Amsterdam in early 2018 and serves as an extension of public transport. Through its app, users select a pick-up and drop-off point in this ‘corner-to-corner’ service, and then ViaVan books seats for riders in a shared vehicle with others going their way. Amsterdam is the first city the company launched in, and ViaVan recently expanded its services to Schiphol airport and Zaandam. ‘Amsterdam perfectly aligned with ViaVan’s criteria for a city that could successfully implement shared mobility,’ says Yariv Hauer, General Manager of ViaVan in Amsterdam. ‘This includes its large size, an openness to new mobility offerings and an opportunity for on-demand transit to complement existing public transportation in areas without 24/7 service or access to coverage. Amsterdam’s residents are unique in their connection to multi-modal mobility.’

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NATURE

The Hague’s wooded Westbroekpark is a family favourite, but nothing beats shell-collecting on the beach.

‘It’s not the south of France,’ says Caroline, ‘but weekends feel like a holiday.’ The Hague is the only major Dutch city directly on the sea.

SPORTS

Both Emma and Alice do gymnastics, and Emma also plays the uber-Dutch korfbal (a netballbasketball hybrid). Topping Caroline’s warmer weather todo list? Kite surfing along The Hague’s 11-km shoreline.

HOUSING

The Girolt’s rent a flat in The Hague’s Statenkwartier, home to embassies and international organisations, which Caroline describes as ‘similar to London but on a smaller scale and very international‘. Over 10% of The Hague’s residents are internationals.

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Caroline appreciates the worklife balance in the Netherlands and the ‘very good quality of life’ in general. The Netherlands is ranked first in the world for work-life balance, according to the OECD.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

The EMA’s temporary headquarters is a one-minute walk from Amsterdam Sloterdijk train station and a 45-minute train ride from The Hague.

But when travelling around locally, the family prefers to go Dutch, using a bakfiets (cargo bike).

FOOD

Caroline enjoys the small shops and butchers on Frederik Hendriklaan – or ‘the Fred’ – including French patisserie Philippe Galerne.

But for seafood plucked fresh from the North Sea, they head to the legendary Simonis in the Scheveningen harbour.

SCHOOL

In addition to the several languages taught there, the European School The Hagueserves hot lunches, which suits Caroline’s daughters’ sandwich-shunning sophisticated palettes. The Hague boasts several international schools, many of which are subsidised.

How internationals live and work in The Netherlands: Caroline Voltz-Girolt, Jean-François, Emma and Alice

When the European Medicines Agency (EMA) relocated from London to Amsterdam after 2016’s Brexit vote, Caroline VoltzGirolt knew she wanted to follow text Lauren Comiteau the agency. ‘I love photo Marijn Scheeres/Phenster my job,’ says the French-born Product Lead in Oncology, Haematology and Diagnostics. After a relocation visit, she moved with her two daughters to The Hague last summer and her husband, a Nomad Foods employee, followed a few months later.

‘I was surprised at how beautiful The Hague was and I could see us living here,’ Caroline says recalling her first visit. ‘It’s an easy move from London. People are friendly and speak English, and The Hague is very international.’

Caroline chose The Hague because of its European school, ESH, where her daughters can continue learning in French – what she and her fellow native Alsace husband speak at home – while keeping English as a second language and learning Dutch.

Caroline was also impressed by the architecture and spaciousness of The Hague, not to mention its seaside location. ‘Amsterdam is great for visiting, culture and entertainment,’ she says. ‘The Hague is good for families. I can have a big flat and a garden, and it’s better situated for my husband’s work, too.’

While waiting for EMA’s headquarters in the Zuidas to be completed at the end of this year, Caroline commutes to its temporary location in Sloterdijk, an 80-minute door-todoor trip. ‘It’s long, but pleasant,’ says Caroline. Although it takes more time than her previous London commute, she finds the efficient, less-crowded trains more relaxing.

‘I can sit and work, read a book or listen to music. I’m not standing, squished up against other commuters.’

Although Caroline’s heavy workload hasn’t changed since moving to the Netherlands, she currently works from home two days a week, which contributes to a healthier work-life balance. ‘There was a lot of pressure in London,’ she says.

‘Everything moves fast in a huge city. Here, there’s not that rush, so it’s much calmer.’

Caroline admits to being ‘positively surprised’ by how much her entire family has taken to the Netherlands, and they are now fully committed to going Dutch. ‘It has the efficiency of England, and the French quality of life,’ she says. The point hit home after returning from Christmas holidays in France. ‘The Hague feels like home. It’s the perfect choice for us.’ inamsterdam.com

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FinTech – which brings new tech solutions to the finance industry – is a sector with a huge growth rate, and Amsterdam is at the heart of the action, with international businesses coming to the city to join a wealth of successful homegrown players. text Alex Hibbert

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Currencycloud

Regulators An important factor for new FinTech businesses is how national regulators deal with innovations that the current set of rules may not encompass. To address this issue, Dutch regulators DNB (the Dutch central bank) and AFM (Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets) have launched the ‘InnovationHub’, a joint initiative that provides businesses with support on queries concerning supervision and regulations relating to innovative financial products and services. More importantly, the two regulators also operate a regulatory sandbox that enables businesses to roll out innovative financial products, services or business models. For established arrivals from outside the country, the regulators also play an important role when it comes to applying for licences. Dutch regulators get high marks for their keen understanding of various business models, their pragmatism and their ability to do business in English.

Amsterdam has long been a leader in the financial sector. In fact, the city’s pioneering attitude to finance stretches as far back as the Dutch East India Company’s introduction of tradable stocks in 1602. Amsterdam was also the first European city to open an options market – the European Options Exchange in 1978 – and Dutch banks were frontrunners in introducing online and mobile banking.

‘Regulators that are open to new technologies are essential to any FinTech business‘

The city is now taking its centuries-old tradition of financial innovation into the present day as one of the world’s leading FinTech hubs. When Money20/20, the world’s premier FinTech conference, chose Amsterdam for its European gathering in summer 2018, it confirmed the prominence of the city’s FinTech ecosystem.

Currently, out of the 538 Fin Tech startups and scaleups in the Netherlands, some 450 are active in the Amsterdam Area, and that number is increasing – bringing plenty of new jobs and opportunities to the city. Recent international arrivals include Currencycloud, which is streamlining crossborder business payments, and leading European digital money transfer service Azimo.

‘Amsterdam has a growing and vibrant FinTech scene,’ says Todd Latham, CMO and Head of Product at An artist's impression of the ING FinTech campus

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An artist's impression of the ING FinTech campus

Currencycloud, ‘with big names such as Adyen, Ohpen and Bux already established here and a strong network of existing and potential banking partners.’ Michael Kent, CEO at Azimo, agrees: ‘Amsterdam really forms the heart of the action when it comes to continental European opportunity.’

FinTech businesses arriving from outside the country rely on good cooperation with national financial regulators AFM (Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets) and the DNB (the Dutch central bank) (see box on page 74), where they need to apply for licences. ‘Our experiences with the DNB have been very positive,’ says Latham. ‘They’re a tier-one regulator, and that’s important to us. We wanted to be regulated properly and effectively. When it comes to FinTech innovation, the DNB has been very encouraging and keen to understand more about FinTech and payments companies such as Currencycloud.’

FinTech and the big banks Sometimes the financial sector’s big players are accused of resting on their laurels or not evolving quickly enough to keep up with their competitors and the needs of their customers. But in Amsterdam, established banks are getting involved with new FinTech projects and partnerships, regularly developing fresh initiatives. In addition to its partnership with Startupbootcamp, ING is currently developing an innovation campus at the site of the bank’s new global headquarters in Amsterdam Zuidoost.

The campus will include the AI for FinTech Lab, a collaboration with TU Delft that aims to conduct world-class research at the intersection between artificial intelligence, data analytics and software analytics in FinTech. In addition, ING’s €300 million venture fund invests in promising FinTech companies worldwide. ABN AMRO also boasts successful FinTech initiatives such as Franx and MoneYou, a digital personal banking service, and there are numerous other spin-offs and FinTech projects developing across the sector.

In addition to open-minded regulators, a lively start-up ecosystem like Amsterdam’s is essential to tech innovation.

In turn, FinTech businesses are one of that ecosystem’s biggest growth drivers. This was apparent as early as 2014, when the valuation of Amsterdam’s global payments startup Adyen grew to US$1.5 billion, which made it Amsterdam’s first unicorn, firmly putting the city on the FinTech map.

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‘We feel that the UK has a lot in common with the Netherlands when it comes to regulation,’ adds Kent. ‘We’ve spoken to the Dutch central bank and, although it is a tough regulator, it’s straightforward and transparent, not unlike the Dutch people.’

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© Mirande Phernambucq

FINTECH

Amstedam Zuidas aerial view

‘FinTech and cybersecurity are the hottest areas of start-up innovation‘

With a present market capitalization of $ 8.3 billion it is now the number one valued FinTech company of Europe.

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‘Both FinTech and cybersecurity are the hottest areas of start-up innovation and investor focus, because they are at the heart of huge industries that will significantly transform in the coming years,’ says Michael Dooijes.

Dooijes is Managing Director of the Amsterdam FinTech & CyberSecurity track at Startupbootcamp, a global accelerator and an important actor in Amsterdam’s start-up scene. ‘Amsterdam’s FinTech ecosystem, in comparison to large European FinTech hubs such as London and Frankfurt, is growing rapidly,’ he says, citing the support its programme has received from corporate and network partners such as Rabobank, ING, ABN Amro, Achmea, Nationale Nederlanden and PwC.

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One of Amsterdam’s biggest strengths in FinTech is payments. Adyen is the prime example, but companies such as Mollie and Buckaroo are hot on its heels. Amsterdam is also quickly becoming globally renowned in other FinTech subsectors, including banking software – with companies such as Backbase, Ohpen and Five Degrees going strong – and cybersecurity, with the pioneering cyber threat analysis firm EclecticIQ receiving substantial investment.

In a global industry, one factor that speaks for Amsterdam as a hub is its cultural similarities with other nations, especially the UK. According to Kent, who oversaw setting up the Amsterdam office of his UK-based company last year, ‘the Dutch have a mercantile view, which is something they have in common with the English, so there’s a good cultural fit.’

Currencycloud’s Latham is of the same mindset: ‘Amsterdam has a similar appeal to London – it’s a cool city, and people want to live and work here.’ Not an insignificant point in a global industry where talent has an equally global mindset. And so it goes in the city’s thriving FinTech industry, where Amsterdam’s age-old reputation as a pioneer that’s unafraid to head into the unknown in search of success lives on. <

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AdAms

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WHITE

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File : 18J3067E Date : 04/12/2018 AC/DC validation : Client validation :

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IN NUMBERS

AMS text Lauren Comiteau

POWER CITY

spirit Entrepreneurial

The 2019 Global Talent Competitiveness Index recognised the Netherlands’ commitment to fostering entrepreneurial talent, staying competitive and preparing for a successful future in a rapidly changing world.

The country claimed eighth place in graduate business school INSEAD’s index, which ranks countries by talent competitiveness.

(Source: Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019)

#1

World’s most connected country According to DHL’s latest Global Connectedness Index (DCI), the Netherlands is the world champion when it comes to connectivity. The DCI is a detailed analysis of globalisation that measures international flows of trade, capital, information and people across 169 countries and territories. Despite growing anti-globalisation tensions worldwide, connectedness reached an all-time high in 2017.

(Source: DHL Global Connectedness Index 2018)

Business is booming and the city’s success is attracting people from around the globe. The latest Global Power City Index (GPCI), which ranks a city’s ‘magnetism’ based on factors such as its economy, liveability, accessibility and R&D, ranked Amsterdam sixth in the world (up from seventh place in 2017), behind New York, London and Tokyo – an impressive feat for a mid-size city.

(Source: Global City Power Index 2018)

World’s Healthiest City Spotahome’s Healthiest Cities Index scores 80 cities worldwide on factors such as obesity levels and annual vacation days. While the Netherlands admittedly scored under par on the number of sunshine hours, its glowing performance in categories including work-life balance, green space and electric car charging stations was enough to propel the country to top of the 2018 list.

(Source: Spotahome Healthiest Cities Index 2018)

Start-up mecca

Just behind powerhouses New York, San Francisco and London, Amsterdam is the most successful home worldwide for tech companies and start-ups. Its fourth-place ranking in 2019’s Savills Tech Cities Index – which describes Amsterdam as ‘hot on [its competitors’] heels’ –confirms the city’s supremacy in areas such as business environment, tech environment, ‘city buzz’ and wellness, talent pool, real-estate costs and mobility.

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(Source: Savills Dynamic Cities EU Index )

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GREEN FINANCE CENTRE

The latest Global Green Finance Index named Amsterdam as one of the world‘s leading centres for green finance, which helps cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. Amsterdam came in first in the report’s depth index and third in its quality index.

& GREEN CAPITAL Amsterdam is one of Europe’s greenest capitals, ranking high for its environmentally-friendly policies and residents‘ quality of life. Price comparison website Compare the Market evaluated 25 cities based on 10 factors, including air pollution levels, quality of life and CO2 emissions. Amsterdam came in sixth, with its extensive network of cycle paths playing a huge role.

(Source: Compare the Market)

(Source: Global Green Finance Index 2019)

Citizencentric city

Amsterdam is the 12th most sustainable city in the world, according to the 2018 Sustainable Cities Index by global design, engineering and management consultancy Arcadis. The index ranks 100 global cities on three pillars of sustainability: People, planet and profit, which are closely aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the report, Amsterdam stands out as a ‘balanced’ city where ‘the needs of citizens, business and the environment are all served well’.

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Amsterdam worldwide

The Dutch capital has been recognised by Mercer, the world‘s largest human resources consultancy, as one of the world‘s best cities for quality of life. The Mercer Quality of Living Index ranks cities using criteria from 10 categories, including their political, economic, social and natural environments, opportunities for healthcare, education and recreation, and the availability of consumer goods and infrastructure.

(Source: Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey)

#2 BEST

connected airports of the world

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Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport is the second bestconnected airport in the world according to the Airports Council International’s Airport Industry Connectivity Report 2018. Connectivity is a composite measure of the number of destinations, the frequency of services and the quality of connections.

(Source: Airports Council International – Airport Industry Connectivity Report 2018)

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(Source: Sustainable Cities Index 2018 Arcadis)

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PARTNERS

amsterdam business As the official foreign investment agency of the Amsterdam Area, amsterdam inbusiness assists foreign companies with the establishment and expansion of their activities in the Amsterdam Area. We offer practical advice and relevant information that is free, strictly confidential and without hidden agendas. Our commitment doesn’t stop once companies have set up in the Amsterdam Area: We strive to build long-term relationships and offer support in all phases of a company’s development.

IN Amsterdam provides a onestop-shop service for international companies and their highlyskilled migrant employees, scientific researchers, international entrepreneurs and international graduates. IN Amsterdam helps arriving talent with residence and work permits (including the Startup visa), registration with the municipality, the 30% tax ruling and other official matters. The IN Amsterdam website contains a wealth of essential information for internationals living, working and/or studying in the Amsterdam Area.

Contact info

amsterdaminbusiness.com amsterdam@amsterdaminbusiness.com almere@amsterdaminbusiness.com amstelveen@amsterdaminbusiness.com haarlemmermeer@amsterdaminbusiness. com amsterdam inbusiness is a cooperation between the city of Amsterdam, Almere, Amstelveen and Haarlemmermeer.

Visiting address WTC Amsterdam I-tower, first floor Strawinskylaan 1779 1077 XX Amsterdam

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Find out more D E C Q

@iamsterdam iamsterdam iamsterdam @iamsterdam

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Contact info

amsterdam&partners is a public-private not-for-profit organisation. We are the guide for residents, businesses, start-ups, talent, conferences and domestic and international visitors.

Through thoughtful branding, targeted communication and knowledgesharing, we contribute to a liveable and prosperous Amsterdam Area. In cooperation with our partners, we showcase the many facets and features of the Amsterdam Area. We encourage Amsterdam residents to discover cultural offerings and unknown places in their own city, we stimulate start-ups and companies to establish their businesses here, we attract prominent conferences, we point visitors to the city’s various districts and metropolitan areas and we contribute to reducing the nuisance of crowded streets. We connect new ventures, organisations and people, and support these ventures with our marketing power.

inamsterdam.com Visiting address WTC Amsterdam I-tower, ground floor Strawinskylaan 1767 1077 XX Amsterdam

Contact info

Find out more D @iamsterdam E iamsterdam C inamsterdam

Visiting address De Ruyterkade 5 1013 AA Amsterdam

Q @iamsterdam IN AMSTERDAM PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME iamsterdam.com/partnershipprogramme JOB SEARCH TOOL: iamsterdam.com/work iamsterdam.com/jobsearch

iamsterdam.com/business partner@iamsterdam.com

Find out more D @iamsterdam E iamsterdam C iamsterdam Q @iamsterdam JOB SEARCH TOOL: iamsterdam.com/work VENUE FINDER TOOL: iamsterdam.com/venuefinder

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Amsterdam Smart City is an open collective that brings together people and organisations with a shared mission for a future-proof city. We break barriers and execute plans through sharing knowledge and collaboration, ensuring the Amsterdam Area remains liveable now and in the years to come. Share your knowledge and become a frontrunner in making the Amsterdam Area smarter. Join our open collective!

StartupAmsterdam is an initiative of the Municipality of Amsterdam that aims to strengthen, accelerate and promote Amsterdamâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s start-up and tech ecosystem. Working together with the start-up community and utilising assets that are already in place, StartupAmsterdam creates and co-creates projects and campaigns, facilitates invaluable points of synergy for all involved stakeholders, and gives the start-up ecosystem a unified voice online.

The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) is an operational unit of the Dutch government. The agency helps foreign companies with the establishment, rollout and/or expansion of their international activities in the Netherlands. The NFIA provides foreign investors with confidential and free support, information and advice, and offers direct access to a broad network of business partners and government institutions. Furthermore, the NFIA promotes the Netherlands as a country with an attractive investment and business climate.

Contact info

Contact info

Contact info

amsterdamsmartcity.com

startupamsterdam.org

investinholland.nl

amsterdam economic board

Impact entrepreneurship means combining business with making a positive impact on society. Being an impact entrepreneur demands business acumen, innovation and creativity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all characteristics typical of Amsterdam. The city actively supports social enterprises and socially responsible businesses through Amsterdam Impact, an initiative that ensures social businesses are getting guidance and support through matchmaking, challenges, networking events and much more. We connect for impact!

Amsterdam Economic Board works with decision-makers, innovation managers and changemakers in industry, knowledge institutes and local governments to develop the smart, green, healthy Amsterdam Area of the future for all residents. We do that by tackling urban challenges and contributing to the main transitions of our time: Towards a responsible data-driven society, from a linear to a circular economy and from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Contact info

Contact info

Contact info

iamsterdam.com/trade

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iamsterdam.com/impact

amsterdameconomicboard.com

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Amsterdam Trade & Innovate facilitates international business development of companies in the region by connecting them to international markets and opportunities. We organise trade and innovation missions with a focus on the agrifood, creative and Smart City industries. Amsterdam Trade & Innovate is an initiative of Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Haarlemmermeer, Almere and Zaanstad.

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MAP AMSTERDAM AREA

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CONTENTS

AMS NR 9 – Connect to the impact economy

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Introduction – Femke Halsema, Mayor of Amsterdam New in Amsterdam – from IT to entertainment to health... business is big in Amsterdam Top of its class – embracing a global outlook in the Amsterdam Area’s schools A day in the life – Arya Hamraz Amsterdam’s building bonanza – developing the Amsterdam Area is no small feat Interview IN Amsterdam – Sietske van Tuin Getting started – your complete guide to setting up in the Amsterdam Area Column – a journey from expat to Amsterdammer On trend – Amsterdam and the sustainable fashion revolution Patagonia – on a mission to save the planet one sustainable leap at a time A day in the life – Joost Galema Cover feature – How to connect to the Amsterdam Area’s impact economy Health and wellbeing – a leading ecosystem of life sciences and health-related activites Amsterdam Skills Centre – meeting the world’s need for surgeons with a ‘New Way of Learning’ A day in the life – Margit Tera Yakult – the small bottle that packs a big punch Sharing & caring – how Amsterdam and its start-ups are taking the shared-mobility path A day in the life – Caroline Voltz-Girolt FinTech – international businesses and successful homegrown players alike are securing Amsterdam’s spot on the global FinTech map Amsterdam in Numbers – fast facts and key stats on life in the Dutch capital Partners – business partners throughout the Amsterdam Area Map – a bird’s-eye view of the Amsterdam Area

Legend Legend

 International schools in the 

Amsterdam Area  International schools in the

Amsterdam Area Existing business parks and offi ce locations Existing business parks and office locations Future business parks and offi ce locations Future business parks and

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COLOPHON Editorial Board Geerte Udo, Hilde van der Meer Editor-in-Chief Bart van Oosterhout Project Manager Moska Hamraz Marketing Strategy Manager Mariken van den Boogaard Project Executive Sandra Nakken Basic Design Sabine Verschueren Designer Het Zomerpaleis: Saskia Franken Cover Photography Koen Smilde Editors Lauren Comiteau, Julia Gorodecky Image Editor Philip Jintes (Phenster) Writers Colleen Geske, Catalina Iorga, Hans Kops. Through Edenfrost: Hallie Engel, Alex Hibbert, Alison McGarry Photography Gerrit Alink, Iris Duvekot, Mark Horn, Jeroen Musch, Marijn Scheeres, Sarah Wijzenbeek, Jasper Zwartjes.

office locations Average travel time by train

HILVERSUM

The publisher has made every effort to ensure that the information within this publication is correct at the time of going to print and to arrange copyright in accordance with existing legislation. If you feel that these rights may have been infringed in spite of this, please contact the publisher. No part of this publication and/or website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Average traveltime by car See our interactive tool on mapitout.iamsterdam.com

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AMS NR 9 2019-2020

AMS NR 9 2019 - 2020

Business in the Amsterdam Area

Connect to the impact economy FinTech prefers Amsterdam Your guide to setting up in the region

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