Julia Oomens-Meer of Rotterdam Partners Talks To Us About Its Booming City for Innovation Technology and It’s Investment Programmes
Offering a stable economic environment, excellent health care, a renowned education system and proven political stability, the Netherlands is hot property for business in 2017, with Rotterdam as the nation’s leading example of cities that are embracing the future and offering ample business opportunities for both corporates and start-ups. Championing a high quality of life, an entrepreneurial culture and an active start-up climate, all of which are recognised as vital considerations for foreign investors, it is no wonder that Rotterdam’s popularity is escalating to new heights. European Business Magazine talks to Julia Oomens-Meer, business manager Innovation at Rotterdam Partners to find out how Rotterdam turns challenges into opportunities, why companies should look to the city for investment and what assistance they can expect to receive.
1) How long has Rotterdam Partners been going? When did it first evolve and how?
Rotterdam Partners officially launched on the 1st January 2014. We arose from a merger of three Rotterdam organisations – Economic Development Board Rotterdam, Rotterdam Investment Agency and Rotterdam Marketing – allowing us to make an even more beneficial contribution, enhancing Rotterdam’s economy and city marketing.
2) What are its key objectives?
Rotterdam Partners is committed to moving Rotterdam forward and strengthening the economy of the city. With deep roots in city marketing, international investor recruitment and urban economic development, Rotterdam Partners focuses on Rotterdam’s image and promotes the Rotterdam region nationally and internationally. We open Rotterdam’s doors to future visitors, companies, residents and students and show them around and help them settle in our city. On the business side of things we act as the link between city administration, companies and institutions, work towards strengthening the Rotterdam economy in the broadest sense and help companies in the city or those who are planning to relocate to Rotterdam. At Rotterdam Partners we are all about support. From a regional, national and international stance we promote discourse and the transfer of information and experience between partners, networks and local authorities. The International Trade & Investment department and the Rotterdam Expat Centre also actively advise and support expats and international knowledge workers.
3) What are the key advantages available for international companies looking to set up in Rotterdam?
Are there any key government programmes and incentives available such as tax benefits? In Rotterdam, Rotterdam Partners helps companies; we take care of everything free of charge, letting you concentrate on your business. That starts while the company is still abroad, looking for a potential new location in Europe. We help to gather necessary information about setting up up business in the Netherlands, we scout for potential office/business locations, we connect with existing local business networks and we introduce the companies to local service providers which can help to get things started. We also have an in-house centre to help employees get residential permits and we assist non-EU staff when applying for the highly skilled migrant programme. When completed, once the necessary conditions are met, the employer can grant a tax free allowance equivalent to 30% of the gross salary subject to Dutch payroll tax. With a competitive corporate income tax rate -20% on the first €200,000 and 25% for taxable profits exceeding €200,000 – as well as a number of attractive incentive programmes, the Netherlands offers a supportive fiscal climate for international companies. There are numerous national incentives, especially if you’re involved in innovation and R&D. We can also advise employees on international schools for their children and help your staff understand the healthcare system. Normally, all of this would cost a lot of money or take up a lot of time, but if a company decides to establish in Rotterdam, all of this will come free of charge.
4) What is the entrepreneurial environment like? Are there government or city based schemes to encourage entrepreneurship?
Currently, Rotterdam is home to approximately 175 nationalities, akin to global, cosmopolitan centres like London and New York. All this diversity of cultures, talents and expertise breeds a strong, envied entrepreneurial spirit in the city. Central government policy is focused on entrepreneurs, and is concentrated on strengthening the Netherlands position as one of the world’s top five most competitive economies. Additionally, spending on R&D is set to increase to 2.5% of the GDP by 2020. The internationally renowned Erasmus University is a key player in the entrepreneurial climate of Rotterdam. Its Rotterdam School of Management is one of Europe’s leading business schools, offering an MSc in Strategic Entrepreneurship (MScSE). Through lectures, case studies, teamwork and projects in which networks are built, students explore how to fulfil their role as an entrepreneur in an organisation – or how to start up an entrepreneurial business. RSM’s Strategic Entrepreneurship MSc programme ranks as the best master’s degree in entrepreneurship worldwide, according to Eduniversal’s international review of best master’s programmes. Besides RSM’s MscSE the Erasmus University Rotterdam contributes to Rotterdam’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem through several other top faculties and programmes, including Erasmus Centre for Innovation Management (ECIM), the Centre for Sustainable Innovation, the Civic Innovation Research Initiative (CIRI), Center for Public Innovation (CPI) and Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship Research.
5) What is the city like for young start-ups and new technology companies?
What is the environment like and what sort of culture is there for hot new start-ups coming on the scene? Rotterdam was redesigned and rebuilt after WW2 and has since become known for its resilience, business prowess and innovative culture. The ‘can do’ and make it happen mentality still exists today. In the last five or six years, city knowledge institutes and companies are really working together, in collaboration. A lot of projects in the city are public-private partnerships where the city is on the side-line, advising, helping and facilitating. Companies are bringing in their knowledge which helps to speed up development. Depending on the project, they may own the grounds or they may have to set some rules in terms of sustainability, but they leave a lot up to the market. In former years, areas were primarily predetermined for something, and finding the companies came secondary. However, reversing this strategy works much better. Take an area, bring in some companies, knowledge institutes and young people, and let them develop and see what new ideas they come up with. Have the city on the side-lines, guarding the process instead of the city saying you have to do this and you have to do that. Rotterdam Partners can offer practical help with introductions in those kind of projects for international technology companies and start-ups.
6) What are the key business sectors in Rotterdam and what industries are really flourishing?
Key industries in Rotterdam include the maritime and offshore sector, the IT and smart industries, business services with a strong focus on insurance and risk, clean teach, agri-food, and life science and health, especially e-health. The roots of Lloyds of London are based here in Rotterdam and we have the second biggest insurance stock exchange in business and shipping. We just had the biggest branch organisation in insurance in the Netherlands open up a huge office here and all of the main insurance companies that are not healthcare, like the big industrial insurances and brokers, can be found in Rotterdam. Allianz and AON (for their HQ) have chosen this city. Rotterdam Partners aims to act as the connecting hub between businesses, institutions and the municipal government of Rotterdam.
7) Entrepreneurship and innovation are very much part of the DNA of Rotterdam. Can you explain this and its ecosystem?
There are several factors contributing to the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of Rotterdam and the ‘Rotterdammers’. Sitting close to the sea and on a major waterway (the Maas) Rotterdam has always had to deal with challenges and over time, has found ways to not only cope with its watery environment, but to turn it into economic opportunity.
The Benthemplein, the world 39’s first full-scale water square, acts as a recreational space on a normal day and when there is too much rain in the city it acts as water storage. We also have two huge parking garages in the city and the lower levels get sealed and used as water storage when we have too much rain. Water can be a problem, but lots of innovation and technology have helped us make use of the problem, allowing us to export new technologies. For example, after the storms, New York came to us and asked for our expertise, to help them stand up to the problems faced by delta cities.
WW2 has also been a major factor Rotterdam, causing Rotterdam to innovate and re-invent itself. Thirdly the multicultural environment (more than 170 nationalities are represented in the city) makes for a bustling and open cultural scene where people come looking for, or creating their opportunities. The Cambridge Innovation Centre, an innovation hub that succeeded in attracting world class start- ups in the US, set up in Rotterdam last year , proving the city’s existing innovation authority.
Other hotspots of innovation include RDM Rotterdam (a former drydock area reinvented into a place where educations meets business) and Merwe-Vierhavens which together form the so-called Rotterdam Innovation District, where Rotterdammers invent, create, produce and deliver solutions for the challenges of tomorrow. Rotterdam is international, energising and innovative.
The city offers a profitable, engaging platform for business that will continue to remain robust due to the city’s ability to adapt to change. It has the office space you need, the business environment you want and the social life your employees wish for. Rotterdam Partners is the first point of contact for innovators, start-ups and venture capitalists who want to establish a global presence in a location that is open to co-operation.
