This is a CRAZY (in a good way) week for the startup/scale-up ecosystem in Eindhoven. (And yeah, we’re over-doing coverage a bit of our HQ city.)
First the CERN Hackathon, the first step in creating new startups to get CERN technology to market, started Monday afternoon. During that event, we got an email from High Tech Campus Eindhoven executives clearing us to report something we’ve known for awhile but were told in confidence – we’re getting a BIG startup hub, the largest in the Netherlands.
This is big news because it means Eindhoven will have not just the largest, but also the most integrated and dedicated place to start up, accelerate and scale up high tech startups in the Netherlands. That’s saying a lot considering Amsterdam and Rotterdam also have serious startup centers.
High Tech Campus Eindhoven, which started out as Philips’ global research campus, is dedicating a cluster of buildings to expand the existing small HighTechXL Plaza.
High Tech Plaza will go from one building currently to three, according to Paul van Son, campus marketing manager.
So that means the new complex will pull together startups, scale-ups and supporting companies in one startup hub on the way to becoming – dare we say it? – the smartest square kilometer on earth (not just Europe).
Here are the details on High Tech Plaza in Eindhoven:
- 3 Buildings – 1 startup hub; One building to start, one to scale and one to (get) support;
- More than 10.000 m2 of offices & labs;
- An all-inclusive concept;
- Shared facilities;
- An events space with events based on startups’ demands;
- Extended business networks
There are about 40 startups on campus, and most of the fledgling companies Dispatches covers or works with are in Building 12, alums of the HighTechXL accelerator. They include Usono, Amber Mobility, Bambi Medical, byFlow as well as Vention, the rapid prototyping startup that does most of the fabrication work for Eindhoven startups.
Instead of everyone crammed into Building 12, it will be dedicated to startups (most of the aforementioned companies are scale-ups).
Scaleups will go to Building 29 and support will be in Building 27. The Support building will be the new home of the HighTechXL accelerator, Nextview’s Design Thinking Center and lots of other supportive services such as patent specialists, venture capitalists and more.
From the High Tech Campus release:
High Tech Plaza – Start
The Start building (HTC 12) is the place in High Tech Plaza for companies in the earliest stage. It is all about easy access to the ecosystem. Formerly known as HighTechXL Plaza, this building was the start of the startup hub and contains office spaces, meeting rooms and shared event space.
High Tech Plaza – Support
The Support building (HTC 27) in the High Tech Plaza concept is a place where organizations that support startups connect. It is home to companies including accelerator program HighTechXL, patent specialists, venture capitalists and other investors. It is also the place where all High Tech Plaza members can host small-scale events and where tech enablers and startups can work on a flexible basis.
High Tech Plaza – Scale
The Scale building (HTC 29) provides a place for growing startups. Here, bigger offices and lab spaces are available. This building also houses the labs and cleanrooms of iconic Campus residents such as Holst Centre, TNO, Teledyne Dalsa and SMART Photonics. In the Scale building, you’re part of the technological heart of the Campus.
The three buildings are adjacent to each other and will open to all members of the Plaza concept, according to the High Tech Plaza news release.
“We see a big increase in the interest of tech startups that want to become part of the Campus,” van Son said in the release. “Young companies can benefit from our open and cooperative ecosystem, but until recently we simply didn’t have the space to house more startups than we do today.”
This was a group effort that included Holland Innovative and HighTechXL.
Hans Meeske of HTC-based Holland Innovative, a corporate training and project management company, was one of the drivers in the development. “With the development of our first startup building, we learned a lot,” Meeske stated in the release. ” In the past years, we got a lot of feedback and these (lessons) were very helpful in the evolution to the new High Tech Plaza concept.
“We’re taking it to the next level – not only in quantity of startups but also in terms of quality of the ecosystem.”
The new center is scheduled to be complete in September or October.
About High Tech Campus Eindhoven:
High Tech Campus Eindhoven has more than 160 companies and about 11,000 engineers, researchers, developers and entrepreneurs working on developing future technologies and products. Many of the largest and influential tech companies in Europe and the world have a presence here including Philips, NXP, IBM, Intel and Shimano.
