Zoetermeer aims to become a hub for digital innovators

The municipality of Zoetermeer wants to make the South Holland city the place to be for digital innovators. The Dutch Innovation Park—a former industrial estate that is being transformed into an innovation campus—is the centerpiece. This is where entrepreneurship, education, and research come together. A wide range of companies, from small self-employed professionals to larger SMEs and international companies, are working on applied innovations. There is also room for startups. The campus offers support in the initial phase and supports growth and development. The courses taught here, by The Hague University of Applied Sciences and mboRijnland, are IT-related.

We meet the Dutch Innovation Park account manager, Fons de Ree; startup coach Hans Kamphuis; and entrepreneurs Gino de Vin and Marco Gons from NoLongerLost and BLT Software in the campus clubhouse, the Dutch Innovation Factory.

The power of a campus

The foundations of the Dutch Innovation Park were laid almost 35 years ago by tech company Siemens. Now it is up to the younger generations to grow and develop there. “Through the combination of education, research, and business—facilitated by the government—we have built a wonderful community of digital innovators,” says account manager De Ree.

“Companies can easily approach each other to brainstorm or collaborate. Students can knock on a company's door for an internship, and the companies, in turn, can easily get in touch with students. All kinds of meetings, drinks parties, and challenges are organized. It's actually a kind of clubhouse for applied innovation in IT,” he explains.

The story of Gino de Vin, co-founder of NoLongerLost and BLT Software, exemplifies the power of the campus. He graduated from The Hague University of Applied Sciences in 2022, in the Dutch Innovation Factory, and immediately after his studies, he set up his company in the same building. “I was already working on my startup during my studies, at that time in my parents' attic room. After graduating, I received all the support I needed from the Dutch Innovation Park to continue growing.” Together with co-founder Marco Gons, he has now built up a team of ten people, and they have already moved to a larger office in the same building.

What do NoLongerLost and BLT Software do?

De Vin and Gons focus on tracking various objects. NoLongerLost manufactures luggage tags and stickers with a unique QR code that people can attach to valuable items. The finder can scan the QR code and join an anonymous chat to contact the owner. “We know that 80% of finders want to return what they have found. With our product, we make that as easy as possible. They don't need to download anything and are immediately in contact with the owner,” says Gons. The company primarily sells its products to other companies, including Corendon and Gazelle. But consumers can also place orders on the website.

BLT Software – Bluetooth Location Tracking – targets the automotive industry. Gons: "Large car dealers spend a lot of time searching for cars and car keys on their own premises. With our software, they save 75% of their search time. Ultimately, it also results in significant financial savings." De Vin adds: "We have signed contracts with a number of large customers and are now also active in Germany. This has started a snowball effect of growth, which we want to continue in the coming period."

Central location

De Vin: “First of all, Zoetermeer is a pleasant, central location in the Randstad. That means we can reach a large proportion of our customers relatively quickly and easily from here.” He also makes use of other facilities on campus. There is a central board where students can post notes if they are looking for an internship. De Vin once posted a note there as a student, and now he takes on an intern a few times a year. “That's a nice development,” he laughs.

De Ree adds: "This illustrates the power of the campus. People bump into each other when they buy a sandwich or grab a cup of coffee. Or they easily strike up a conversation when they're sitting in the common area. At many companies, the door is always open, so it's easy to pop in." He also notes that an increasing number of students hold part-time jobs at on-campus companies after school and that many continue to work there after graduation. “We used to stock shelves at the supermarket, but this is obviously much more valuable. It allows students to put the theory from their classes into practice immediately.”

Finding and retaining talent

Gons and De Vin see the advantages of this approach. “It's a competitive battle between municipalities to attract and retain talent. I think Zoetermeer has developed a good strategy for this,” says Gons. Various events have been organized, and an innovation award has been established, both of which De Vin and Gons have participated in. “The alderman for economic affairs is very active and easy to approach, which also helps,” he continues.

Room for more startups

In the coming period, the focus will be on attracting new startups seeking to establish themselves on campus. “To this end, we have set up a great startup program to help startups get started with the support they need,” says De Ree. Hans Kamphuis plays an important role in the Dutch Innovation Park for the startups. He has extensive experience in innovation and entrepreneurship and is an active startup coach. Kamphuis works from his own startup matrix, which he also wrote about in a book. “It's a list of ten aspects that startups need to address in the right way, from intellectual property to networking and from legal contracts to marketing,” he explains.

When startups join the program, they indicate their current position on each of the ten aspects and their target position within a specified period. “Based on that, they receive support from me and other experts who may be needed.” The municipality of Zoetermeer covers the costs of this process for four months. Kamphuis: “So it's free for startups, but not without obligation. They must be willing to establish themselves in the region, and I report the results back to the municipality to see if there is actually progress.” Kamphuis and De Ree are convinced that this approach will help them protect startups from beginner's mistakes, thereby creating more successful startups in the region.

Continuing to grow

Kamphuis: “In the ideal situation, the startups from the Dutch Innovation Factory will eventually move on to their own business premises, and there will be enough new young startups wanting to take their first steps via our campus.” According to De Vin, some of these new startups will be founded by graduates. “When I was still a student, there were several people who were running a business alongside their studies. If you can keep them on campus, that is obviously extremely important.”

In addition, the municipality is exploring opportunities to strengthen collaboration between the Dutch Innovation Park and the HortScience Innovation Center. “We are investigating how we can bring these two campuses closer together and jointly develop the area between them,” De Ree outlines. “Together with existing partners and new initiators, we are building the future here.”

Would you like to know more about the possibilities at the Dutch Innovation Campus? Please contact Fons de Ree.