US Cluster Event

On November 9th, we had the pleasure of welcoming 12 US cluster organizations, active in fields such as smart city and energy transition, to the premises of Clean Tech Delta with the intention of stimulating transatlantic collaboration and knowledge sharing. During this day, presentations were held from different parties from the Rotterdam Region to the US Clusters. Here is what went down.

CTD’s director Fred van Beuningen commenced the event with a talk about CO2 reduction and the move towards circular economy models as some of the main transition drivers in industry. Economic developments such as the move towards zero marginal costs and energy cooperatives are global trends that require industry to take action in order to remain competitive.  In addition, he explained the regional economic structure of the city of Rotterdam and the region and how the projects are tackled by a consortium of partners and organizations. Aside from this, the projects CTD is engaged in were discussed such as CO2 as a resource and the Roadmap Next Economy.

Besides the occupations of Clean Tech Delta the business climate in Rotterdam for foreign companies was discussed as well. Wouter van Rooijen from the municipality of Rotterdam presented how the city is stimulating and accelerating innovation in clean tech in the region through instruments such as EU-sponsored projects. He specifically highlighted the SCALE-UP project, lead by the municipality of Rotterdam, which aims at initiating 25 industrial pilots in Europe and is being executed by five different European cleantech clusters.

Noteworthy was the introduction of the BOSTeRDAM program. BOSTeRDAM is a  Market Expansion Program for cleantech entrepreneurs and companies from the Netherlands and the United States. InnovationQuarter and Greentown Labs offer a 2-week market entry program to facilitate a soft landing for Dutch entrepreneurs with an interest in the Greater Boston Area, and also for American entrepreneurs with the ambition to do business in the Netherlands.

In the course of the day, Sam Goodall (international projects manager at Cleantech Cambridge) joined the US Cluster Visit at CTD and lead an interactive collaboration session in the afternoon where all participants in the event paired up in international teams to brainstorm on collaboration paths and opportunities which encouraged the participants to make their future collaborations more concrete. Valuable knowledge was shared and connections for the future were established.

Altogether, participants have given very positive feedback about the event at CTD based on the insights gained and contacts made. We would like to thank Eli Prins, project manager at CTD and Jessica Avery, Senior Research Analyst at SRI International for the organization of the event.