The Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE), initiated by Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), opened the second floor of their ECE Campus earlier this week. The space was officially inaugurated by Pex Langenberg, alderman for the Port, Sustainability, Mobility and Organisation at the City of Rotterdam. During the past two years, ECE has developed over 7,000m2 at the Rotterdam Science Tower (RST) for innovative startups.

Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp was the first to receive a tour of the new floor, during which he took the opportunity to speak with several startups. He also joined a roundtable discussion with companies from the ECE community: Symbid, Dutch Domotics, Tickid, Kredietpaspoort, Declaree and The Venture Generator, to hear about their experiences. “Very insightful”, according to the Minister. He felt that ECE has managed to create an incredible environment for startups.

Apart from offices, meeting rooms, event locations, and flexible workspots, ECE now also has a brand new Bavaria Bar and a slide from one floor to the other. The opening of the newly occupied floor was celebrated in style with drinks together with entrepreneurs from the ECE community and alumni from various ECE programmes. “Our goal is to bring together entrepreneurs, both large and small, to strengthen the innovative capabilities of the region, allowing them to innovate faster”, explained Justin Jansen, professor of Corporate Entrepreneurship at RSM, and academic director of ECE.

Since the arrival of ECE, more than 50 innovative companies now call the Rotterdam Science Tower their home and over 400 entrepreneurs have joined the ECE community. Various startups, such as Nestpick and Helix - who took their first entrepreneurial steps at ECE - have now expanded to places like Berlin and Hong Kong. Together, the companies at the ECE campus and the RST have raised over 6 million euros in investments, making the ECE campus a true hotspot for ambitious entrepreneurs.

More information

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. www.rsm.nl

For more information about RSM or this release, please contact Erika Harriford-McLaren, communications manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at harriford@rsm.nl.

Type
Homepage , Newsroom , Strategic management and entrepreneurship