To achieve its objectives, Techport, as a networking organisation, needs contributions from partners. Techport has had a partnership with Rabobank Haarlem-IJmond for some time, and it was recently extended for two years. Rabobank is now 'theme partner Innovation', which means not only a financial contribution, but also substantive cooperation. Ard van Berkel, director of Rabobank Metropoolregio Amsterdam, and Mark Denys, chairman of Techport, talk about the joint ambitions.
Techport's mission is to become the Netherlands' first green industrial zone. How will Rabobank and Techport strengthen each other in achieving this objective?
Mark Denys: "Very concretely, Rabobank is going to contribute to this by exchanging knowledge, organising master classes and helping to think about green financing."
Ard van Berkel: "Our ambitions and those of Techport fit well together. We want to help entrepreneurs grow sustainably and enable the energy transition. We do this partly by making our knowledge and network available to our existing customers, but we want to do this for many more entrepreneurs in IJmond. Techport's network helps us connect with them."
What role can the Techport Innovation Centre play in this?
Mark Denys: "We have already started pioneering projects, such as the Fieldlab Smart Energy. This project aims to make smart digital technologies accessible to SMEs to reduce energy consumption and enable more green energy. With 15 partners and the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, we are working on more than 25 innovative applications. This will lead to new products and services. I expect Rabobank to be happy to help think about how these can be scaled up further."
Ard van Berkel: "With our start-up and scale-up proposition, we can make an important contribution to the success and development of innovative companies. Besides advice from specialised financing specialists and knowledge from Rabo Research, we also offer financing products for each growth phase. Such as the Rabo Innovation Loan that allows us to provide growth capital for innovations in the fields of sustainability and circularity even without proven results or paying customers. This is in line with Techport's mission."
What will Rabobank and Techport have achieved together in two years' time?
Mark Denys: "Besides innovation projects such as Smart Energy, we are also working in Techport, for example, on setting up a learning community for the hydrogen transition, coaching innovative sustainable startups and helping professionals and young students find careers in the green industry. In two years' time, you will see all kinds of new examples of this. Our ambition is much bigger than the 500 square metres in our Innovation Centre. I can just picture it... a sign on the door saying 'moved due to success'! To an even bigger location, but within the IJmond region, of course. And for that we need partners like Rabobank."