Smart City Event ‘City Flows’ – a part of Startup Fest Europe

Rotterdam celebrates 75 years of development with a gigantic pop up staircase, right into Groot Handelgebouw and Venture Café. The city and Port of Rotterdam join forces with corporates, startups and the citizens to identify the best ideas for mobility and circular economy solutions. On May 26 you are invited to join the celebrations during a special edition of Venture Café: City Flows. This event is all about smart cities and is proudly part of Startup Fest Europe. 

Together with KPN, Deloitte, Port of Rotterdam and the Municipality of Rotterdam and inspiring startups Venture Café offers an interactive program with a wide variety of keynote speakers. With Mark Boeren (Manager Business Development at TamTam) as the chairman of the event, the keynotes will set the stage and underline the urgency of startups and the day’s break-out sessions. Among others Maarten Struijvenberg (vice mayor, Employment & Economics) will represent the city of Rotterdam during this day and is eager to catch up with new ideas for smarter cities.

With the river Maas flowing through the veins of Rotterdam, city and port have always been inseparable. The smart city of Rotterdam will be of great importance to the smartest port and vice versa. Therefore, teaming up with partners is the smartest thing to do. If you want to be a part of this development, ‘City Flows’ is not to be missed. 

Smart mobility and circularity
After an inspiring kick-off, the 12 selected startups split up in a break-out on smart mobility and a break-out on circularity where they pitch their ideas on how to shape the future of Rotterdam. On the opposite end there will be a jury of decision makers, corporates and researches and other innovators listening and corresponding. The people behind the two best ideas of each session will be invited to the main stage to close down the event with final pitches and awards. They will be invited to have a lunch date with a board member.

Venture Café Rotterdam
Venture Café’s Weekly Gathering is held every Thursday from 15:00 till 20:00 at the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in the Groot Handelsgebouw (situated next to the Rotterdam Central Station). CIC operates as an added-value community for entrepreneurs where they can work, find capital from multiple venture capital funds and learn from each other how to grow their businesses. Venture Café is the actual place where it all comes together. It connects all communities from the regional eco-system and facilitates serendipitous engagements. People who focus on innovation and entrepreneurship meet regularly. It’s where connections are made, resulting in fresh ideas and fruitful alliances. Don’t use the front door between May 19th and June 9th to enter the building. Instead take a climb on the ‘red carpet of the city’. A temporary staircase leading from the station square to the roof of the Groot Handelsgebouw and into the future!

Start up Fest Europe
Startup Fest Europe is a festival of events that help startups grow faster by bringing together founders, investors, creatives, business leaders and developers around specific themes and in creative ways. It is organized throughout The Netherlands with the main goal to help European startups get funding deals, network and talent.

‘Can do’ spirit
A city of distinctive character, Rotterdam is energetic and constantly changing. Rotterdam and its inhabitants never shy away from experimentation. Like the Nieuwe Maas, a waterway that represents a powerful symbol for the city’s constant motion. Rotterdam is a city where the Make it Happen mentality can be seen and felt. The city is supported by organisations and people that make a clear choice for Rotterdam and add their own take on the Rotterdam mentality and ‘can do’ spirit. It is also famous for the Port of Rotterdam, its wide variety of branches and well known innovation hubs within the region, such as Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, SuGu Club, BlueCity010, RDM Rotterdam and YES!Delft. All there to help, advise, connect, learn from- and teach startups, scale-ups, corporates and entrepreneurs. Venture Café is the place where they all meet, connect and share.

Date:                Thursday 26th May, 2016
Time:                13.45-20.00
Venue:              Venture Cafe – Groot Handelsgebouw (next to Rotterdam Centraal station), Stationsplein 45, 3013 AK, Rotterdam

Programme

13.45-14.30 Walk in and Registration
Demo’s by startups

14:30–15:30 Plenary introduction  
Keynotes by Paula Verhoeven (Director of Urban Development at Municipality of Rotterdam), Marten van der Velde (Director Strategy & Innovation at Portbase) and Rob Kitchin (Smart city expert, Maynooth University)

15:45–16:45 Breakout-sessions
1. Smart Mobility
Keynote by Niki Sie (Founder of Sustainmobility) and pitches by several smart mobility startups. In cooperation with Deloitte, KPN, Erasmus University and Sustainmobility.

2: Circular Economy 
Pitches by several circulair startups. In cooperation with Port of Rotterdam, Better Future Factory, SuGu Club and BlueCity010.

17:00–17:45 Plenary closing with final pitches
Keynote speech by Sanne Manders (COO Flexport) followed by the two best pitches from each breakout session. In the jury will be: Paul Smits (CFO of Port of Rotterdam), Rinke Zonneveld (Director Innovation Quarter), Maarten Struijvenberg (Vice Mayor of Rotterdam, Employment & Economics). 

17:45- 20.00 Networking drinks
Together with the City Flows-participants join the Venture Café community for networking drinks and demo’s by innovative startups.