Minister Henk Kamp (Economic Affairs) has pledged to liberalise the rules regards wages for startup entrepreneurs.

Kamp reserves 27 million euro to allow for entrepreneurs to have a minimum wage in the first three years of running a company. Normally this would be a higher wage of 44.000 euro, subjected to tax. The money saved can be used to invest in the company, Kamp says in a column on RTLZ.

The minister also promised to invest another 23 million euro in startups and SME’s, together with corporations. “It is my goal to get The Netherlands in the top 5 startup countries world-wide”, he said.

The announcement was made on the opening day of StartupFest Europe, kicking off at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam around 11.00 with a key note speech from Apple’s Tim Cook. Later followed by Nathan Blecharczyk (Airbnb), Travis Kalanick (Uber) and others.

StartupJuncture will report from StartupFest Europe all week. We will be present at a lot of (the over 30) events throughout The Netherlands, including the opening on Tuesday, TNW, Campus Party  and The Future of HighTech in Twente. Stay up to date on the latest via our recap reports each day. Questions, cool photos or suggestions? Just Tweet to @StartupJuncture.

Image credit: Flickr, EU2016 NL