A-Lab – Great things are starting-up in Amsterdam Noord
5 marzo, 2021 por
A-Lab – Great things are starting-up in Amsterdam Noord
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If you glance North over the River Ij at the back of Amsterdam Central Railway Station, you’ll see a hive of activity. It’s centred on the old Shell buildings and tower, once home to the oil company’s research division. But only the imposing brick façade would be recognized by the former residents now. The insides have been transformed, whilst still respecting the original vision of the architect Arthur Staal.

I take the 4 minute free ferry ride across the river to meet up with Lucas Hendricks and Arpad Gerecsey, the management team now driving the rapid development of A-Lab. Before we chat, Lucas insists we take the elevator and clamber out onto the rooftop. “You have to see the view. Then you’ll understand the creative magic this place brings to the Dutch capital. “

Lucas Hendricks Director A-Lab Amsterdam

I’m curious to know why A-Lab is different to the hundreds of initiatives already out there for startups in the Netherlands. Lucas says they want to add something that’s missing rather than compete with colleagues.

“If you look at the general early stage startups in the Netherlands you will various efforts to rapidly develop these companies and grow them internationally. There are several accelerators, some specializing in hardware, or in a particular sector like med-tech. You add money, expertise and network to these young companies in the hope that they will scale fast and then move on to a second or third round of funding.”

“We’re also seeing the rapid rise of collaborative spaces, like Seats2Meet, B-Amsterdam, Spaces or WeWork. These are for self-employed specialists who work on their own and need a space where they can talk with clients or with each other. “

“A-Labs is actually doing a bit of both, but then from a different perspective. What we do is provide an active breeding ground that encourages a diverse group of people to collaborate. It’s becoming a cluster where we initiate and facilitate the validation of new ideas.”  

“There are many experiments in the Netherlands being done to advance the frontiers in the creative sector. Let’s take journalism for instance. An early stage startup like Yournalism tell us they benefit from being an A-lab member because of discussions we arrange with researchers, crowd funders, international broadcasters and digital publications. Because of A-lab’s wide national and international network in arts, media and design, we’re able to build specialised mentor and investor networks very quickly. And because Yournalism is also keen on discovering new business models and relevant technologies, we’re able to build a working prototype lab to test hunches.” 

Lucas smiles when asked about how things are going after less than 6 months in the job as Director. “I’ve spent many years as a cultural entrepreneur. I’ve also been a member of Top sector team for the Netherlands Creative Industries.” he explains, “In the end it’s all about turning strategy into hands-on execution and getting things done. I strongly believe in the power of informal networks. And what we’re doing here in the beating new heart of Amsterdam is pushing and fostering all kinds of amazing collaborations.”

Arpad Gerecsey CIO A-Lab

Lucas introduces me to his colleague Arpad Gerecsey.  His business card says Chief Innovation Officer. We sit in the café on the ground floor amid the constant hustle of clients ordering the city’s best brews. I ask Arpad about how they pick the teams that venture across the river Ij.

 “As the A-Lab we are selective in the sense that we’re actively searching for the disruptive bleeding-edge ideas. We program things here in this giant building in such a way that there’s a constant buzz of activities. We’ve got people working on festivals happening next week and other teams thinking about an ambitious on-line project for launch next year. We’re running Journalism labs, Culture and Social Robotics labs, Sharing Economy labs, Music labs – space for up to 33 labs in total.

But we spend a lot of time building the creative ecosystem.  We notice that in startup accelerators there’s often a very homogenous population – they are all founders, they all need money and they often have the same deadline for demo day. We’re not saying that’s wrong. We just believe it’s important to provide an alternative way of thinking about innovation and business creation.”

“So, for instance, in our social robotics lab we were approached by a University professor who did a major piece of research with a ton of data and some ingenious robots. He’s searching for the next step. We don’t pretend to know the answers ourselves. But with over 300 people somehow connected to this building, we can bring together an extraordinary network of creatives, doers, makers, (ex)-corporates and thinkers, each with a personal voice and selected because they have a unique creative vision. It can be chaotic. So we put 15 people with a completely different background into the social robotics lab and see they immediately start tackling some of the grand challenges in society. So rather than search for the one big startup to “scale-up”, we’re all about collective intelligence, open collaboration and open sourcing technology wherever possible.”

“Yes, we’re working on serious stuff. But also very creative stuff like the Coffee Coptor – suppose you could order a cappuccino from your office on the third floor. It’s freshly made in the coffee shop downstairs and delivered by a drone. Check out last year’s video on this social experiment because it really exists and it was well ahead of similar ideas for door-to-door drone delivery!  We’re already starting to see creatives come up with new ways of telling both the fun and serious stories.”

Not every idea has to scale. We simply want to maintain and grow the international reputation that Amsterdam has built as place to try things out. There is an incredible creative scene here. There is also a wealth of technology being built. Sparks seem to fly when you bring people with different backgrounds together to collaborate on a project.”

So how is all this funded?

“Both the Dutch national government and the city of Amsterdam have recognized the value arts plays in society. The value of Art and Culture is of great importance to the Dutch capital. It is key to making it an attractive global city. It is built on a heritage going back to the 12th Century, a heritage which still counts. Without culture, there is little to separate us from any other living creature in this world”.

“The city owns this building which was the former headquarters of Shell Research. They have provided the 5000 square metres to us on the condition that we actively maintain it as an active creative breeding ground pushing the boundaries of thinking and daring to take risks. 40% of our tenants have to come from the creative industries. We’ve been operating like this for 6 months now, but the atmosphere is already electric. And we’re right in the heart of the creative centre of Amsterdam. Builders are working on the Amsterdam tower next door, destined to be one of the most amazing entertainment centres in Europe when it opens “early in 2016”. And in October 2015, the giant Clinkhostel opens to backpackers – with dorms and rooms to sleep up to 750 travellers to this vibrant city.” 

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