Amsterdam in business

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The creativity networkDoing business at Amsterdam Dance Event

ID&T founder Duncan Stutterheim

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Contents

Work place38Vodafone Netherlands’ mobile, collaborative headquarters

industry update23

Images of Amsterdam26Meeting potential in the conference industry

ICon & eVents32The world-famous Concertgebouw celebrates 125 years of harmonious relationships

It stArted In AmsterdAm42Duncan Stutterheim, CEO ID&T dance event company

Context: Amsterdam dance event48

born & bred 56

AAA location53

FACts59

amsterdam inbusiness66

eXPAtCenter67

KLm’s new World Business Class64

Long stAy8

edItorIAL 3new in Amsterdam4

the dnA of Amsterdam 11 Journalist and author Russell Shorto on what makes this city tick

netWorKs12Amsterdam, creative hub

Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam

Inspiring new businesses, initiatives and organisations

Thomas Jin, deputy general manager Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Casper Reinders, HORECA entrepreneur

going dutchBlogger Colleen Geske on the quirky habits of the Dutch

The Port of Amsterdam

What we can do for you

Cutting through the red tape of relocation

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Richard Zijlma, founder of Amsterdam Dance Event

Dutch design icon Hella Jongerius’s sustaiinable design

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editorial

The place to be in 2013 and beyond

Amsterdam is one of the world’s creative capitals. According to Richard Florida, the American scientist who developed the theory that a creative city is the ultimate driving force of economic growth, it’s actually the fourth most creative. What a fantastic achievement, certainly given that only 800,000 people live here. Even if we include everyone living in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, we only just reach the two million mark. Amsterdam is not your average city either. The Dutch government, parliament and the ministries have their seat elsewhere (in The Hague), which means we’ve never been able to experience the ‘flourishing’ effect this can have on a city’s international character. The fact that Amsterdam is up there amongst the most creative cities in the world in spite of this is because our city is both cosmopolitan and compact. Yet what we lack in terms of size, we make up for through greater transparency, diversity, manageability, openness and accessibility. Amsterdam excels as a melting pot of unique spirits from diverse backgrounds, who meet from all corners of the city and push each other to break with convention and step outside the box. It was the same in the Golden Age, when Amsterdam was the business and intellectual capital of the world. I’m told that the value of this comparative advantage will soar in the coming years, and as I flick through this new issue of AMS magazine, which is our attempt to inform you about what’s going on in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and how foreign investors are faring here, my conviction about this grows. Because what underpins all the stories – particularly those from many newcomers – is that Amsterdam’s distinctive strength lies in its unique atmosphere and accessibility. I myself am an adopted Amsterdammer and I’ve experienced this first-hand. ‘Amsterdam’ makes it much easier for you to broaden your horizons, challenge yourself through new encounters and make contact with people.

Eberhard van der LaanMayor of Amsterdam

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Creative successAmsterdam advertising agencies continue to flourish in 2013

Korean advertising agency Cheil Worldwide recently established an office in Amsterdam, where it will produce international campaigns for Samsung, among other clients. Cheil joins a group of industry-leading agencies already established here, such as Anomaly, Arnold, Perfect Fools, StrawberryFrog and Amsterdam Worldwide. Catalysed by a renowned pool of creative talent, proximity to clients and the city’s cosmopolitan atmosphere, Amsterdam’s creative sector is flourishing. This positive business experience is reflected in the success that Amsterdam-based advertising agencies enjoyed at the 2013 Cannes Lions awards, with agencies based in the area bringing home 19 trophies. Ogilvy & Mather Amsterdam received a Silver Lion for their work with financial cooperative DELA, while Wieden+Kennedy took the Grand Prix for their work for another Amsterdam icon: Heineken.

Inspiring new businesses, initiatives and organisations. New this issue: a luxury hotel for students; an advertising giant is born; a start-up accelerator and Karl Lagerfeld come to town

Publicis Omnicom Group to be based on ‘neutral territory’An advertising giant is born The merger of US-based company Omnicom and the French adver-tising firm Publicis is expected to go into effect by the fourth quar-ter of 2013 with the approval of shareholders. The combining will create the biggest advertising organisation in the world and will be headquartered in Amsterdam. The official reason for locating the group’s headquarters in Amsterdam is because the city is consid-ered ‘neutral territory’. This underpins the notion that the Dutch have a relatively neutral political position, allowing Amsterdam-based agencies to easily work with international clients.

New business accelerator Clever Clover was established in Amsterdam because of the city’s dynamic and creative business environment and the positivity experienced by entrepreneurs in the region. It joins the second incubator programme organised by the Amsterdam-based project Rock-start Accelerator, which was launched in spring 2013 with ten new technology start-ups taking part. By providing promising start-ups with hands-on advice and investments of up to €50,000, Clever Clover will contribute to the flourishing start-up scene here.www.cleverclover.nl

Clever Clover establishes office in AmsterdamAmsterdam’s start-up scene welcomes new accelerator

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Goldman Sachs opens asset management officeAmerican bank joins a pool of financial specialists

The American investment bank Goldman Sachs has established an asset manage-ment office in the Zuidas financial district of Amsterdam. The Goldman Sachs Group is a renowned specialist in global investment banking and securities, and is an investment management firm. They provide a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions and governments. The firm, which is headquar-tered in New York, maintains offices in all major finance centres around the world. The recently established office in Amsterdam pri-marily focuses on the Dutch pension sector. With more than 450 pension funds manag-ing a total of €790 billion, the Dutch pen-sion sector ranks first among the euro area nations. Most of the funds operate from the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, making the region a hub of expertise for pan-European pension asset management. www.goldmansachs.com

Institute for Nanolithography comes to Amsterdam Amsterdam at the forefront of chip development

Multinational ASML, the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Mat-ter (FOM), the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the VU University Amster-dam and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) have joined efforts to set up an Institute for Nanolithography at the Science Park in Amsterdam. The institute will open in the third quarter of 2013. ‘We are honoured that ASML acknowledges the position of Amsterdam as a city of commerce, culture and science,’ said Carolien Gehrels, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam. Nanolithography is a branch of nanotechnology concerned with the study and application of fabricating nanometre-scale structures. The institute is expected to make important contributions to semiconductor lithography, which is the key manufac-turing technology for making the memory chips and processors in PCs, smartphones and tablets.

Amsterdam’s latest – and biggest – innovation in accommoda-tion is quite possibly the smartest yet. Boasting 707 luxurious, state-of-the-art rooms equipped with designer furniture and every modern amenity including gym, games room and café-restaurant, The Student Hotel – as the name implies – is at once the perfect base for those attending Amsterdam’s world famous institutions of higher education, and an inspiring destination for the global traveller. With all the comforts you’d expect from a modern hotel, all rooms feature flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi and residents have access to a range of facilities including pri-vate gym, games room with pool table, basketball court, library and communal kitchens. Standard accommodation is from €595/month, with rooms for short stays from just €60/night.

Jan van Galenstraat 335 | www.thestudenthotel.com/our-locations/tsh-amsterdam

The Student Hotel Amsterdam Top-of-the-class accommodation

Inge Mol

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The Netherlands has risen two spots to fourth place on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2013, compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Cornell University and the INSEAD business school. The top ten countries in the index are the same as last year but their positions have shifted. Singapore dropped out of the top three while the USA and the Netherlands both climbed the rankings. The Netherlands’ significant climb on the Global In-novation Index can be explained in part by the sharp increase in international filings for patents in the Netherlands. WIPO reports that interna-tional patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) increased by 6.6% compared to 2011 figures. The Netherlands reported the fastest growth in filings, reflecting the innovative resilience of the country.www.globalinnovationindex.org

The Netherlands rises on innovation indexStudy finds a dynamic Dutch innovation hub

Karl Lagerfeld concept storeA unique store in a unique area

This spring, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld opened an eponymous boutique in Amster-dam. Located in a beautiful 18th-century listed building in the picturesque Jordaan district of the city, the store stocks the brand’s acces-sible luxury collections, such as ready-to-wear footwear, eyewear and accessories, as well as Lagerfeld’s favourite photography and design books. ‘I’m delighted we are expanding our retail presence in such an up-and-coming location as the “Nine Streets” in Amsterdam,’ said Pier Paolo Righi, CEO of Karl Lagerfeld in a press release. ‘The area fits the cool and vibrant feel of our brand perfectly. We will be able to equally interact with fashion-interested locals as well as international travellers.’ Am-sterdam is an ideal location for the boutique, as the city is also home to the company’s of-fices of roughly 50 employees.Hartenstraat 16 | www.karl.com

A creative and diverse capitalAmsterdam ranks fourth in global city rankings

According to recent research carried out by the Martin Prosperity Institute, Amsterdam is one of the best developed cities in the world based on ‘the three “T”s of economic development: tolerance, talent and technology’. Out of the 61 global cities studied by the institute, Amsterdam was ranked fourth.http://martinprosperity.org

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Twitter opens sales office Social media giant arrives

Owing to its high penetration rate in the Netherlands, Twitter opens a new office in Amsterdam. Almost the entire popu-lation of Dutch internet users accesses social media (96 per cent), which ranks the country number one worldwide in internet penetration for both Twitter and LinkedIn. More than one in four Dutch internet users visit these sites every month. Twitter’s new base in Amsterdam will be used as a sales office. From here, advertising space will be sold to diverse Dutch companies.

The Port of Amsterdam has been awarded the Silver Port Environ-ment Award 2013 at the World Ports Conference in Los Angeles. It received the award because of its unique fund for sustainability and innovation, which contributes to clean air, water and soil as well as the reduction of noise, dust and smell, and a reduction in CO2 emissions. The sustainable strategy seems to be paying off: in 2012, the Port of Amsterdam increased trans-shipment volume by 3 per cent compared to 2011. Today, it is the fourth largest port in Europe, after Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg. See also page 53. www.portofamsterdam.com

Environmental award for Port of AmsterdamEco ambitions recognised

Digital Realty to build data centreRegion’s tech credentials increase

Digital Realty has announced plans to build a new 15,900 square metre data centre complex in Hoofddorp, joining a successful group of data centres and tech companies that are already active in the region. Ber-nard Geoghegan, Digital Realty managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, noted: ‘Amsterdam is ideally located at the heart of the demand we are seeing for today’s networked data centre require-ments across Europe.’www.digitalrealty.com

Raimond Wouda

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Thomas Jin, deputy general manager of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Amsterdam Branch Originates from Guandong Province, southern China. In Amsterdam since January 2011

‘This is the Chinese character “FU）”, which means “good fortune” or “blessing”. What’s remarkable is that this scroll consists of 100 different writing styles of the character “FU” – some of which date back two or three thousand years.’

‘This is the London Financial Times. I read it almost every day.’

International residents photographed in their own homes

‘My wife, Jingchun Weng.’

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‘My son, Hankai Jin, is 15. He goes to the British School in The Netherlands in The Hague.’

‘This desk was shipped from China for a banking exhibition in the RAI. It was going to be destroyed because the costs of shipping it back to China were too high.’

‘These are small souvenirs we’ve collected when we’ve travelled to different countries in Europe – including Belgium, Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland.’

‘We bought this picture [Mona Lisa] in the Louvre, Paris. It is a favourite picture of my wife’s. She has been enchanted by this picture since her adolescence.’

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The deputy general manager of the Amsterdam branch of ICBC talks about the ease of living and working in the Netherlands.

When Thomas Jin and his family moved to the Netherlands in 2011, they joined a growing community of Chinese expatriates, estimated to number 5,000 in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. China’s spectacular economic growth over the past 30 years has seen increased foreign investment in the country. At the same time, as Chinese firms become increasingly global in outlook, executives such as Mr Jin have moved abroad to establish branch offices of Chinese companies across the world.‘The Netherlands is the second largest Chinese trade partner in Europe, ranking only behind Germany – and look at the comparative sizes of those countries,’ Mr Jin explains over green tea at his apartment in the south of Amsterdam, where he lives with his wife and son. ‘The relationship is reciprocal: the Netherlands is the third largest EU investor in China.’ Mr Jin moved to Amsterdam in 2011 when the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) opened an Amsterdam office in the city’s prestigious Museumplein neighbourhood. ICBC is the largest publicly traded bank in the world in terms of assets, core capital, deposits and profit. The Amsterdam branch focuses primarily on Chinese and Dutch companies operating in China.When Mr Jin arrived in Amsterdam, it was the first time he had ever been here. Luckily, he was favourably impressed from the very start of the relocation process. ‘We went to the Dutch embassy in China to submit our visa application and we had to provide original documents. We had a huge stack of papers, but the staff were so efficient and friendly

they copied them all for us,’ he says. ‘We found it comparatively easy to relocate to the Netherlands. After we submitted out visa application, it only took three or four days for the embassy to grant the visa. It was a very efficient and friendly service.’ Mr Jin plans to remain in Amsterdam at least until his 15-year-old son finishes studying. ‘Amsterdam is a very nice city, a very understanding and friendly city. Dutch people are very kind to foreigners – and of course it helps that they speak very good English. My family enjoys living here too.’ICBC Amsterdam has expanded quickly and it seems Mr Jin will be here for a while. ‘We have 32 staff now. We grew very quickly: there were just 13 when the bank opened in January 2011,’ says Mr Jin. ‘Our office is on Museumplein, which is a very nice location. I always like to say that we are neighbours of the Rijks Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw.’‘Doing business here is easy. Dutch people have good traditions of doing business, inherited from the Golden Age in the 17th century. I always say that most Dutch people are masters at business. It is not difficult to find a business partner here.’ As for the future, Mr Jin is confident that Dutch-Chinese trade and investment will continue to grow. ‘Trading dropped by 0.8 per cent in 2012 – unsurprising given the economy. But, Chinese trade relations with the rest of Europe dropped by 4 per cent. The Netherlands remains a strong trading partner for China – now and in the future.’ Mr Jin concludes: ‘I often meet the Mayor of Amsterdam, and he says: “If you have any complaints about living here, tell me about them.” I always say, “I’ll have to think very hard to find one.”’ <

‘Amsterdam is a very understanding

and friendly city’text Megan Roberts photo Marcel Bakker

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There is what you might call a conundrum of creativity. Creativity is the most intimate and in-dividual thing: it starts with the firing of synapses in one person’s mind. And yet creativity feeds on inspiration. As Isaac Newton said, ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of gi-ants.’ The individual creator needs a community of other individual creators. Amsterdam developed in such a way that it became the archetype of urban creativity. This came about precisely because the city fostered, in a unique way, the interaction between the individual and the community. Amsterdam’s origins are all about water. Medi-eval inhabitants of the Dutch provinces, trying to survive in what is essentially a vast river delta, built dykes, dams, canals and mills to control the water that flowed all around them. In doing so, they unwittingly crafted a unique society. Where elsewhere the system was one in which property was owned by Church and nobility, in which everyone had a fixed place, the inhabitants of these low-lying provinces created something other. The land that they brought into being by reclaiming it from sea and rivers did not belong to a nobleman or the Church; it belonged to the individuals who banded together to create it. They divided it into lots, which gave their individual owners a kind of power that others in Europe could not dream of possessing. Land ownership brought a sense of identity. This, in turn, spurred creativity. At the same time, the individualism inherent in this real-estate-based model of creativity was only possible because of the collective action of a community: the decision to band together to do the back-breaking work of building dams and dykes. And once new land was available, this same community commitment kept the dams and dykes in good repair. The dynamic between individual and community was set.

The feeling that an individual is in control of his or her destiny fuels innovation. As Amsterdam developed in the 16th and 17th centuries, its inhabitants spawned a historic series of innova-tions. The city became the world centre of pub-lishing: one-third of all books published globally in the 17th century came out of Amsterdam’s publishing houses. It was similarly the centre of mapmaking and map publishing. The city led the way in the secularisation of art, pulling it away from Church patronage and religious themes. Rembrandt became a sensation most of all for his portraiture. The Amsterdammers who lined up to commission him to paint themselves and their family members did so because he seemed to them to paint not just what they looked like but who they were. These were individuals, with rich interior lives, and this artist portrayed their individuality. The city’s physical structure benefitted from this explosion of creativity. Amsterdam became the first city with street lighting, the first with a modern fire department. When Peter the Great of Russia visited in 1697, it was to see what was already talked about all over the continent: a ‘city of the future’, in which everything was organised for the efficiency and pleasure of its inhabitants. Having been in essence the spark of the entire modern notion of creativity, the city surely can’t keep its position at the forefront. What was once unique to Amsterdam is now acknowledged as the ambition of every modern city. And yet, Am-sterdam today is a centre of dance, music, design and fashion, the epicentre of Europe’s digital start-up scene, a leader in developing sustainable technologies. The key to its continued success may lie in the old saw that history is destiny. Where in other places ‘creativity’ might be a mere mantra, the recipe for creativity – a balance between the individual and the community – is inbuilt into Amsterdam’s very core. <

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Russell Shorto

The DNA of A’dam

The archetype of urban creativity

Russell Shorto (1959) is an American author, historian and journalist, best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, The Island at the Center of the World. He is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and is the director of The John Adams Institute in Amsterdam, where he has lived since November 2007. In 2009, Russell received a Dutch knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau. His forthcoming book, Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, will be published by Doubleday in October 2013. photo Robin de Puy

‘Amsterdam developed in such a way that it became the archetype of urban creativity’

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Joep Beving, global business & strategy

director, MassiveMusic

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‘Amsterdam’s renown as a

centre of creative

excellence has helped us

attract global clients’

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Statistics show that creative industries account for a considerable percentage of the added value of the Amsterdam economy. There’s no doubt about it: creativity is fuelling the economic growth of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area text Hans Kops & Mark Smith photography Amke

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CREATIVE CORE The name says it all: advertising agency Anomaly has made its name by doing things differently. After opening offices in New York and London, and being named among the 50 most innovative companies in the world, Anomaly chose Amsterdam as its third creative pil-lar, with Toronto and Shanghai following soon after. ‘Amsterdam fits Anomaly and vice versa,’ says Hazelle Klønhammer, president of the Amsterdam outpost. Born in Australia, Klønhammer has 15 years of ad agency ex-perience in the city. ‘We like to break with the traditional ways of our trade. One of the key principles from our founders is that we don’t ever sell time. Time is a com-moditising force: all agencies are not equal. We’d rather embrace mechanisms that reward the quality of our ideas than be compensated for the time or the number of peo-ple it takes to deliver them. We just do whatever it takes to deliver outstanding results. We’re truly committed to the outcome.’ Those ‘outcomes’ that Anomaly reaches are a long way from the clichés of traditional advertising, and often include brand consultancy, guerrilla marketing techniques, the creation of new corporate identities and the development and launch of their own intellectual property – such as beauty products and television series. Anomaly also co-owns a content production company. Anomaly’s business model depends upon the company having access to a huge and diverse pool of strategic and creative talent, which in turn thrives when stimulated and challenged by its environment. Which is why Anomaly is based in a beautiful 385-year-old Amsterdam canal house.‘It was a no-brainer to open an Anomaly office here. Amsterdam is a cultural and economic gateway to the rest of continental Europe; there is an excellent Dutch and international talent pool and the type of clients the city attracts are usually very open-minded and receptive to good creativity,’ concludes Klønhammer.

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renny ramakers, co-founder & director droog‘I find Amsterdam creatively inspiring. It’s not necessarily for the reasons you might imagine – the wealth of architecture and art that abounds here – although of course that helps. For me it’s as much to do with the international crowd in Amsterdam. We receive job applications from young people all around the world. At Hôtel Droog, which is our headquarters in the city centre, I insist that we hold our lectures and debates in English rather than Dutch because there are always internationals in the audience and for most Dutch people it’s no problem whatsoever to work and socialise in English. It’s nice to work in such a cosmopolitan cultural infrastructure.’

‘Because the average size of organisations here is relatively small, contacts are easily made and contracts just as easily closed, making Amsterdam a creativity network on a city scale’ (Jeroen van Erp, creative director Fabrique)

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Clay Mills, MD Wieden+Kennedy

Renny Ramakers, co-founder & director DroogJeroen van Erp, creative director Fabrique

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A GLOBAL CREATIVE VILLAGEThere are many more creative companies in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, most of them in the segment of creative business services. The same advantages that attracted Klønhammer and her colleagues have seen established advertising companies thrive. Ever more newcomers – such as Sid Lee, Arnold and Amsterdam Worldwide – have chosen Amsterdam as either head office or European outpost, especially in the last decade. Many of these are mid-sized companies with an international focus, multinational clientele and a multi-channel concept. Between them they create, develop and direct worldwide campaigns for Red Bull, Adidas and Volvo from the global village of Amsterdam. Brian Elliott, the Canadian co-founder of Amsterdam Worldwide (formerly Strawberry Frog) said of his decision to ‘regroup’ in Amsterdam: ‘This is a digital business and the world is your market. But your physical location still counts. You need a place where the best talents and your clients enjoy to be. The scale of things and the existence of a worldwide network aren’t the dominant factors any more.’Just as the advertising industry thrives and grows (in terms of both numbers and results), so are the many other layers of Amsterdam’s creative cluster blossoming. There is a rich seam of industrial and fashion designers based in the city (including, to name but a few, international icons of Dutch Design Marcel Wanders and Hella Jongerius). World-renowned architects and music producers call Amsterdam their home, and the gaming industry is booming here in spite of the recession. Not to mention that Amsterdam is effectively the birthplace of the reality TV format that dominates prime-time schedules around the world: Big Brother originated here, as did The Voice. A relatively new branch of commercial creativity, the dance-music industry, effectively originated here – the history of house music being written largely with Dutch names: Joost van Bellen, Eddie de Clerq, Tiësto, Fedde le Grand, Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren – the list goes on.

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‘Advertising is a digital business but your physical location still counts. You need a place where the best talents and your clients enjoy to be‘(Brian Elliott, co-founder Amsterdam Worldwide)

Clay mills, managing director Wieden+Kennedy‘The Dutch are the original exporters of concepts. The Golden Age was, at its essence, the creation of an international market of ideas, and I think you can see that international perspective in the make-up of our agency. I joke that it’s the UN of advertising: we’ve got a Russian copywriter, creatives who are Egyptian, one who’s half-Persian, half-German. The list goes on. This fosters creative work with a truly global perspective – I know we wouldn’t get the same results were we based in the US or the UK. As an American who’d been working in London, coming to Amsterdam was a very attractive prospect. There’s a wonderful quality of life here, of course, but there’s also the prospect of working with global clients – the likes of Heineken and Booking.com – who are practically in your back garden. That can only be a good thing.’

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Hazelle Klønhammer, president Anomaly

Top: FabriqueBottom: Wieden+Kennedy

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NETWORKING IS EASYThis many-layered creative cluster is powered by one of the best-connected ICT networks in the world and inspired by a charming manageability of scale. As Amsterdam Worldwide’s Brian Elliott says: ‘Networking is easy when you bump into people on almost every street corner.’ Jeroen van Erp, creative director of industrial design agency Fabrique and member of The Dutch Creative Industries Council, which advises public and private decision-makers on how to create the conditions that help the creative industry prosper, agrees. ‘In Amsterdam, you meet people in your favourite café or in one of the incubators for fresh start-ups that are created everywhere in the city. Every creative segment has its own platforms and events nowadays – like Amsterdam Fashion Week or the What Design Can Do! conference. And because the average size of organisations here is relatively small, contacts are easily made and contracts just as easily closed, making Amsterdam a creativity network on a city scale.’

CREATIVE COMMERCIALISMThe Netherlands – and Amsterdam in particular – has a rich history of artistic patronage and appreciation. The world-famous Rijks Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum for contemporary arts are situated within a mile of where the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the National Ballet have their home bases, in the heart of the neighbourhood where most creative companies have their offices. All these factors contribute to a bustling creative industry, with more than 30,000 companies operational in creative business services, media and entertainment and in art-related activities, providing work for at least 55,000 professionals. Better still, Amsterdam’s creative core is the best guarantee for future economic growth and prosperity for the entire Amsterdam Area, according to the theories of American socio-economist Richard Florida.Florida, whose 2012 book The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited proposes ways to turn an emerging creative economy into an enduring creative society, was the theoretical inspiration for researchers Olaf Koops and Paul Rutten in their annual survey of the development of the creative sector, the Creativity Monitor. ‘A region with a developed and dynamic creative core is more innovative and competitive than others in today’s knowledge-based economy,’ they write. ‘The existence of a rich source of new ideas and concepts attracts new business and makes it more appealing for international headquarters to settle. Moreover, creative professionals hub easier from one employer or business contact to the other, thus

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‘The Dutch are the original exporters of concepts. The Golden Age was, at its essence, the creation of an international market of ideas’ (Clay Mills, managing director Wieden+Kennedy )

Hermen Hulst, managing director & co-founder, guerrilla games ‘For me, being based in Amsterdam represents a European lifestyle in a context where it’s possible to maintain a North American-style work ethic. When I worked in Silicon Valley, I was impressed by the level of commitment and dedication that developers there have towards their output. Now I see that dedication on our creative shop floor too. Amsterdam has a really independent mind set – it’s a place where for centuries people haven’t been scared to innovate. Newcomers are inspired by that spirit of independent thinking. I think it’s what drove me and my friends to set up Guerrilla Games in the first place. We have some 26 nationalities working here in our Amsterdam office. As an employer, I find it easy to attract people from overseas because people are attracted by the quality of life. Take my commute to work; a ten-minute walk along the canals, dropping my kids off at school on the way!’

Wieden+Kennedy

Droog

Wieden + KennedyMassive Music

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‘Amsterdam is a creative and economic gateway to the rest of continental Europe’ (Hazelle Klønhammer, president Anomaly Amsterdam)

erik t’ sas, general manager mobile, KIXeye‘After considering multiple options in the region, Amsterdam scored the highest for combining a business-friendly environment with a rich creative context, which is vital to KIXEYE as a creative company. Amsterdam has the distinct advantage of allowing access to a deep, diverse and high quality talent pool in creative and business disciplines. Another major advantage for us as a company doing business worldwide is proximity to a major international airport.’

creating an extra flow in the exchange of knowledge and expertise and opening up to combinations that might never have been considered otherwise. The attractiveness of the establishment climate and the present and future economic growth of the Amsterdam Area is therefore for the greater part fuelled by its creative core.’

A NEW GOLDEN AGE Creativity has historically been at the core of Amsterdam’s commercial success. The Amsterdam of the Golden Age remains for many the paragon of the first creative city. American urban designer and best-selling author Leo Hollis writes in his latest book, Cities Are Good for You – the Genius of the Metropolis: ‘The unique mixture of different nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds in a city of overseeable size has always been Amsterdam’s forte. The social complexity and cultural controversy that is the result, is the best guarantee for out-of-the-box ideas and the entrepreneurial spirit to embrace this. Old Amsterdam prospered because of it and new Amsterdam is building a future on it.’But Amsterdam has another historical advantages – although it was not always seen as such – that has continually ranked the city among the five most creative cities in the world, together with cultural heavyweights such as New York, Los Angeles, London and Milan. Amsterdam has never been the administrative centre of the Netherlands. Amsterdammers had to find other sources of income and inspiration. And they did so very successfully, finds Fabrique’s Jeroen van Erp: ‘Originally Fabrique is rooted in Delft: all the founders have a degree in industrial design engineering from the Technical University there. And although it’s only 50 minutes by train, it was not until we opened a branch in Amsterdam that the best talents in the creative industry wanted to work for and with us. Just a couple of months after we opened an office here, we were given assignments by Amsterdam-based clients. To have your agency close at hand matters, I suppose, and an address in Amsterdam is also an asset in the eyes of international clients. We are proud to say that we

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‘Amsterdam scored the highest for combining both a business-friendly environment with a rich creative context that is vital to KIXEYE as a creative company’ (Erik t’ Sas, general manager mobile, KIXEYE)

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were asked to redesign the website of the Rijks Museum and that we work on projects for, among others, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,’ he says. ‘Additionally, coming to Amsterdam challenged us to create new partnerships. For instance, we closely operate with Dawn – which, like Anomaly, is an ad agency that is constantly challenging existing structures and looking for new ways of delivering the message. They know everything about advertising and we are well informed on and adapted to social media. Combined we can deliver an integrated multimedia and multi-channel solution that is rather unique.’The next challenge for Amsterdam is to scale up the networks. To service international companies on a truly global scale means that new partnerships must be formed between various creative disciplines. ‘For that, you need an open mind, and that is what the reputation of Amsterdam is based on,’ concludes Van Erp. The beginnings are already there: advertising companies work closely with game developers to create a three-dimensional digital world for their multimedia campaigns; designers combine new technologies to make products more appealing and appropriate for consumers all over the world. Pushing boundaries and breaking new creative ground is in Amsterdam’s DNA, and perfectly epitomised by a recent initiative from DUS Architects. Utilising the latest technological advances, they plan to 3D print a complete four-storey Amsterdam canal house, to be placed along the Buiksloterkanaal in trendy Amsterdam-Noord. It will serve as living proof of where old creative Amsterdam meets the new.<

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, founder The Next Web‘Not many people realise that The Next Web and its founders are all based in the Nether-lands. Less than 2 per cent of our readers come from the Netherlands and most people assume we’re a US company, but it really all started here, in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has always been a place that has attracted the creative people in the world. We seem to not only toler-ate “differentness” but to enjoy and encourage it. That is a great environment for people who think differently. The web technology scene here is small but strong, which means you don’t just bump into a potential exit partner at a random party. The advantage of that is that it helps you focus on quality and not worry about networking so much.’

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Meeting potential

Playing host to more than 100 international conferences every year, Amsterdam’s diverse venues, developed infrastructure and entrepreneurial vision make it a top-ten international conference city

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BEATING HEART OF THE MEETINGS INDUSTRYFor four days in 2013, Amsterdam was the beating heart of the European Society of Cardiology, playing host to ESC Congress 2013, the world’s premier conference on the science, management and prevention of cardiovascular disease. More than 27,000 healthcare professionals attended the annual event, held at the Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre. But it wasn’t just the delegates who got involved.

Related events – including a benefit concert and dedicated cycling routes – put the prevention of heart disease on the map for a much broader, citywide audience.

COLLABORATING FOR SUCCESSESC Congress 2013 is just one example of the increasing number of conferences and corporate events that take place in Amsterdam each year. Maximising the benefits of a successful collaboration between Amsterdam Marketing (the official marketing organisation of the City), the thriving hotel industry, the City of Amsterdam and the award-winning Amsterdam RAI Conference Centre, the Amsterdam meetings industry is welcoming more congress visitors every year. Between 2008 and 2012, attendance at corporate events in the city increased by some 300,000 people – and numbers are expected to continue to grow.

Since the congress and hotel sectors are so closely related, the city has been working to significantly increase the number of hotel rooms across the Amsterdam Area. A recent agreement earmarking 16,000 hotel rooms for each convention in Amsterdam – all bearing the ‘I amsterdam Approved’ charter label – demonstrates the City’s committed support of the booming conference industry.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATIONSome of Amsterdam’s best-loved venues are improving facilities and building new wings to meet demand. The Amsterdam RAI is already the city’s largest conference venue, but the construction of a new multi-use addition, with work commencing in October 2013 and the building scheduled to open in May 2015, will cement the venue’s industry-leading reputation. The new building will incorporate the most advanced sustainability techniques, aiming to achieve a BREEAM-NL excellent level, the sustainability seal of approval from the Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC). ‘Green’ features will include the utilisation of natural means for temperature regulation – for example, via thermal energy storage (TES) or solar panels – as well as the ‘green lung’ garden, which will

task forceThe Task Force for Citywide Congresses is a collaborative venture between Amsterdam Marketing, the City of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and other travel service providers (including hotels, convention centres and public transport companies). The goal of the Task Force is to field multiple bids for large conference proposals in an efficient way, with one common bid procedure.By joining forces, the members of the Task Force share a common goal to:• Respond to clients within 24 hours• Arrange joint promotional campaigns • Attract large conventions to AmsterdamFor more information, please email acb@iamsterdam.com

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supply produce to the in-house restaurant.Westergasfabriek, meanwhile, is a renovated 19th-century industrial complex now home to a thriving creative community. With 5,000m2 of venue space, it is an exciting location for everything from product launches and dinner parties to fashion shows.Another iconic Amsterdam location suitable for hosting international conferences with up to 1,000 participants (and dinners for up to 1,200) guests is the atmospheric Beurs van Berlage. Designed by Hendrik Petrus Berlage and completed in 1903, this neo-Romanesque red brick monument is located in the historic centre of Amsterdam, just a short walk from Central Station and within 15 minutes of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol by train.

CREATIVE CONNECTIONSIt is clear that Amsterdam has the necessary infrastructure in place to support the growing conference industry – but so do a lot of other cities. What makes the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area unique, however, is especially strong corporate sectors, which provide conference organisers with seamless synergy they cannot find elsewhere. With fast connections and high internet

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utilisation rates, as well as the largest data transfer hub in the world, Amsterdam is home to a web of ICT businesses – ranging from telecom and data centres to social media marketers and software developers. This makes it easy to involve the city’s business community. It is no coincidence that so many ICT-related congresses take place here. In May, for example, the Beurs van Berlage hosted Mobile Convention, attracting more than 800 international professionals from companies such as KLM, Google and Microsoft, who gathered to share their vision for the future of mobile marketing and innovation, social media, mobile payments, augmented reality and mobile advertising. For more than 20 years, IBC (formerly the International Broadcasting Convention) has taken place in Amsterdam, attracting some 50,000 visitors each year. Upcoming ICT events include the World Broadband Forum (22-24 October) and the fifth edition of TEDxAmsterdam in November. <

A world-class congress cityThe International Conference & Convention Association (ICCA) compiles an annual inventory of all international association congresses held around the world. Amsterdam traditionally achieves a ranking within the top ten of the world’s most important and successful congress cities.

ICCA Congress Cities Rankings 2012City RankVienna 1Paris 2Berlin 3Madrid 4Barcelona 5London 6Singapore 7Copenhagen 8Istanbul 9AMSTERDAM 10(Source: International Conference & Convention Association, 2012)

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Amsterdam, A Metropolitan Village

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Photographer Ewout Huibers (Arnhem, 1969) studied graphic design and photography in Ghent, Belgium. The following images of Amsterdam come from the book Amsterdam, A Metropolitan Village, a tribute to the great diversity of the ultimate global village. www.ewout.tv

This page: Westerdok, Western Islands. In this reconstructed docklands area the latest architectural trends are born, and formerly industrial buildings are now being turned into desirable apartment blocks. Pages 28-29: Concertgebouw / Museumplein. Celebrating 125 years in 2013, the Concertgebouw is a world-

renowned Amsterdam institution.Pages 30-31: Intersection of Prinsengracht and Reguliersgracht. At two miles, the ‘Princes’ Canal’, named for the Prince of Orange, is the longest of the main canals in Amsterdam. The houses that line if were built during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century.

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Musical superstarAs Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw – one of the world’s most cherished performance venues – celebrates its 125th birthday, director Simon Reinink talks us through the harmonious partnerships that allow creativity to flourishtext Mark Smithphotography Massimo Catarinella

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CULTURE THROUGH COMMERCESince his days as a guitar musicology student at the University of Utrecht, Simon Reinink has rarely played his classical guitar in public, preferring to leave the performing to the thousands of world-class professionals who grace the Concertgebouw concert hall each year. Yet 8 January 2013 saw Reinink taking to a balcony of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange for an unusual musical turn. After a short performance by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the former lawyer from Utrecht struck the exchange’s gong above the assembled crowds. The moment marked the start of another day’s trading, but also the beginning of a landmark jubilee year for the Concertgebouw – which, at 125 years old, has been one of the world’s most revered venues for music of all kinds since it emerged from the swampy fields just outside Amsterdam towards the close of the 19th century.For Reinink, a mini concert in the heart of the world’s oldest stock exchange made perfect sense: ‘From the very first day in 1888, it was in the Concertgebouw’s DNA to make its own money, to support itself,’ he says from his office, whose walls are lined with hundreds of CDs, many of which were recorded on-site. ‘The Concertgebouw was never a project funded by the government or the city; it was an initiative undertaken by civilians. That’s very much in the spirit of Amsterdam. The open-mindedness of this city – that tradition of doing business with everybody – has led to a wonderful cultural climate, too.’

HARMONIOUS PARTNERSHIPSTo this day, despite having undergone an extensive – not to mention expensive – programme of renovation, the concert hall remains almost entirely self-sufficient, with only 6 per cent of its revenues originating from state subsidies. The building works hard, of course, hosting some 900 events per year, of which Reinink estimates half are organised by the institution itself, at its own risk: ‘The other 50 per cent of the time we are renting the space to orchestras and friends such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Saturday Mati-nee programme by broadcaster NTR, to name but a few.’According to the director, being open to external promoters brings creative, as well as financial, benefits: ‘The standard of the artists who travel to perform here never ceases to amaze me. I can go to the concert of a world music performer I’ve never heard of, and be completely blown away,’ he enthuses.To celebrate its big birthday, the Concertgebouw is hosting a series of special big-name performances – some of them three years in the planning – in its main and recital halls. November sees the return of Bernard Haitink, the man who memorably described the Concertgebouw as the best instrument of the orchestra it houses. The veteran conductor will lead the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in an evening of Brahms. Reinink is especially excited about December’s youth performances of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story:

‘It’s the culmination of a project that has allowed up-and-coming talent, from choreographers to costume designers, to work with the best veterans in the business.’Summer 2013 saw the celebration of another Concertgebouw milestone, with the anniversary of the venue’s collaboration with Robeco, the Dutch-founded asset management firm whose name has preceded a series of special summer concerts for a quarter of a century: ‘Our involvement with Robeco was extremely innovative when it began, and it marked the start of a fruitful relationship with local and international business communities,’ says Reinink. ‘It started because Robeco were experts in direct marketing. Over the years the partnership has evolved into a much more grown-up affair.’In 2011 the Concertgebouw inked a deal with a new headline partner, Deutsche Bank: ‘They are our sponsor on a corporate level, helping us with financial support for the education and outreach projects that are so important for us to build the audience of the future,’ says Reinink. Other sponsors include Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. KLM is entrusted with transporting the musicians and instruments of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra around the world – an important job in 2013, when the orchestra embarks on an anniversary world tour taking in six continents. Meanwhile, affiliations with other companies are helping the director to achieve his goal of a sustainable Concertgebouw: ‘Philips, for example, have supplied us with LED bulbs which have significantly reduced electricity waste without affecting the atmosphere.’ Reinink is keen to stress that even the tiniest change to the Concertgebouw has to be scrutinised in order to ensure that it won’t affect the acoustics for which this neoclassical building is famed: ‘That unparalleled quality of sound is our biggest asset, and we will never forget that.’ <

oRcHESTRAL ScoRE 125: years since first concert1,974: seats in the Main Hall3: number of concert halls within the Concertgebouw150: seats in the recently opened Choir Hall750,000: visitors per year13,000: members of the venue’s ‘cultural friends’ association21,822: fans on Facebook20: percentage of revenue from hospitality

photo Fred George

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Beijing Design Week Amsterdam has been honoured as ‘guest city’ at the 2013 Beijing Design Week, providing the city with the opportunity to present Dutch Design in China on a grand scale. During the international fair, exhibitions, debates and other activities will take place at various locations across the Chinese capital. Dutch design icon Marcel Wanders will figurehead the Amsterdam guest city agenda.26 September-3 October | www.bjdw.org

Amsterdam Dance EventThe world’s biggest club festival and Europe’s leading electronic music conference, Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is a true dance lovers’ mecca. While 2,000 world-class DJs entertain some 200,000 clubbers by night at venues across the city, the business of future trends and technological advances takes place in broad daylight. Confirmed speakers this year include Californian Bob Lefsetz, author of the eponymous no-holds-barred industry e-letter, and Sunburn dance festival founder Shailendra Singh, recently named one of the top 50 most powerful people in the EDM world by industry site InTheMix. 16-20 October | www.amsterdam-dance-event.nl

Broadband World Forum

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IBC IBC, originally the International Broadcasting Convention, launched in 1967 when television was just moving into colour. It came to the Amsterdam RAI in 1992, and has been coming back ever since. This year, IBC will attract more than 50,000 of the industry’s sharpest minds, hosting a mix of firms that includes the likes of Sony, Amazon and Twitter. The invite-only Leaders’ Summit gathers ‘the most influential and visionary people at the top of the elec-tronic media and entertainment industry’, while the Rising Stars programme engages with those who may replace them a few years down the line.12-17 September | www.ibc.org

‘Powering digital innovation through connectivity and collabora-tion’, the world’s largest broadband event provides a platform for networking and reflection on the latest developments taking place in the sector across the globe. Keynote speakers from in-dustry innovators such as Google Fiber, Mozilla, Liberty Global and Shazam share their knowledge with 8,000 decision-makers from across the globe. Alongside the conference will be an exhi-bition featuring 200+ leading industry solution and technology providers. The show floor will be buzzing with content hubs, dedicated networking zones and more. 22-24 October | www.broadbandworldforum.com

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Amsterdam Light Festival Everything is illuminated for the second edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival, which puts some of the city centre’s most beautiful and historical locations in the spotlight during six of the bleakest winter weeks. Art installations, light exhibits, a canal parade and illuminated walking routes explore and celebrate the play of light and water that so enchanted some of the city’s Golden Age artists. 6 December-19 January | www.amsterdamlightfestival.com

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One of the biggest music events in the world, the MTV European Music Awards come to Amsterdam’s massive Ziggo Dome this year. Of course, the scale of the venue is in keeping with the size of the event, which is broadcast live around the world to an audience of millions and attracts the world’s biggest pop stars of the moment. Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam Carolien Gehrels: ‘This will provide opportunities for businesses in these difficult economic times, and it will allow Amsterdam to raise its international profile. A great event at an ideal moment.’10 November | tv.mtvema.com

Chambres des Canaux: The Tolerant Home

Inspired by the 400th anniversary of Amsterdam’s Canal Ring, the residents of some of the city’s most iconic canal houses open up their homes to some 35 artists – including Marlene Dumas, Joep van Lieshout and David Claerbout – who share a connection with the city. Works inspired by the construction of the canals and Amsterdam’s (in)famous tolerance will be exhibited at 20 unique canal-side locations, which include the official residence of the mayor. The public will be able to purchase a Chambres des Canaux exhibition pass that provides access to all participating locations, and the accompanying publication includes a suggested route.1-17 November | www.iamsterdam.com/chambres

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25 Years of the Internet in Europe On 17 November 1998, at 8.28am, the first transatlantic email was received in Europe – in Amsterdam, to be precise. Amsterdam was connected, leading the way for Europe to get online. The city has been at the very heart of developments around the internet since this moment: physically, via AMS-IX (the Amsterdam Internet Exchange), which is one of the world’s largest internet hubs; but also in terms of development. The Amsterdam Museum celebrates this history with a new permanent exhibition, re:DDS (reconstructing De Digitale Stad – ‘the Digital City’) and a programme of related events in a quest to preserve and present the extraordinary digital heritage of Amsterdam. from 17 November | www.amsterdammuseum.nl

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Sashaying into town twice a year amid a flurry of air kisses and champagne, Amsterdam Fashion Week not only brings together the cream of the international fashion scene, but also reaches out to the general public with its DOWNTOWN programming, encompassing more stylish events – pop-up stores, exhibitions, fashion shows and themed walking tours – than you can shake your Jimmy Choos at.23-27 January | www.amsterdamfashionweek.com

Marcel Wanders at the StedelijkThe first major respective of Dutch design guru Marcel Wanders, exhibited in the country’s pre-eminent modern art museum. Since his iconic Knotted Chair launched him on to the international design scene back in 1996, Wanders has become a household name – for his work as cofounder of design brand Mooi, his collaborations with design brands including Alessi and B&B Italia and for his quirky interiors of the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht Hotel. 1 February-15 June | www.stedelijk.nl

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Integrated Systems Europe

The world’s best-attended tradeshow for the professional AV and electronic systems industry returns to Amsterdam RAI for three days of global new technology launches, world-class education and countless new business and networking opportunities.4-6 February | www.iseurope.org

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A global, mobile, collaborative business model

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At telecom giant Vodafone Netherlands’ headquarters, a new workplace strategy has resulted in a ground-breaking office space: no assigned workspaces, an open, collaborative layout and everyone – from the CEO to the most junior employee – working alongside one another. Property manager Nataschja Zaal explains...text Megan Robertsphotography Marcel Bakker

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THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTUREWhen Vodafone’s Amsterdam headquarters opened in Oosterdokseiland, within walking distance of Amsterdam Central Station, it set a benchmark for modern workplace design. ‘We needed to make a big step forward in our work space to break out from traditional offices to something fresh, new, even heretical,’ said Jens Schulte Bockum, former CEO of Vodafone NL when announcing the new office five years ago.Designed by OCS Workplaces, which specialises in combining architecture, furniture and technology in a cohesive way, the office actively encourages collaborative, social and, appropriately, mobile working methods. The creative use of space has nurtured a new work culture: with no assigned desks, people are closer to one another, explains property manager Nataschja Zaal. ‘People communicate more regularly and more informally, which adds to productivity and innovation.’ With an estimated 80 per cent of work completed in a collaborative manner, a flexible working area with spaces to host everything from conference-style meetings to more casual, intimate brainstorming sessions was key to the office design. These include private calling booths so employees don’t disturb their neighbours, glass-encased ‘concentration cubicles’ for intense collaboration, a café-cum-late-night club where you can pay using your mobile, a silent library, ‘media: scape’ spaces where documents and presentations can be projected and shared with ease and an informal lounge – all with fully adjustable desk and chair heights. It goes without saying that the latest technology is integrated throughout the building.The office, which houses the marketing and

sales departments of Vodafone Netherlands totalling some 500 employees, is a physical manifestation of the company’s sustainability policy. ‘Technology is taking over from paper,’ says Zaal, ‘which of course as a mobile communications company, we gladly endorse. Everything in our Amsterdam headquarters enables us to work in a paperless way.’She continues: ‘We always inform visitors that we have a strict “green policy”. Parking a car is at their expense, because we encourage visitors and employees to come by public transport.’ And the new office structure has had other cost-reduction benefits, too. ‘We´ve reduced our real estate footprint because we no longer have to provide a rigid workplace for every employee. We have a ratio of 60 per cent, so we save 40 per cent on the square footage. Plus, highly advanced video conferencing facilities mean we save on both national and international travel costs.’A symbolic sustainability icon, a large wall-mounted Vodafone logo made from moss, absorbs CO

2 and monitors the office climate – ‘just like in the past in coal mines with the bird in a cage,’ says Zaal. ‘We endorse the cradle to cradle cycle, which means that, for example, our desks, chairs and carpet in this building can be used, recycled and used again without losing any material quality.’The building’s sixth floor is reserved for an especially innovative purpose: Startupbootcamp, an accelerator for global start-ups in which Vodafone is a shareholder. ‘Vodafone’s innovation strategy is based upon open innovation in which co-operating with start-ups is an important part,’ says Zaal. ‘The initiative connects us with the Amsterdam ICT community and supports Vodafone’s positioning as a playful and connected brand, encouraging interaction between Vodafone employees and start-ups to co-develop propositions.’Success came quickly. ‘The programme is now in its second year. The 2012 class has been really successful. Between them, the ten start-ups have created 120 jobs in Amsterdam.’ As companies around the world scramble to adapt to a more global, mobile and collaborative business model, Vodafone Netherlands is leading the way with a working space that enables the company to attract and retain top talent and live the brand by showcasing Vodafone products and mobile work. There’s only one downside, according to Zaal: ‘We have to bring sun cream to the office, because when we have a meeting on the roof terrace, we do tend to get burned…’ <

Vodafone netherlandsThe world’s biggest international mobile telecom company, with offices in more than 30 countries on five continents and 86,400 employees, Vodafone PLC has more than 407 million customers across the globe. In the Netherlands, Vodafone provides communication solutions to 5.3 million customers, employing some 3,850 people at corporate offices and in point-of-sale shops.

‘Vodafone’s innovation strategy is based upon open in-novation in which co-operating with start-ups is an important part’

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Going Dutch

(congratulations), so if you’re new to the language best practice your pronunciation a little first. Chances are you’re going to need to say it over and over and over again…When your own big day rolls around, there’s one particular cultural quirk you’ll need to observe: the provision of cake. Do not assume your colleagues have bought you sweet treats on your special day – but more importantly, do not think you can quietly avoid this office tradition. You will certainly not make any new friends or impress your workmates by attempting to evade this ever-important socio-cultural norm. Bring your cake, take in all the gefeliciteerds, do a lot of smoochy air-kissing and enjoy yourself, Dutch-style.

SEEING ABRAHAM By the time I reach my 50th birthday I plan to be either back in my native Canada or happily retired on a tropical island some-where (a girl can dream…) but spending the big day in the Netherlands would come a close second. Of all the unusual birthday traditions, that of the Dutch half-century is the most odd. When a Dutch man or woman turns 50 they are said to be either ‘seeing Abraham’ or ‘seeing Sara’ – a biblical reference of much debated origin and meaning. Fiftieth birthday celebrations once included a cake or pastry in the likeness of the birthday boy or girl, and evolved over time into a life-size doll made to resemble the guest of honour. This tradition has lost some steam in the past few years, but don’t be surprised if you see a five-metre tall balloon figure of a grey-ing woman (aka Sara) in your neighbour’s yard. It might be one of the traditions I try to take with me when I eventually leave the Lowlands – that and my trusty birthday calendar, of course. <

Colleen Geske is the author of the blog Stuff Dutch People Like, which celebrates, questions and pokes fun at all things Dutch (http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com).photo Robin de Puy

After celebrating many a birthday abroad, I have come to realise that celebrations in a foreign land often tend to be a crash course in cultural discovery. If you’re lucky enough to spend some time in the Lowlands you’ll quickly find out that the Dutch celebrate birthdays in a series of weird and wacky ways. But before they celebrate them, they first have to remember them. After all, everyone’s got one, so how are you expected to keep all those birthdays straight? The always-innovative Dutch have a very simple inven-tion for that: enter the omnipresent birthday calendar. Now this calendar isn’t exactly what you probably have in mind. Firstly, it generally resides in a pretty unusual place – a place often referred to as the smallest room in the house. Yes: the Dutch birthday calen-dar is proudly hung in the toilet. The Dutch are above all practical, and where else would such an item be sure to not go overlooked?Nor is this calendar your everyday agenda. It is not for recording your next dental ap-pointment or that upcoming dinner date at your colleague’s house: its sole purpose is to record the birthdays of all and sundry. In fact it’s a perpetual calendar, without date or year, forsaking the pesky need to purchase or re-update one every year. Trust the Dutch to come up with an efficient and thrifty solution.

CONGRATULATING THE CROWDSIf you happen to attend a Dutch birthday party, be sure you’re well prepared. You’ll be expected to congratulate the birthday boy/girl, of course – but then each guest goes around the entire room and congratulates everyone else. The whole affair is rather jolly, though somewhat time-consuming. A typical Dutch birthday party is soundtracked by a continual hum of throaty ‘gefeliciteerd’s

Let them eat cake

‘When your own big day rolls around, there’s one particular cultural quirk you’ll need to observe: the provision of cake. You won’t make friends if you fail to deliver the goods’

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Duncan Stutterheim, cEo iD&T

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As experts value the global industry at €3.5 billion annually, electronic dance music continues its invasion of the mainstream – and Dutch talent is leading the charge text Megan Roberts photography TK

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‘People love to come to Am-sterdam, and the atmosphere is so relaxed that business kind of happens naturally’

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platform for companies like ID&T.‘We’ve had partners over the past ten years – we work with other companies internationally – so we’re used to working with other people,’ says Stutterheim. ‘This was just on a much larger scale. It was a pretty scary decision, but so far it’s proved to be a great combination. We remain relatively independent: SFX aren’t telling me to make this flag green or whatever. They know what we’re good at and they let us get on with it – that’s why they wanted to work with us.’

EARLY ADOPTERSDespite the company now being in American hands, ID&T remains headquartered in Amsterdam – ‘I love living in this city,’ says Stutterheim, ‘this is my city’ – and the creative concepts will be developed from here. Stutterheim is currently spearheading the regeneration of the Overhoeks Tower located opposite Amsterdam Central Station across the River IJ, which will house ID&T HQ, as well as an incubator for new creative talents in the music industry, a hotel, restaurants – and of course a nightclub.‘Holland is a really competitive market in the EDM world,’ confirms Stutterheim. ‘That means there’s a lot of talent and creativity here, and that makes our lives a lot easier.’ As for why the country is such a hotbed for EDM, with a €500 million annual turnover: ‘Holland – and Amsterdam in particular – is a kind of test market, because EDM has been popular here for more than 20 years.’ It’s no wonder so many of the world’s top DJs are Dutch, he says: ‘They grew up listening to these sounds. It’s in their DNA.‘Also, there’s a really healthy club climate here,’ he says, ‘and the government is supportive. It just all comes together. There’s 25 years of EDM history, and in some ways the industry has been built around that. Amsterdam’s reach is huge. Our festival Tomorrowland

THE BUSINESS OF ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC

Back in 1992, three young Amsterdammers organised an open-invite high-school graduation party. Inspired by the underground raves taking the UK by storm – and using funds borrowed from their parents – they hoped 5,000 revellers would come. More than 12,000 turned up. One of those young men was then-21-year-old Duncan Stutterheim,

and that party marked the beginning of ID&T, the dance event company he recently sold a 75 per cent stake in for $102 million (approximately €77.4 m). In the 20 years since the company was founded, electronic dance music (EDM) has come of age, and ID&T has become a household name, the creative and commercial force behind global events including flagship stadium party Sensation (catering for some 40,000 revellers each edition), outdoor festivals Mysteryland and Tomorrowland (which made its US debut in September 2013 as TomorrowWorld; Disney owns the rights to ‘Tomorrowland’ in America’) and many more. In March 2013, ID&T announced a deal with the American company SFX, which valued the company at approximately $130 million. It is spearheaded by Robert FX Sillerman, the man who corporatized the live music industry in the 1990s, pre-Live Nation – which, not coincidentally, is also expanding into EDM. SFX has announced plans to invest $1 billion in EDM acquisitions. The partnership with ID&T gives the company a major foothold in the global festival industry. It’s a timely move. After decades in the cultural shadows, EDM has exploded in an age of social media, cheap music technology and mega-festivals, making steady inroads into everything from mainstream radio stations to TV commercials – not unlike the way hip hop ‘crossed over’ in the late ’90s. And of course, the world’s biggest entertainment moguls have heard the sirens calling.While ID&T had already begun to expand globally over the last decade, exporting its leading events to some 20 different countries (including a very successful Sensation debut in New York): ‘Independently,’ says Stutterheim, ‘ID&T just didn’t have the financial power to embrace the fact that our industry is becoming global. With this partnership in place, we can focus on the creative side of things, which has always been our strength.’ Sillerman’s SFX, in addition to capital, provides a unifying global

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has 4 million social media followers, and over 80 million people watched the after-movie of the concert online. We’re in the world spotlight for the EDM industry.’ That is never truer than during the two weeks of the Amsterdam Dance Event, one of the biggest showcase festivals in the world and arguably the most important international electronic music conference, period. Such is ADE’s importance, ID&T announced a brand new event for the occasion. ‘For the last four years especially, ADE has been amazing. It’s a really important week for us – and for everyone in the industry. Literally everyone is here, the entire industry is on our doorstep. We do a lot of business at ADE. People love to come to Amsterdam, and the atmosphere is so relaxed that business kind of happens naturally. You don’t really get that at other EDM conferences like Miami.’The Dutch are known for their comfort at the cutting edge, and in the case of EDM – a genre so inherently linked to technology – the internet was the most natural marketing platform. As Danny White, brand director of the international dance club brand Pacha has said: ‘Our musical genre embraced the internet, all other genres fought it.’ DJS were early adopters of the free music model, making their money from old-school, low-cost touring, and the Dutch were early adopters of the internet.

SUPERSTAR DJSParallel to the popularisation of dance music is the birth of the superstar DJ. The Wall Street Journal recently estimated that Dutch DJ Tiësto – MixMag’s ‘Greatest DJ of All Time’ – has an annual income of $20 million, and the ten artists on FORBES DJ list pulled in a combined $125 million over a year-long period. In Las Vegas, top

DJs – including Tiësto – regularly book multimillion-dollar residencies at the nightclubs attached to major casinos once the

ID&T

Started in the early 1990s, and named for the initials of the three founders, ID&T is now one of the largest dance party organisers in the Netherlands. The company’s flagship event, Sensation, is organised annually in the Amsterdam ArenA with 40,000 attendees, and is also held in 25 countries globally. www.id-t.com

iT STARTED in AMSTERDAM

preserve of rock stars and magicians. The American DJ Skrillex won three Grammys in 2011 – and is even making music for Disney. And while some worry that this marks the commodification of EDM – corporate music for corporate theme parks, or ‘Disney does dance’ – literally in Skrillex’s case – Stutterheim remains upbeat.‘All the large-scale events and festivals sold out in Holland this year. Every year there are more and more EDM festivals, and every year they sell out. Even more people are discovering EDM – you even hear it on the mainstream radio stations these days. Demand outstrips supply. But at the same time, there remains an underground element – the techno scene, for example. EDM manages that rare thing: to straddle the commercial and underground worlds.’And while EDM is arguably close to tipping point in some places, there are whole continents yet to be conquered. ‘There are so many spots around the world where EDM is just starting to become popular – the US, for example, and Asia. We just held our first ever event in Africa, the sold-out Sensation in South Africa.’As to whether that can continue: ‘Quality will be the deciding factor. Our clients are discerning: they expect the best, they deserve the best – and we plan to continue giving it to them.‘Our clients, our consumers, have an average age of 24. People that age are always looking for the next thing, the newest thing. To stay at the top of our industry, we have to provide that. At ID&T we have two non-profit organisations dedicated to innovation: the ID&T Lab, which focuses on innovation and sustainability, and the club Studio 80, an EDM venue that pioneers and develops young talent. Basically, the job of every person in our offices is to look for – and find – the next big thing.’His party may have started 20 years ago, but Stutterheim shows no sign of calling it a night just yet. <

‘There’s a really healthy club climate here, and the government is supportive. It just all comes together’

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Johan Vivie - Headhunterz Ziggo Dome, ADE 2012

Smirnoff Cube, ADE 2012 Audiovisual workshop, ADE 2012

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Richard Zijlma, MD Amsterdam Dance Event

conTExT

‘Amsterdam is for dance music what Cannes is for the film industry’

Celebrating its 18th birthday this year, Amsterdam Dance Event has become the world’s largest club-based festival. While the event draws 200,000 partygoers every year, ADE is also a conference where 4,000 industry experts people meet and do business text Christiaan de Wit photos Mike Roelofs

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conTExT

very professional. The infrastructure for the industry is becoming more and more established. It wouldn’t be an easy job to transfer the spirit of ADE to another “urban body”, as it were: Amsterdam is its home.’How is ADE different from other music conferences in the world?‘Our main advantage is the fact that ADE incorporates more aspects of the dance music industry than any other event – compared to the Winter Music Conference in Miami and Sonar in Barcelona, for example. Miami has a strong focus on mainstream dance music while Sonar acts on a level that’s more underground. We do it all; you’ll find everything at ADE that Sonar and WMC have to offer.‘That’s where we’re at genre-wise. When it comes to the variety of activities, we also lead the market. I expect our international internship programme to generate a spin-off we haven’t seen before. ADE is so much more than a random collection of expert panels. Timing-wise, the WMC and ADE are six months apart; it makes sense for a lot of people to visit both events.’

What is your mission?‘We aim to be the leading platform for the dance music industry. We like to think that we are for dance music what Cannes is for the film industry and what Frankfurt is for the world of book publishing. We facilitate the needs of artists as well as young entrepreneurs, but also the highest level executives of the industry. We’ve recently started international internship programmes for students aspiring to work in the industry – we’re sending people to global dance music hotspots such as Miami, Las Vegas and Ibiza.’

In 2013, the dance music indus-try is about much more than just record deals; event organisers, manufacturers of DJ equipment and music publishers from over 65 different countries find travel-ling to Amsterdam in the middle of October a worthwhile busi-ness investment. AMS spoke to Richard Zijlma, ADE’s manag-ing director since its third edition in 1997, to find out why.

What was the initial idea behind ADE? ‘ADE started in 1995, seven years after house music arrived in the Netherlands. The dance music scene here started to show signs of maturity around that time; an industry was beginning to emerge. But there was no real connection between the traditional music industry and the people working with electronic music. The major labels ignored electronic music. So we decided to create a networking infrastructure to give the industry an extra impulse.’

What makes Amsterdam a suitable location for ADE?‘Amsterdam is like your favourite jacket: it fits perfectly. That’s what it feels like at the moment. There were times, though, when things were looking less bright in Amsterdam. After 1999, when Amsterdam’s then-legendary club RoXY burned down, the city experienced a period of cultural poverty. There weren’t many places in town to party at that time. Things changed for the better when Club 11 opened next to Central Station in 2006. All of a sudden entrepreneurs felt like creating beautiful things again. We are now blessed with a range of clubs such as Trouw, Sugar Factory and AIR in the city – Amsterdam is now the perfect location to organise an event like ADE.’

Would it be possible to set up an ADE for London, Berlin or Chicago?‘People sometimes ask me if I’d be interested in organising an event somewhere else, but an event like ADE is not easily transferable to another location. In this city, a lot of people work with dance music in a way that’s

‘Tiësto secured his first inter-national record deal here and Armin van Buuren got his first gig abroad at ADE’

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big music festivals including top-end players such as Ultra Music Festival.‘I am now working towards taking the next step. We would like to get people on-board who aren’t directly involved with the music itself, but facilitate the dance music industry: fiscal experts, people with profound knowledge about things like lighting and other technologies relevant to the scene.’

How important is ADE for manufacturers of musical instruments and DJ equipment?‘These companies are highly involved with our Playground concept, a daytime programme at ADE with workshops, lectures and screenings that’s open to the public. ADE is a good opportunity for companies such as Ableton and Pioneer to show their audience where they’re at with innovations. ‘A possible next step for us is to start working on partnerships with companies that produce DJ equipment. I’d like to see our branding on headphones, for example, so we are represented in a hip store somewhere in Tokyo. Our presence would then go far beyond the five days in October that people associate us with now.’ <

How does the Dutch dance music industry benefit from ADE?‘Companies in the Netherlands basically find themselves in a position where they’re a goal up before the game has even started. The networking potential at ADE is enormous, with delegates of companies based in 65 different countries coming to Amsterdam to meet people, which means Dutch companies don’t have to travel to all of these countries to meet everybody. There’s a feeling of being right on top of it all when you run a business here.’

In what ways do people do business during ADE? ‘Because of the private and informal nature of these interactions, I don’t always keep track of what’s going on, that’s impossible. But of course deals are being made here all the time. Somebody came up to me once in the middle of the night to thank me. “Thanks to you I’m a rich man now,” he said.‘We’ve got 4,000 people visiting the conference and some of them schedule meetings every 15 minutes in order to take maximum advantage of the fact that the whole international dance music scene is attending our event at this one location. People perceive ADE as a place worth going to because a visit is likely to help their business grow. ADE boosted the careers of many successful artists: Tiësto secured his first international record deal here and Armin van Buuren got his first gig abroad at ADE. These people have seen their careers turn from national to international ones at ADE.’

Can you give us some examples of the type of deals that are being made at ADE? ‘When we started, ADE was a place where many licencing deals were being made. There was a big market for compilation albums back then. Licencing has now partly shifted to other areas. The gaming industry, for example, has become more important now; electronic music is now very popular as a soundtrack for computer games. ‘The business side of ADE has become much more diverse since we started in 1995. I introduced a sub-conference called Live Dance Music Conference at ADE years ago to get bookers involved; to convince them ADE wasn’t just a useful event for people in the record industry, but also a place for promoters to secure deals. I have been actively involved in inviting people for this and after a few years the booking part of ADE had become such an integral part of the conference that I felt we no longer needed it to be an official sub-conference. Bookers now know that coming to ADE makes sense for them. Everybody’s here now; all the

Facts & figures18: the edition number of ADE 20135: duration in days100: approximate number of venues 2,000: artists performing450: events200,000: partygoers4,000: industry experts doing business

16-20 OCTOBER 2013 VARIOUS LOCATIONSwww.amsterdam-dance-event.nl

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A future strategy for the Port of Amsterdam It’s the fourth largest port in Europe, and recently won an award for its sustainability policy. The port of Amsterdam may just be the port of the futuretext Hans Kopsphotos Eelco Wartena

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THE SMART PORT Last year was pretty remarkable for the port of Amster-dam. Despite a decline in world trade and a painfully slow economic recovery in the European hinterland, more bulk goods, containers, coals, ore, cars, energy products and agri-bulk products were trans-shipped from the Port of Amster-dam than ever before. Overall, almost 100 million tons of cargo made its way through the ports of Amsterdam and neighbouring Velsen, Beverwijk and Zaanstad, a record in the history of the fourth largest port of Europe. The logistics park is used by international companies including G-Star RAW, Renault Trucks, Starbucks and many others, while

the passenger terminal saw the number of cruise passengers pass-ing through its gates almost double compared to five years before.And there was more good news: the capacity of the gateway to the North Sea is to be increased, enabling the Port of Amsterdam to meet market demands in the com-ing century. In line with these changes, the port authority itself was corporatised. Dertje Meijer, CEO of Port of Amsterdam, explains: ‘This offers us the best of both worlds. On the one hand we are still closely con-nected to our main stockholder, the City of Amsterdam. This is important, given the economic im-pact of the harbour complex. On

the other hand, it allows us as an organisation to respond more quickly and directly to market developments. These days, tonnage is still important – but you also have to keep working on your distinctive capacity as a port of destination and transit. ‘With that in mind, we aim to be the world’s smartest and best connected port. We consider it our main task to actively develop more innovative, sustainable and economically fea-sible solutions for the logistic challenges that our customers and their supply chains face. The buzz words of logistic ser-vices nowadays are speed, transparency and reliability. We constantly undertake initiatives to shorten logistic cycles and to standardise services and data exchange wherever possible – preferably in close corporation with our partners, includ-ing our customers, organisations in the port region and the Port of Rotterdam and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. That’s why we call ourselves a “port of partnerships”.’

INNOVATING FOR SUCCESS The Port of Amsterdam has doubled its turnover volume in ten years, adding substantial value to mainport Holland. It is now, for instance, the largest port of trans-shipment in the world of blended petrol products, which is attracting more and more storage, blending and support activities. The port has also succeeded in fortifying its profitable position as the international centre for the cacao trade and other high-yield agri bulk products. The most important explanation for the Port of Amster-dam’s success is that it is so well-connected and finds specific, smart solutions to make these connections work hard, says Dertje Meijer. ‘Since the beginnings of the port back in the 14th and 15th centuries, the logistic activities

More than business The Amsterdam Port area is home to outstanding industrial architecture and cutting-edge culture. Discover how maritime history has shaped the Dutch at Het Scheepvaartmuseum (the National Maritime Museum; www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl) – and don’t miss the re-created VOC ship Amsterdam docked outside. Or check out the cultural cutting edge at the artists’ community located at the old shipping yard on NDSM-werf. Looking like the set from a post-apocalyptic film, it houses galler-ies, artists’ studios, a skate park, café and more (www.ndsm.nl).

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in this area have been closely connected to other sectors in which Amsterdam excels, such as the strong trade and financial sectors, and the food-processing industry in the nearby Zaan region. More than ever this is an advantage for companies establishing in the port region.‘On a national scale, we form a triangle with the Port of Rotterdam and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Together we can offer an unsurpassed level of logistic and supply-chain service for our combined hinterland in Europe on an unri-valled scale. We also have the advantage of being relatively compact as a port and strongly focused. Our challenge is to exploit all these advantages further and become ever more innovative in doing so, with the aim of strengthening our customers’ propositions in their markets.’

CONNECTING FOR SUCCESSOne of the key initiatives helping the Port of Amsterdam realise its potential is the programme Seamless Connections. Founded to create partnerships between the public and private sectors and the scientific world, Seamless Connec-tions engenders solutions and innovations that help to speed up the logistics process. For example, at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Dutch Customs have introduced a paperless document-tracking system enabling shipping agents and all other parties involved in clearing goods through Customs to work in one standard digital document. It is more (cost) efficient, it saves time and it makes it easier to follow an item through the entire supply chain. On the initiative of the port authority, the Port of Amsterdam is connected to this unique solution. The same advantages are extended to all those handling airfrieght in the port, on the sole condition that they possess an AEO customs licence.

Equally innovative is Trainlanes, aimed at optimising con-nections by train to final destinations in the hinterland. On the initiative of the port authorities, smaller and larger ship-pers are sharing cargo units on freight trains to save money and make more efficient use of available capacity. One of these Trainlanes, transporting cocoa to Berlin, is already in successful operation; another Trainlane to Milan, which will transport sea freight and passengers, will commence operat-ing soon. More shuttles are in progress. ‘Because of this initiative we are already attracting more cargo to the port than before, such as cocoa from ports in the northern part of Germany,’ confirms Meijer.Besides creating more and more such ‘seamless connec-tions’, the Port of Amsterdam is well aware of the necessity of improving its sustainability and that of the nearly 2,000 companies that are directly or indirectly involved in the port economy. The port plays the active role of go-between for companies that want to share rest products or waste, which can be the beginning of a new cycle in another form or process. The intervention of the port authority has al-ready led to several best practices, such as the local water company Waternet delivering its by-product phosphor to ICL, a producer of fertilisers just a couple of kilo-metres down the road. And food producer Cargill now has a pipe-line to Orgaworld, which processes organic waste to create bio energy. ‘It takes more to be a successful maritime centre nowadays,’ laughs Dertje Meijer. <

Fact & figures Trans-shipped tonnage: 100 million ton *Total added value: €6.3 billion Number of FTEs: 55,000Number of FTEs in Amsterdam area alone: 23,000Number of companies: c2,000Ranking: 4th port of Europe* from Port of Amsterdam annual report 2012

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BoRn & BRED

Casper Reinders, Amsterdam nightlife and hospitality entrepreneurBorn in Haarlem, raised in Amsterdam

‘I told my son that

these candy dispensers

don’t work. Unfortunately

he has now discovered

how to open them.’

Local businesspeople photographed in their own homes

‘My aviation globe from the 1940s is a bit damaged – which I like. Perfection is boring.’

‘The Sex Pistols made lousy music, but you can’t fault their style!’

‘I bought this for my son, James (five) a week ago, because I was never a skater and I don’t want him to miss out.’

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‘This is an Elder chair by Joe Colombo, one of the most revered Italian product designers. I bought it from a friend – the originals are very expensive but we struck a deal as it was my birthday.’

‘Skeletons are a big part of the décor at Lion Noir. I have a whole ostrich family in my house though – it would be mean to separate them.’

‘This was made by

Thijs Murré, the interior

designer who’s worked on several of my venues.’

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Haarlem-born Amsterdam transplant Casper Reinders on what makes his adopted city so attractive and inspiring to the creative industries.

‘I’m not a particularly patriotic person,’ says Casper Reinders from the kitchen table of his home in the heart of Amsterdam’s Canal Belt, ‘but I will sing the praises of Amsterdam for ever. I’ve never seen a more beautiful city anywhere in the world. Even the more modern outskirts are a masterpiece of design.’It seems the love-in is mutual. Whether they’re aware of it or not, Amsterdammers have been raising a glass to Reinders for more than a decade. It was in 2003, after successful ventures in his native Haarlem, that Reinders opened his first dance club – the exotic-sounding Jimmy Woo – in Amsterdam, a venture that proved to be the very definition of ‘overnight success’. Lured by the glamorous vibe and top-notch DJ talent, Amsterdam’s cool kids queued around the block in ever-more extravagant get-ups, re-energising the previously unfashionable Leidseplein entertainment district. As Reinders has grown up, so has his portfolio. In 2009 he launched Bo Cinq, a refined French-Arabic fusion restaurant – also near the Leidseplein – attached to a laid-back, eclectic lounge that serves as second home for many of the city’s hip thirtysomethings. Two years later came Lion Noir, a chic restaurant and bar with garden and French cuisine on the central Reguliersdwarsstraat, signalling the regeneration of another iconic Amsterdam area that had fallen into a nightlife rut. More recently on the same street, Reinders has bought and regenerated much-loved Mexican restaurant Rose’s Cantina. He currently has eight venues on his books, but

is always looking for new opportunities: ‘I get restless,’ he says. ‘I’m always on to the next project, and fortunately for me, Amsterdam is a place that’s receptive to new ideas.’Reinders attributes his continued success to a willingness to collaborate with Amsterdam’s army of creatives from all over the world: ‘It keeps things fresh. For example, with my new restaurant Chow, I’m working with the best Asian chefs in town. That leaves me free to concentrate on creating an atmosphere that’s stripped-back and modern.’ According to Reinders, Amsterdam’s smaller scale relative to other global financial centres means it’s easy to make contacts and allies here: ‘There’s a real spirit of, “Let’s meet for a coffee and see how we can make something happen.” I think that the city, being densely populated and also a massive draw for tourists, can support a tremendous range of activity, and I’m always happy to see new parts of town flourish. Just look at the cool new restaurants and bars in the east of the city, which for years wasn’t a place you’d think to go out. Amsterdam just keeps on surprising and inspiring me.’Regardless of the (presumably healthy) state of his own bank balance, Reinders restricts his initial outlay for each new venue to a ‘modest’ €200,000-€300,000. ‘I think that keeps me creative,’ he says. ‘When you’re talking about nightlife, throwing money at a place doesn’t necessarily make it a more attractive place to go.‘Primarily, I invest in my people, and Amsterdam has been very kind to me in that regard. There’s a wonderful workforce of young, talented people from all around the world – plus it’s by no means exceptional for my staff to speak two or three languages. We’re ready for everyone.’ It seems Reinders’ venues will be talk of the town for a long time yet. <

‘Amsterdam just keeps on surprising and

inspiring me’text Mark Smith photo Marcel Bakker

born & bred

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Close to the markets that matterThe so-called ‘Blue Banana’ (also known as the Hot Banana, European Megalopolis or European Backbone), extends from north-west England in the north down to Milan in the south, and covers one of the world’s highest concentrations of people, money and industry. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area sits at its centre, with easy access to Europe’s approximately 530 million potential customers. It also sits in the heart of the European euro zone.

55,000

#4Amsterdam’s ranking among the best European cities to locate a business.

City RankLondon 1Paris 2Frankfurt 3AMSTERDAM 4Berlin 5Barcelona 6Madrid 7Brussels 8Munich 9Geneva 10

(Source: European Cities Monitor, Cushman&Wakefield, 2011)

Number of jobs the Amsterdam creative industry provides – more than 10% of all jobs. From 2009 to 2012, the number of jobs in the Amsterdam creative industry grew by almost 7% yearly, on average. The Amsterdam Area accounts for almost 30% of those working in the creative sector in the Netherlands.

(Source: Research and Statistics Department, Amsterdam Municipality, 2013)

530 milion consumers live within a 1,300km (800 mile) radius of Amsterdam

The ‘Blue Banana’ comprises the European economic heartland (50% of European GDP)

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Amsterdam’s ranking in the Economist spatially adjusted Liveability Index.

SeCond

Competitive cost of labour

City RankHong Kong 1AMSTERDAM 2Osaka 3Paris 4Sydney 5Stockholm 6Berlin 7Toronto 8Munich 9Tokyo 10

(Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit, Best Cities Ranking, 2012)

Wage level index (New York = 100)

City Gross NetZurich 131.1 132.4Geneva 123.6 119.2Copenhagen 123.1 93.4Oslo 119.1 97.4Luxembourg 105.4 109.7Munich 91.5 76.0Frankfurt 88.2 78.1Stockholm 82.9 78.1Brussels 81.5 59.5Helsinki 80.2 74.2Vienna 80.2 70.8London 79.5 75.2Berlin 79.2 70.1AMSTERDAM 78.3 69.4Paris 78.1 73.6Dublin 77.7 78.8

(Source: UBS Prices and Earnings, 2013)

Yearly turnover of fashion-related logistics in the Amsterdam Area.

(Source: Research and Statistics Department, Amsterdam Municipality, 2013)

€8.3 billion

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The Netherlands’ ranking on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2013, compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Cornell University and the INSEAD business school. The country rose 2 places from 2012. The Netherlands also climbed to 5th place on the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS) 2013.

4TH#3

Amsterdam’s ranking among European cities in terms of languages spoken.

City Rank London 1Brussels 2AMSTERDAM 3Stockholm 4Geneva 5Paris 6Frankfurt 7Zurich 8Berlin 9Copenhagen 10

(Source: European Cities Monitor, Cushman&Wakefield, 2011)

Country Score RankSwitzerland 66.59 1Sweden 61.36 2United Kingdom 61.25 3NETHERLANDS 61.14 4United States 60.31 5Finland 59.51 6Hong Kong 59.43 7Singapore 59.41 8Denmark 58.34 9Ireland 57.91 10

(Source: GII, 2013)

’Hotbed for creative talent’

Wired Magazine, 2012 ’Amsterdam’s liberal attitudes and global ambitions sit easily alongside a hacker community that’s reminiscent of San Francisco’s. Add booming creative and digital sectors, strong old-media names (De Telegraaf newspaper and TV giant Endemol) and a connection culture, and you have a hotbed of talent. Space is cheap and there’s a growing number of accelerators, angel and VC networks, making it relatively easy for professionals to launch start-ups.’

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Annual turnover of the Dutch dance music industry, which employs 7,000 people.

(Source: music copyright organisation Buma / Stemra, 2012)

€500 million

(Source: Research and Statistics Depart-ment, Amsterdam Municipality, 2013)

Approximate number of companies in Amsterdam operating within the creative industries.

30,000

Amsterdam’s ranking as most attractive city in the world for the ’creative class’, measured by talent, technology, tolerance and amenities, and quality of place. The ’creative class’ includes people in science and engineering, architecture and design, education, arts, music and entertainment whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and new creative content. The top three cities were Ottawa, Seattle and Oslo.

(Source: the Martin Prosperity Institute, 2013)

4th

28%Percentage of the added value of the creative industry in the Netherlands that comes from the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

(Source: Research and Statistics Department, Amsterdam Municipality, 2013)

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1 A competitive corporate tax rate well below EU average2 Advance tax assessment certainty on future transactions, investments or corporate structures 3 Participation Exemption: all benefits relating to a qualifying shareholding (including cash dividends, dividends-in-kind, bonus shares, hidden profit distributions and capital gains) are exempt from Dutch corporate income tax 4 Double taxation relief for individuals via the Royal Decree for the Avoidance of Double Taxation5 The Innovation Box: an effective tax rate of 5% for income related to a patent or an R&D declaration (certain conditions apply)6 Withholding of tax on outgoing interest and royalty payments under certain circumstances can be 0%7 No capital-tax levy on the contribution of capital to a company and any later expansion of share capital

8 The 30% ruling for expats: tax-free reimbursement of 30% of an employee’s salary, provided that the employee has been recruited or assigned from abroad and has specific expertise which is scarce in the present Dutch labour market9 Horizontal Supervision: the Dutch tax authority is the first in the world to make prior arrangements with large and medium-sized taxable businesses on the tax liabilities expected in the course of the year, and how they are going to manage them. If tax payers can show they have an adequate ‘tax control framework’, then in principle no tax audits are needed for determining the tax liability10 Tax treaties with the majority of the world’s trading nations, which prevent double taxation for businesses 11 The Netherlands has excellent tax facilities for distribution and transport companies. These facilities avoid unnecessary leakage of VAT and custom duties

Bred for progress and expansion, the Dutch tax system is transparent and stable – and flexible enough to anticipate the rapidly-changing requirements of international economic flows.

Companies established in the Netherlands profit from various tax advantages, including:

At-a-glance: the Dutch tax system

CoLopHoneditorial board Frans van der Avert, Hilde van der Meer editor-in-Chief Bart van oosterhout Art director Sabine Verschueren designer Johanna nock, Arjen van den Houten Cover Photography Herman van Heusden Copy editor Megan Roberts Writers Colleen Geske, Hans Kops, Eline Ronner, Russell Shorto, Mark Smith, Christiaan de Wit Photographers Amke, Marcel Bakker, Ewout Huibers, Robin de puy, Mike Roelofs

Yearly average growth, from 2009 to 2012, of creative companies and organisations in Amsterdam.

(Source: Research and Statistics Department, Amsterdam Municipality, 2013)

22.5%European ranking, in terms of members, of AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange).

number one

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KLM WorLd bUSIneSS CLASS

Flying hightext Megan Roberts

photography Marcus Gaab

Created by icon of Dutch design Hella Jongerius, KLM’s new World Business Class is distinctly Dutch to the last luxurious detail – from full-flat seats to artisan accents and sustainable sourcing

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DUTCH BY DESIGNKLM is flying high with its new World Business Class cabins, unveiled in March this year, with the first re- designed cabin taking to the skies in July. Dutch designer Hella Jongerius has created a comfort-centred cabin with the unique new full-flat seat – one of the longest in the air at 2.07m – as the throne-like crowning glory. By combining artisanal and industrial production techniques, Jongerius has created a design that maximises privacy and a sense of personal space while meeting all functional requirements, which include fully adjustable mood lighting, privacy screens and 17-inch TVs.‘My aim was to convert the Business Class into a “feel-at-home” class,’ says Jongerius, whose work typically straddles design, craft, art and technology. Following a philosophy of simplification, softening and enrichment, the new design includes five specially-made tonal fabrics inspired by the Milky Way that echo KLM’s iconic colour scheme, as well as evoking the elegant style of a classic tailored suit. With neighbouring seats in complimentary but distinct liveries (all upholstered in the finest sheep’s wool), Jongerius has simultaneously created the illusion of width in the cabin and discreetly emphasised the distinction between ‘my space’ and ‘your space’ to create a level of personal comfort and privacy unrivalled in the air.‘Feeling comfortable is not the same as experiencing comfort,’ insists Jongerius. ‘If you understand that it’s all about the emotional state of a passenger, you cover a much bigger world than just designing soft seats.’ For Jongerius, this meant taking a holistic approach, minimising distractions and eschewing the mass production route to add personalised elements.In close collaboration with a Dutch cradle-to-cradle producer, Jongerius developed a sustainable concept for the cabin’s carpeting, based on high-quality recycled materials. Old KLM stewardess uniforms were used to spin new yarn that was incorporated into the blue accents of the carpeting, while the rest are made with Scottish sheep’s wool, which until recently was considered waste material. KLM is now the first airline in aviation history to use cradle-to-cradle carpeting.

THE DESIGN’S IN THE DETAILSJongerius is not the only Dutch design powerhouse to have cooperated with the national airline. Fashion designer Mart Visser previously redesigned the uniforms, and Amsterdam-based fashion house Viktor & Rolf, world-famous for its avant-garde work, has created the amenity kits – which will change periodically to reflect fashion trends. Marcel Wanders, whose quirky designs have won him international respect – and whose famous Knotted Chair forms part of the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art – was tasked with redesigning the World Business Class tableware. Wanders created 40 unique pieces of porcelain, cutlery, glassware and linen, each designed to be environmentally friendly and

each piece beautifully crafted and perfectly matched. Scallop-edged dishes evoke the KLM brand crown, while the ornately engraved cutlery recalls Dutch artisanal filigree silverware. ‘I wanted to make travellers feel like they are a first-class-restaurant guest,’ says Wanders. And that shouldn’t be difficult: KLM works exclusively with Michelin-Starred chefs, including Sergio Herman, Margo Janse, Jonnie Boer and Richard Ekkebus, who create ever-changing menus inspired by destinations and fresh products. Because taste at higher altitudes differs from taste on the ground, they tailor each meal accordingly. A carefully matched wine list hand-selected by renowned Dutch wine specialist Hubrecht Duijker completes the experience.

JOURNEYS OF INSPIRATIONBut nationality apart, Jongerius, Wanders, Visser et al are unusual choices for KLM. Conventionally, aerospace design is dominated by large commercial design consultancies that specialise in the field. Bound by endless logistical, financial and weight constraints, one aeroplane cabin has traditionally ended up looking much like any other.But KLM has always been innovative in this regard: in the company archives is a proposed cabin scheme in headache-inducing primary colours dating from the 1950s and designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, one of the Netherlands’ most famous 20th-century designers. The scheme may never have made it into production, but KLM demonstrated its determination to think outside the box – and Rietveld showed that a designer could work on a highly technical, corporate project without compromising his personal design aesthetic. There’s no doubt that Jongerius has brought her handcrafted, bespoke aesthetic to a strictly regulated, capital intensive industry with great success. The result emphasises both KLM’s Dutch roots and the company’s core values of sustainability and customer focus to deliver on the brand promise of Journeys of Inspiration. And there’s great news for those of us travelling coach: Jongerius will be tackling those cabins next. <

Old KLM stew-ardess uniforms were used to spin new yarn, which was in-corporated into the blue accents of the cradle-to-cradle cabin carpeting

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• Over 2,000 international compa-nies are located in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

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amsterdam inbusiness is the official foreign investment agency of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Almere and Haarlemmermeer). amsterdam inbusiness assists foreign companies with the establishment and expansion of their activities in the Netherlands. We can help you create a convincing business case for setting up in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area by offering practical advice and relevant information. And it’s all free, strictly confidential and without any hidden agenda. Our commitment does not end once you have set up an operation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. We strive to build a long-term relationship in order to be supportive in any phase of development of your company. Considering setting up your business in the Amsterdam Area? Don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to welcoming you in Amsterdam!

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Opened in 2008, Amsterdam’s Expatcenter cuts through the bureaucratic red tape for the Metropolitan Area’s growing number of international companies and their migrant employees.

• Cooperating with the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), the Expatcenter is a one-stop shop for international companies and their migrant employees

• Employers can use the Expatcenter to initiate residency applications before a new employee even arrives in the Netherlands

• Fast-track services mean qualifying expats can begin work as soon as two weeks after their employers apply to the IND

• In one appointment, employees can collect their residence permit and reg-istration with their municipality. This will provide them with a citizen service number (BSN), allowing them, for instance, to open a Dutch bank account

• Following an agreement with the Dutch Tax Department in 2011, applica-tions for the employee 30% tax ruling can now be made via the Expatcenter

• The Expatcenter services international companies across the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

• The Partnership Programme, created in 2009, connects expats with service-providers operating in the expat market

Amsterdam’s appeal lies in its rich cultural heritage, creative culture, commercial dynamism and high quality of life. Ultimately, however, the city’s greatest asset is its people, a healthy – and growing – percentage of whom are international. The Expatcenter was one of the first Dutch schemes to cut the red tape for expats, drastically streamlining relocation procedures and helping them settle in. Five years later, the Expatcenter offers a comprehensive range of services. Together with its partners from the I amsterdam portal site, the

Expatcenter continues to expand its digital support for Amsterdam’s international community, both practical and pleasurable. The recently launched mobile city guide provides a comprehensive cultural agenda plus insider tips on the go.Firm partnerships – with banks and childcare providers, movers, lawyers, language schools and more – mean the Expatcenter has the tools to make an expat’s first few months a little smoother. Because the first step of a journey doesn’t have to be the most difficult one. Welcome to Amsterdam!

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What the Expatcenter can do for you

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