I am enormously proud of what the ROM InWest team has built up over this period: from a newcomer in the region to a recognisable connector and investor in the North Holland innovation ecosystem. I am also proud of the impact that entrepreneurs have achieved, in part thanks to our support. These bold risk-takers and doers are contributing with their innovations to a future-proof North Holland economy.
Innovating and investing in one home
An anniversary is a great moment to look back, but above all to look ahead. For although we have built a great deal in five years, the work on a strong, innovative economy is never finished. Through innovation and investment, we are continually working on societal impact and the future earning capacity of North Holland. Our business developers help entrepreneurs to advance their innovation: from a promising idea to a strong business case, a scalable business model and a solution for which a market actually exists. Our investment teams can then provide capital at times when private financiers still consider the risk too great. That combination of innovating and investing is what makes ROM InWest special. There are plenty of other financiers. But because we have both disciplines in-house, we can guide entrepreneurs at an early stage and better prepare them for financing and growth. The resulting interaction between innovation and capital moves the entire ecosystem forward. Our goal is therefore not only to help individual companies, but to make the entire ecosystem take off.
From smart agriculture to circular construction
Agurotech is a fine example of this. This Amsterdam-based technology company develops sensors and software that enable farmers to use water and fertilisers more precisely. In doing so, the company contributes to a more sustainable and future-proof food system. ROM InWest helped Agurotech with innovation and subsequently invested, alongside other parties, in the company's growth. The company now serves hundreds of customers in more than twenty countries. Drystack also demonstrates what innovation can achieve. The company developed a system that allows bricks to be stacked without mortar. This makes facades demountable and reusable, while making the construction process faster and cleaner. An ostensibly practical innovation thus provides an answer to several major issues at once: resource consumption, CO₂ emissions, construction speed and the shortage of skilled tradespeople. These are the entrepreneurs who make social change tangible. Our task is to ensure that their solutions do not get stuck in the development phase, but reach the market and are able to scale up.
Bringing worlds together
Innovative businesses do not grow in a vacuum. They require knowledge institutions, governments, financiers, launching customers and other companies. ROM InWest brings those worlds together: the public sector to entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs to the public sector, financiers to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to financiers. This only succeeds when parties are willing to step outside their comfort zones and ask themselves: what is our shared responsibility here to make an impact? A good example is The Sleeping Giant, the collaboration through which we, alongside the Amsterdam Economic Board and other partners, are making the strong yet fragmented Life Sciences & Health and biotech ecosystem in the region more visible and accessible. In doing so, we have also identified a significant funding gap. To enable biotech companies to truly scale up, this region needs a fund of approximately 100 million euros. Before such a fund can exist, the problem must first be jointly recognised, substantiated and placed on the agenda. That too is ecosystem development.
Innovation makes us stronger
The Wennink report emphasises the importance of strong value chains, future earning capacity and strategic autonomy. The nine Regional Development Agencies (ROMs) are jointly responding to this. For instance, we are in talks with the ministry regarding better early-stage financing so that promising businesses can continue to innovate and grow. New economic and geopolitical developments only make our work more urgent. Think of themes such as security and resilience. That is why dual-use has been added as a focus area. In our province, we have great innovation potential among companies whose technology can be deployed for both civilian and security purposes. Through the SecFund, such enterprises gain access to financing. P-X Systems has now become the first North Holland company to receive an investment from it. We were also one of the co-founders of MINDBase Amsterdam, where innovative businesses and Defence can find each other more easily. Alongside security, this is also about technological knowledge, high-value employment and the ability to be less dependent on others as a region and as a country.
Continuing to build together
After five years, we are seeing an innovation system in North Holland that is working better and better. This has been made possible in part by the central government, the province and the municipalities that finance ROM InWest and actively work with us. Their involvement gives entrepreneurs access to knowledge, networks and capital that the market does not always make available in the early stages. The impact is then returned to the region in the form of new solutions, sustainable business activity, employment and a stronger economy. An innovation ecosystem sometimes resembles a Rubik's cube. As soon as you twist one side, something changes somewhere else as well. New technology, financing issues, societal challenges and geopolitical developments continue to change the playing field. That is the reality in which we operate.
The past five years have shown what is possible when entrepreneurs, governments, knowledge institutions and financiers join forces. Let us therefore keep turning, connecting and investing. So that North Holland remains a region in the coming years where good ideas can grow into businesses that truly make a difference.
