Katleen De Naeyer from the City of Antwerp presented her city as part of the Startup Cities Stage at SXSW 2019. https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102797 Hosted by Sam Michel, Chinwag.

1. City of Antwerp - Me Convention
Startup City at SXSW, TX
10/03/2019Katleen De Naeyer

2. • Centrally located in Flanders,
Belgium, Europe
• 527 500 inhabitants
• 178 different nationalities
• Pocket sized metropolis
• Dense ecosystem
Some facts & figures

3. Economic Passport
No 2 Port of
Europe
No 2 oil and
chemical cluster
in the World
No 1 Diamond
center of the
World
No 1 Fashion &
retail destination
in Belgium

4. Innovation Clusters
Circulaire
economie
Digital innovation
Circular economy
InternetofThings

5. Digital Innovation

6. Digital Innovation
Industry
4.0
E-health
Smart port
& logistics
Smart
mobility

7. Government as a partner
§ Ambition: international reference city for Internet of Things
§ Connecting with the market and research partners
§ Government as a partner in innovation, not an obstacle
§ Government as a matchmaker
§ Government as a client of innovation (BuyFromStartups)
Ecosystems & Partnerships

8. Ecosystems & Partnerships
4. Growth &
Internationalizing
3. Testing &
commercialization
2. Incubation & acceleration
1. Stimulate
Entrepeneurship

9. Providing collaborative spaces for innovators
Gate 15 – TakeoffAntwerp Startup-village The Beacon

10. Incubation - Acceleration

11. Providing opportunities with “buy from startups”

12. Antwerp, City of Things

13. Experimenting with a programmatic approach
Smart Zone
Program

14. Pilot cases tailored to local needs
Smart Zone
Program
Smart lighting Safe crossing

15. The Port of Antwerp

16. The Beacon – the community
NxtPort
SyncTrace
The

17. The Beacon – the Community
But also a global CommunityNot just a Building

18. 195
225
287
350
398
423
435
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
+123%
Startups in Antwerp
Evolution of total number of start-ups and scale-ups in Antwerp ecosystem (cumulative) – 2018 study AMS/Sirris
Start-up & scale-up output: 261 in 2018
Growth: 123% from 2012

19. Some innovative businesses
IoT Data Science Smart Cities/
Industries
Industrial IoT Media &
Entertainment
Logistics Smart BuildingFashion & Tech Logistics
E-health
Fintech

20. Sentiance “One of the many advantages of the
City of Antwerp as our business
location, is the appeal of the City
towards attracting international
employees”
Frank Verbiest, CTO Sentiance

21. Jasnarok
Jasna Van Rokegem
• Started 2016
• Active in Europe/ India /
USA
• Sectors: working on cross
overs between Fashion –
telecom, business
healthcare, automotive
and even space!
JasnaRok
Keynote Speaker at SXSW
2019 “Fashion is the
interface of the Future”
March 13th
2-3PM

22. Some innovative businesses
IoT Data Science Smart Cities/
Industries
Industrial IoT Media &
Entertainment
Logistics Smart BuildingFashion & Tech Logistics
E-health
Fintech
Fast-growing European
tech company Rombit
inaugural winner of
International Bridge SF
award
Unifly partners with
State of Nevada Test
Site for Milestone FAA
UTM Pilot Progra
JasnaRok
Keynote Speaker at the
Cross Innovation
Industry Summit at the
space center of NASA,
Houston

23. Why Antwerp
“In the small Belgian city of Antwerp, a
startup revolution is happening. This
tiny European country already ranks
17th out of 137 countries on the Global
Entrepreneurship Index, which takes into
account infrastructure, locals’
qualifications and factors such as
broadband connectivity. Belgian
startups have one of the highest success
rates in Europe, a stat based on length
of survival and success.”
Good climate to
invest – tax
reforms & R&D
incentives

24. Why Antwerp
5th Place – outranking cities such as Paris,
Vancouver, Barcelona, London

25. A last impression from Atypical Antwerp

26. Questions?
Business & Innovation
contact B&I: Katleen De Naeyer
katleen.denaeyer@antwerpen.be
tel. +32 (0)499 771174
www.businessinantwerp.eu