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Dear reader,
What a thrilling week it was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas! Together with StartupDelta and partner organisations, we set up the Holland Tech Square and built a home-away-from-home at the US West Coast for 50 rising Dutch startups. The orange pavilion was the Dutch base of town throughout the week. The pavilion provided a platform for innovators from the Netherlands to share their groundbreaking ideas and technologies, some of which received awards. It's the people behind the ideas that can truly cause change, and I'm delighted that the hard work of our Dutchies did not go by unnoticed.
This is what the Netherlands focuses on: creating tech for good and, in doing so, changing the world for the better. In these moments, I am proud of my country and the people who contribute to the great image of the Netherlands. It's great to start the year with a successful conference, and I look forward to all that is yet to come in 2019!
Enjoy this special newsletter about CES and the visit of the State Secretary to Silicon Valley that followed.
Best,
Gerbert Kunst
Consul General
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The Netherlands at CES 2019
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"The Netherlands has world-class technology and entrepreneurs who aim to use it to tackle major societal challenges," said HRH Prince Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy at StartupDelta, shortly before taking off to Las Vegas for CES 2019.
During the week of the conference, the 50 Dutch startups proved his statement to be true. The Dutch have a passion not only for innovation, but also for people. With an inventive as well as social character, the Netherlands creates tech for good.
Shortly after the official start of CES, the Holland Tech Square was opened by HRH Prince Constantijn van Oranje and State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Mona Keijzer. During the week, the startups showcased their products to 180,000 CES visitors, including investors, press, distributors, and other companies. The pavilion was organized by StartupDelta, RVO, Handelsroute and the consulate.
In addition, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was presented to the startups and the press. This conference will take place June 4 and 5 in the Hague, which the United States and the Netherlands will together organize. Companies can apply now.
Dutch innovative entrepreneurs always look for opportunities in the area of knowledge, financing, and partnerships to improve their products or services," says State Secretary Keijzer. "That's why our government supports them in seizing opportunities in the United States, which is the biggest investor in our country. We search for potential partnerships or specific markets. CES offers both, as does the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in June, which the United States and the Netherlands are organizing together."
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At CES, State Secretary Keijzer received an Innovation Champion award from Gary Shapiro, founder and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), on behalf of the Netherlands. Innovation Champions are known to "outperform other countries in measures of freedom, broadband, entrepreneurial activity, and self-driving vehicles."
In her acceptance speech, State Secretary Keijzer highlighted the "triple helix", or the collaboration between governments, businesses, and universities, as key to the innovative spirit in the Netherlands. She continued to stress this, as well as her national pride, throughout the rest of her visit.
To use the words of Gary Shapiro, "to be leaders in innovation, nations must drop protectionist rules and end barriers that limit them from creating the next great startups that will change the world for the better."
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Check out the video of the Night Watch in Virtual Reality.
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The Holland Tech Square was opened with a virtual-reality version of Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch', produced by digital artist Estella Tse, which was a true spectacle to witness! Visitors could literally step into the master work of Rembrandt, who died 350 years ago this year.
"Rembrandt is one of the greatest old masters of the Dutch arts, and one of our first innovators. Today, we have new masters and innovators, the many Dutch startups who show how the Netherlands is one of the most innovative countries in the world," says Consul General Gerbert Kunst. "In this virtual-reality recreation of Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch', Estella Tse brings together Dutch art and tech, our history and our modern present. It was exciting to share 'The Night Watch' in VR at CES 2019, together with the most innovative Dutch startups. Dutch tech is for good. It delivers smart solutions to the world's biggest challenges, and these startups are ready to make an impressive impact, just as Rembrandt has been doing for more than 350 years."
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From a soft, cuddly sleep robot to non-powered, light-weight exoskeletons, smart wall clocks, and electric autonomous vehicles. The 50 startups at CES showed a wide variety of Dutch innovation. The Netherlands is one of the top startup ecosystems in the world and offers talented people from all over the world the opportunity to explore, communicate, create, and grow into successful innovators.
Noelani Reyes from DashTag, a startup that creates personal soccer trackers to improve players' performance, says her company's goal was to connect with as many relevant people as possible "Being in the largest convention is also a great way to see how other companies present their products, just to be in a room with so many creative minds is enlightening," Reyes says. "We're also looking into opportunities for possible partnerships, so we hope to meet some valuable contacts!"
Daan Pels from Gemvision,, a startup that focuses on augmented reality, launched its "augmented workforce communication" solution at CES. "We hope to see great reactions and people that see Gemvision work in places we haven't thought of yet," says Pels. "This would mean a great deal to Gemvision and the future of this company. Next, we hope to further validate our traction in healthcare, industry, and maritime sectors."
Woei-Sang Tang from Expivi, a 3D e-commerce platform, said the startup "had a successful experience from CES 2018, and (we) believe, with a further developed and mature software, we will succeed even more this year/ We hope to acquire new clients and leads in US and possibly create the first steps towards investment from US venture capitalists."
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Meet Dutchie, the Dutch Unicorn! She was happy to take pictures with all the visitors at the Holland Tech Square, especially HRH Prince Constantijn van Oranje and State Secretary Mona Keijzer!
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State Secretary Keijzer visits Silicon Valley
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After three inspiring days at CES, State Secretary Mona Keijzer traveled to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. This visit started off with the Holland in the Valley event, where the presidents of several Dutch universities - who together form the VSNU - as well as alumni with prominent businesses in the Bay Area connected. During the dinner, attention was directed at the Internships in the Valley platform. The event offered Bay Area professionals and Dutch educational institutions the opportunity to create connections for the future of meaningful student internships.
In the following days, she had meetings with Intel, Google X, companies in life sciences and health industries, and The Vault. She also joined an event on smart mobility and discussed working and living in the Bay Area with Dutch entrepreneurs based here. Keijzer then visited vanMoof, a Dutch bicycle company that opened a shop in San Francisco last summer. She took an electric bike for a ride, as there are quite a few hills in San Francisco!
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Startup Envoy in Los Angeles
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Before visiting CES, Startup Envoy HRH Prince Constantijn visited Los Angeles and met the Dutch tech and business community in Silicon Beach. After launching the Los Angeles Playbook last month, the event was a follow-up to discuss how Dutch startups double down on opportunities in Southern California.
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Did you know...
- Dutch startups at CES received quite some press. For instance, Somnox and Swipeguide. And also Scalys and Cryptohopper.
- The Netherlands now has 5 consulates in the United States, as we opened an office in Atlanta. You might know the consul general: Ard van der Vorst was deputy consul general in San Francisco until 2015.
- Another exciting announcement: Liselore van Thoor will be the new Honorary Consul in Denver, Colorado. We'll introduce her in our next newsletter.
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What’s up next?
- February - March: Anne Frank exhibition in New Mexico
- February 10-13: Visit to New Mexico
- March 18-22: Game Developers Conference in San Francisco
- March 25-27: Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation visits Silicon Valley
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