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Dear reader,
I cannot believe it has been a year since the pandemic started. I don’t have to tell you how it has impacted all of us. However, I am optimistic, and with the vaccine roll out in the US on schedule, it seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel.
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Unfortunatley, also this year, we cannot celebrate King’s Day the way we are used to. In the Netherlands, the streets will not be filled with orange parties. And here in the US, there won’t be a celebration in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco or on the beaches of Los Angeles.
But as April 27 is coming up, I want to remind you that King’s Day is also a feeling of community, happiness, and freedom. It’s a day for everybody with an orange heart, people like you. So I invite you to take a moment on that day, maybe grab a drink, to reflect on the things that contribute to your orange heart. And keep an eye on our social media.
It has also been a year ago that activities went virtual in our eConsulate. We organized digital trade missions, online matchmaking, and virtual events. Diplomat Magazine wrote an interesting article about our pivot. Also this month we continue to go virtual, with a fact-finding mission on circular urban development.
Together with the consulate team, I wish you a happy spring and a happy King’s Day. We are optimistic that we will meet in person in the fall.
Best, Dirk Janssen
Consul General of the Netherlands in San Francisco
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Circular city of the future
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Fifteen Dutch companies will embark on a digital fact-finding mission to the US West Coast to explore potential collaborations with American companies to develop the circular city of the future. On April 13, Dutch Minister for the Environment Stientje van Veldhoven will launch the three-day mission with California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
The mission on circular urban development runs parallel with the WCEF+Climate digital conference on circular economy, hosted by the Netherlands and Finland, April 15-17. The companies bring a wide variety of solutions, from urban farming to 100 percent sustainable neighborhoods and 3D-printed floors.
In 2020, the Netherlands launched a public-private partnership aimed at circular urban development in the US, organized by Holland Circular Hotspot. Minister Stientje van Veldhoven. “Innovation and collaboration are core to this transition. And these Dutch companies, together with the expertise in California and Arizona, can really make a big impact in closing the loop to a circular economy, a necessity for climate neutrality by 2050.”
Consul General Dirk Janssen: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Both the Netherlands and the US West Coast have innovative ideas how to achieve circularity in the built environment, and we’re happy to bring these experts together during this fact-finding mission and the World Circular Economy Forum.”
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Academic Startup Program goes West Coast
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The 10 best academic startups of the Netherlands have finished their virtual incubator program hosted by Holland in the Valley. Their virtual visit to the US West Coast was one of the prizes for winning the Academic Startup Competition 2020. During the mission, the winners had multiple meetings with investors, entrepreneurs, and other experts who will give them advice and help them expand their network.
The program was launched during a virtual talk show on January 26 with Techleap.nl Special Envoy HRH Prince Constantijn van Oranje, investor Anke Huiskes, and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Lotte Vester.
The program closed March 3rd with a virtual talk show with Pieter Duisenberg, president of the Dutch Association of Universities (VSNU), Gigi Wang of University of California, Berkeley and host Remy Gieling of MT/Sprout.
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Kaminari Medical has developed an intravascular coronary imaging catheter that will improve the outcome of heart catheterisations significantly.
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The future of AI and facial recognition bring some important questions to the table. Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker discussed the latest developments with US experts. Questions included: What rules are needed for their application by government and companies? How can we ensure transparency, security and privacy without blocking innovation? And how can AI improve the judiciary and access to justice while respecting fundamental civil rights?
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Consul General Dirk Janssen joined the official opening of Immersive Van Gogh in San Francisco. In this show, paintings of Van Gogh are projected on a large space, immersing the visitor in his art. Art meets tech in this first show on the US West Coast, developed by Lighthouse Immersive, inc Starvox Entertainment
Dirk Janssen: “Van Gogh’s last words to his brother where ‘the sadness will last forever.’ Yet here we are, 130 years later, celebrating his life and art, in the heart of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where disruption and thinking different are required to survive and succeed.”
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Dutch Design in San Francisco
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The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco presents the exhibition Design by Time until August 15, 2021. Of the 22 designers, seven are Dutch, making it the largest exhibition of Dutch design in the US right now.
Design by Time is the first exhibition to identify and bring together designers whose interest is in expressing the passage of time, a visual expression of life, through the design of objects. There are both known and emerging practitioners, including iconic names, such as Maarten Baas and Hussein Chalayan, and recently graduated designers such as Jacob Olmedo. includes work by seven Dutch designers.
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Curator Ariel Zaccheo explains Dutch Design in Design by Time in San Francisco Museum for Craft and Design.
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Winter in the Netherlands
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This lovely picture of people ice skating at the famous Kinderdijk windmills surely impressed a lot of people. 15,000 retweets and almost 129,000 likes later, it brought our Twitter account 15 minutes of fame. All credits go to the photographer, Rick Bekker, whose photo captured the Netherlands in winter time so well.
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