ROM Utrecht will be testing how the impact of the regional fund’s investments through the proof of concept instrument can be increased by combining it with crowdfunding. Goal of the instrument is to promote innovation in the field of sustainability, health and digital in Utrecht.  Increasing the impact can be done by augmenting the volume of the funding available, with funding by the crowd and by involving the crowd in the development of the innovative approaches. The instrument Focusses on projects that are in the development or growth phase. As in these phases it is often difficult to find funding.  

After the first 3 phases in the assessment process of the instrument (Sending in slide deck Presenting pitch, and data room questionnaire), the term sheet discussions are started. During this project we will asses if this is the right time to put a proposal to the crowd or if a representation of the crowd should be involved earlier in some way. In the contract phase the funding proposal can be put out to the crowd. In this project we will use developed methods to test which kind of crowdfunding is the best match for a certain proposal.

Pilot implementation steps:
Stage 1: examine the potential of crowdfunding in the Utrecht region
Stage 2: examine the terms of cooperation with crowdfinance.
Stage 3: exploration of a set of rules for the cooperation.
Stage 4: set up a market contest
Stage 5: selecting a crowdfinance partner
Stage 6: piloting a few proposals: In the pilot phase of at least one year we will open the crowdfinance cooperation to the public as a testing case. Different kind of projects will be introduced to the crowd. They will be geared towards sustainability, health or digital development.
Stage 7: monitor the pilot and evaluate
Stage 8: decide on policy change based on pilot results
Stage 9: implement potential policy change