BLUE CITY
About this good practice
Even though incubators are full of start-ups related to Circular Economy and sustainability projects, this is more a thread within the incubator, rather than its main goal. The peculiarity of Blue City 010 lays in its willingness to not only host start-ups related to Blue Economy, but also to gather them in a multidisciplinary environment where the cross-fertilization between activities is promoted, so that synergies between start-ups are generated.
The location of the incubator is coherent with the mission: indeed it is hosted in a old abandoned aquapark that has been refurbished to enable the hosting of almost 50 activities. Even though the GP is relatively young, it was funded in 2015, nowadays 13 start-ups are active within Blue City 010. In order to join the project, start-ups must undergo a selection process where the potentialities of the project are evaluated. The main stakeholders of the GP are both the direct actors involved, the start-ups hosted by Blue City 010, and -on a wider scale- the whole city of Rotterdam, as one of the main activities of Blue City 010 is to boost the finding of solutions for local challenges and to connect the start-ups with the activities outside the incubator.
Resources needed
The main team is made of 16 people that are currently involved in Blue City 010. The GP received an economic support from the municipality for the refurbishing of the building.
Evidence of success
After only two years of activity, Blue City 010 hosts already 13 start-ups and has become a reference point at the local and international level as a case study of incubator focused specifically on Circular and Blue Economy, hosting several events and delegations coming from several different countries.
Potential for learning or transfer
One of the main problems of start-ups is to overcome the initial phases dominated by difficulties and ensure their own sustainability in the long run. However, already during the incubator phase, the survival rate of start-ups is very low. This is partly due to the fact that new born start-ups are very focused on a specific topic and are therefore less resilient to changes; the creation of interconnections between start-ups could generate new synergies and support them mutually in the very delicate initial phases, in a way that traditional business support cannot do. As this is a need encountered in almost all the incubators, the degree of transferability of the GP is very high.
Further information
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Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
BLUE CITY 010