Amsterdam Knowledge Capital Where ICT and business meet Amsterdam Knowledge Capital Where ICT and business meet 1 Contents Introduction 5 1 Knowledge Capital Amsterdam 7 Knowledge Clusters International Orientation Infrastructure Business and Financial Services Knowledge Workers 2 Amsterdam: ICT Capital 13 ICT in each Sector ICT Infrastructure Creative Amsterdam ICT Services and the Dutch 3 ICT Research and Development 22 University of Amsterdam VU University CWI SARA: ICT Innovation 4 Amsterdam: City of ICT Events 35 World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) PicNic Cross Media Week Other Events 5 Amsterdam: Location for Business 36 Zuidas Amsterdam: ICT and Business Science Park Amsterdam: ICT, Research and Education Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: ICT and mobility Other Locations 6 More information 43 Colophon 44 2 3 Introduction Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is an excellent business location. This brochure brings together the key facts and fi gures about the city as a knowledge and business centre, with the focus squarely on ICT. While Amsterdam is not the only city dedicated to building a solid base in the knowledge economy, it never- theless has assets that are diffi cult for its European rivals to match. Over the next few pages, you’ll discover the highlights of Amsterdam’s ICT strengths. We hope that you’ll enjoy getting to know Amsterdam, the knowledge capital. An Inspiring City intellectual and artistic climate. Amsterdam has many attractions, Amsterdam has a strong tradi- Among the city’s most famous most of which are within walking tion as a city of inspiration. It was natives are the scholars Spinoza distance of each other. Just one already leading the way in trade and Grotius. Amsterdam was example is the Van Gogh Museum, and creativity by the end of the also home to great artists like devoted to one of the world’s Middle Ages. The city may be Rembrandt. An interesting fact best-loved painters. And of course, relatively small in size, but that that speaks volumes: half of all of the Rijksmuseum, which displays didn’t stop it becoming one of the the books published in the world works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and world’s most powerful cities. Down in the 17th century came from the other Dutch masters. The city is the ages, Amsterdam has always Netherlands. also home to the Concertgebouw been a centre for global trade and Orchestra, the Dutch National manufacturing. In fact, in the 17th When people talk about Amster- Ballet and the Netherlands Opera. century, the Netherlands (under dam, they often mean the historic the leadership of Amsterdam) was city centre, which is indeed a mar- The entire historic city centre is an economic giant. Back then, the vellous place. But new and exciting itself one enormous attraction Netherlands occupied a position economic, cultural and real-estate – packed with graceful and his- comparable to that of the United developments are now happen- toric buildings, picturesque canals, States today. ing all over the city – often in the elegant bridges, world-class muse- lesser-known parts of town – and in ums, and a wealth of art galleries, In the 17th century, for example, the wider Amsterdam Metropolitan shops, restaurants, English-lan- the Netherlands had half of the Area. guage movie theatres and other world’s merchant ships, as well entertainment venues. as the world’s biggest navy. The International Orientation Amsterdam Stock Exchange was Amsterdam has a strong interna- Amsterdam invites and welcomes founded way back in 1602. In fact, tional orientation. It is an open, you as a visitor and a business the world’s very fi rst shares were welcoming city with its sights fi rmly partner. issued in Amsterdam, in 1606. The fi xed on the future. Local residents Netherlands had overseas pos- hail from all corners of the world. sessions on four continents – from In fact, almost half of the local Indonesia in Asia, all the way to population has its roots in foreign New York City (then known as New countries. Most of the popula- Amsterdam) in North America. tion can speak English. Moreover, Amsterdam also attracts millions of Intellectual and Artistic Riches foreign tourists. Indeed, the city is On top of this, Amsterdam has now Europe’s fi fth-biggest tourist long been blessed with a rich destination. 4 5 1 Knowledge Capital Amsterdam Amsterdam, the city of the philoso- Nowadays, the applications have to the most advanced GPS appli- pher Spinoza (1632-1677), was also changed, but Amsterdam is still in cations, it’s all happening here in the city of Jan van der Heyden – the the top league of science. From Amsterdam. ‘Dutch Leonardo da Vinci’. In 1672, complex grid technology to the fi rst Van der Heyden invented the hose transatlantic lambda connection, and Knowledge Clusters fi re extinguisher, a hydraulic pump from computer based HIV-simulation There are still discoveries to be made which achieved a constant pressure. His idea for street lighting using oil lamps found a ready market, and was Figure 1 soon found everywhere from Paris Amsterdam’s wide diversity of knowledge: the main knowledge-intensive clusters by to the Japanese island of Deshima. location (Source: O+S/AIM) • ICT and new media • University • Arts • Financial institutions • Higher education (professional) • Life sciences • Media 6 7 Stockholm 2.00 Copenhagen 1.20 Dublin 1.40 Berlin 1.20 London 1.10 Brussels 0.40 Frankfurt 1.20 Paris 1.05 Geneva 1.30 Milan 1.45 Barcelona 2.20 Madrid 2.35 Figure 2 Figure 3 The fi gure above shows the international partnerships of the Amsterdam universities Travel times to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, in hours and minutes (Source: KLM) and knowledge to be acquired in cooperation between the city coun- business solutions. The Netherlands International Orientation has been clear to Amsterdammers Infrastructure Amsterdam. ‘Knowledge is power’, cil, businesses, academia and the holds a top ten position in the One of the key reasons for the for centuries. Amsterdam is a multi-purpose hub, according to the familiar aphorism. remaining ‘knowledge clusters’ (see INSEAD list of the world’s most inno- economic and scientifi c success of This international focus is a key and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is Yet knowledge alone is no longer fi g. 1) to make this knowledge acces- vative countries. Amsterdam over the last fi ve centu- characteristic of the city’s research one of the largest airports in Europe. enough: in the 21st century, it is the sible and to commercialise it. ries is its international orientation. institutes, which have always fi gured Schiphol employs around 58,000 development, exchange, application All of this is made possible by the Amsterdam is the most international prominently in international networks people, and 42.5 million travellers and commercialisation of knowledge The strength of Knowledge Capital presence of a good supply of knowl- city in the world. Its inhabitants in all types of fi eld. This results in all pass through the airport every year. that spell success for economic Amsterdam is based on its variety edge workers, an international ori- include the world record of 177 dif- kinds of exchange programmes for There are connections to all the regions. Today, any knowledge of research fi elds and multi-discipli- entation, and excellent physical and ferent nationalities, and there are students, but also in extended scien- world’s regions, and yet the city cen- capital worthy of the name needs nary approach to current scientifi c technological infrastructure. A broad companies from all over the world tifi c networks with their crystallisation tre is only 20 minutes away. more than knowledge-developing challenges. This results in a good range of facilitating companies is based in the region. When Thomas point in Amsterdam. universities. It must also have close climate for innovation with regard to another essential factor. Friedman argues that The World is Amsterdam also has excellent Flat, he is noticing something that international train connections to 8 9 • 200 Jobs • 2,000 Jobs share of employment: much lower than average Figure 4 lower than average Knowledge intensive employment in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area: people working at fi nancial institutions and in business services, higher professional higher than average education and scientifi c education, ICT and new media and the creative industries (Source: O+S/LISA) much higher than average Germany and (as of 2008) a high- Knowledge Workers In the next chapter, we’ll focus on speed line to Brussels and Paris. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area the position of ICT in the region of Furthermore, a network of roads and has 2.2 million inhabitants, two uni- Amsterdam. You shall see that Dutch waterways links the region to the rest versities, six professional universities, people have ICT in their blood, mak- of Europe. Finally, Amsterdam also two academic hospitals, 40 indepen- ing Amsterdam a true ICT capital and has an innovative port: the fi rst in the dent research institutes, and over a natural, and accessible, gateway to world to have a covered terminal and 100,000 students in higher educa- Europe. a container terminal where tranship- tion. ments can be loaded on one side, and unloaded on the other. The city offers high-tech companies a large pool of highly educated Business and Financial Services and well-trained professionals. Of Some of the largest fi nancial institu- the people working in Amsterdam, tions in the world, plus an assortment 44% have been in higher education. of supporting service agencies, have Knowledge-intensive businesses grouped themselves in Amsterdam’s account for 330,000 jobs, amounting Zuidas area. Of the 24 companies to one-third of total employment in that determine the AEX, 15 are the region.