Three years after its start, Smart Creation welcomes its one hundredth registered business. This is a year earlier than the goal of the project, which forms part of Saxion’s Expertise Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
.jpg)
Oosterveld spinning mill, Smart Creation’s headquarters. (photograph: eazy)
Smart Creation, which is supported by a 1.8 million euro subsidy from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, originally started as an initiative to stimulate starting entrepreneurs, who focus on the development and production of materials with special characteristics. “We introduced an alteration in that last year”, says assistent project leader Margot Knispel, who admits that the original focus was too tight. “We now focus on creative entrepreneurs starting out.”
In the past year, the registrations of new entrepreneurs went very quickly. Fashion magazine, PS Magazine, set up by two – now former – Saxion students, is one of the project’s success stories.“We are now going to focus extra strongly on cooperation between the smarters, as we call the participants. We already do so in different ways, for example by a network café and brainstorm sessions.”
The subsidy from the ministry ends in one year. Knispel and project leader Berrie Coelman are busy thinking up plans, so that Smart Creation also remains viable after the period of subsidy. Knispel: “For it would be a real pity if something that is going so well should end up to exist.