UPALMERE!

Almere is strongly committed to stimulating economic growth and innovation, both within the city and in the region. A key strategic pillar here is to encourage and facilitate tech-driven businesses, with a special focus on social and transition tasks. The action program UPALMERE! plays a crucial role in this, helping Almere startups and scale-ups to develop and thus contribute to Almere's future. The UPALMERE! team is part of the Economic Development Department of the Municipality of Almere and consists of four experienced professionals, two of whom - Constance Buyne and Debby Kruit - have been involved from the start. Jean-Paul Mau-Asam and Xander Bakker later joined the team.

Team UPALMERE! (from left to right) Debby Kruit, Jean-Paul Mau Asam, Constance Buyne & Xander Bakker

Behind the scenes of UPALMERE!

''We encourage, facilitate, connect and inspire from the municipal action program''. Debby adds:"We are not business coaches, but point tech-driven startups and scale-ups in the direction of funding, offer various platforms for networking, storytelling, access to talent or knowledge. For our target group, it is often difficult to find investors because, without a proven business model, they do not qualify for regular bank loans. Therefore, they have to seek alternative sources of funding, such as grants or angel investors. UPALMERE! advises them on this and increases their chances of getting growth capital by cooperating with parties such as Horizon Flevoland."

Constance Buyne

Young policy

Constance: "For the first time, the municipality has identified the topic of startups and scale-ups as a strategic spearhead in the 2019-2023 economic agenda. That's where UPALMERE! came from. We focus very specifically on startups and scale-ups in the true sense of the word: young, innovative, tech-driven companies with a repeatable and scalable concept that focus on rapid growth and new markets. Unlike other big cities, until five years ago Almere did not have a special policy for these types of companies, even though they are very important for economic growth, innovativeness and strengthening the local entrepreneurial climate. With UPALMERE! we have been catching up over the past few years and have already helped many startups and scale-ups further on their way."

"SMEs are the engine of the economy, startups and scale-ups are the lubricant. If you want to keep your economic system running, you need the innovative power of startups and scale-ups, among others," Constance informed.

Concrete initiatives

One of the initiatives of UPALMERE! is the program the Startup Hero Journey. Here, a group of promising companies from Almere get the chance to follow a six-month program consisting of a number of workshops, master classes and pitch training sessions. Here you will learn, for example, how to effectively enter the market and insights for international growth. At the end of the program, the companies present their innovations and an expert jury chooses the winner. There is also a mentoring program where experienced entrepreneurs are paired with startups and scale-ups. One of the entrepreneurs who took part in last year's Startup Hero Journey is now a mentor to one of this year's participants. And that is exactly what UPALMERE! stands for: a dynamic community of companies, among others, that learn from and strengthen each other.

Bigger than Almere

Within the municipal organisation, UPALMERE! collaborates with colleagues from the Economic Development and Land Affairs, Education and Talent, Circular Economy and Energy departments, among others. In this way, UPALMERE! is involved in current (transition) themes for the city of Almere.

The world of UPALMERE! reaches as far as the ambitions of Almere's startups and scale-ups. Many innovative entrepreneurs are keen to operate internationally. Jean-Paul articulates, "We work with various partners such as the Green Innovation Hub. On a regional level, we pull together with organisations such as Horizon Flevoland and the Province of Flevoland. Nationally, we work together with The Next Web and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO) , among others. We offer our target group the opportunity to participate in the RVO's trade missions and orientate themselves on the international market.''

Jean-Paul Mau Asam

Cooperation with education

An important part of the Municipality of Almere's strategy is to encourage public-private partnerships, between municipalities, the business community and education. UPALMERE! also plays a role in this. Especially close are the contacts with Windesheim Almere. Debby: "At the beginning of each academic year, we always determine which parts of their program connect with our target group and where we add value. For instance, we recently helped with a hackathon in which Windesheim students worked out a complete business model in three days Also, we are watching a program Windesheim is developing for student enterprises. In addition, we sometimes link students to startups with a particular research question. This is a win-win for both parties. The entrepreneurs get access to extra capacity, knowledge and innovative power. The students get a chance to contribute to innovations and see how the business world works."

Debby Kruit

Ambitious and driven

Jean-Paul talks enthusiastically about UPALMERE! and the important role he and the team play in the city's growth: "Working for the Municipality of Almere is incredibly dynamic, as we are still pioneering. It's great to contribute to the economic growth of a developing city. My dream is that more and more startups settle here and a vibrant community is created, complete with incubators, accelerators and also a university. This would benefit not only Almere, but also the Netherlands and the rest of the world. Our country has always been known as an innovative country, and we need to maintain that position."

What's next?

The future of UPALMERE! looks promising. 2023 saw the publication of Almere's new updated economic agenda, which runs until 2027. In it, developing an innovative ecosystem for startups and scale-ups has remained a key focus. Elsewhere in the country, there is also a lot of focus on startups and scale-ups. For instance, Invest NL has announced that it will set up a special fund for scale-ups together with pension funds, development companies and private parties. A great development that the UPALMERE! team warmly welcomes.

Stay tuned!

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