In November StartLife strengthened its international ties. StartLife visited Greece, Vietnam and welcomed guests from all over the world.

3rd of November – Delegates of Dutch embassies

Delegates of Economic Affairs from 22 Dutch embassies worldwide visited StartLife to get inspired by our startups, the Stage Gate Program and the way we support entrepreneurs. These delegates are responsible for the coordination of international business relations all over the world. Therefore, StartLife set up a captivating program. Incubation Manager Jannet de Jong kicked-off the event with an introduction. Eagleview took over with some brilliant examples of their airborne mapping & crop analysis. Hacklent continued, a startup who has created one of the first natural meal replacers. Last but not least, Livestock Robotics pitched its CollEGGtor: a machine which removes wrongly laid eggs in poultry stables. Startlife left the delegates with great ideas and new international contacts.

Bastiaan Vroegindeweij from Livestock Robotics showing the CollEGGtor

11th of November – Thessaloniki, Greece

Greek entrepreneurs in the field of agriculture and food were trained by StartLife team members Jannet de Jong and Gitte Schober. The 4th Agri-Food Masterclass took place at the OK!Thess co-working space from the 11th to the 14th of November. The Masterclass was organized by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Greece, Orange Grove, Dutch experts from Wageningen University & Research, StartLife and AgriEnt. The event brought together young entrepreneurs from the flourishing Greek startup scene and Dutch excellence in the field of agriculture and business development. Caspar Veldkamp, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Greece: “we believe there is exceptional talent available in Greece. We need to nurture it to make the economy grow again and create business partners for Europe’s future.”

Participants of the Agri-Food Masterclass at Thessaloniki

 14th of November – Vietnam

StartLife participated in the NutriSEA project in Vietnam. NutriSEA is a consortium of 14 partner institutions from Europe and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar). The aim is to build HR capacity to ensure a sustainable food value chain model, based on entrepreneurship and creating added value. It focussed on a food-related curriculum development, cooperation with enterprises via Technology Transfer Offices and strengthening regional and (inter)national networking. The long-term goal is to set up a regional food network with stakeholders from academia, business and authorities. Jan Meiling, represented StartLife as the entrepreneurial branch of Wageningen University & Research.

21st of November – Berytech, Lebanon

From the 21st to the 24th of November StartLife welcomed a Lebanese delegation from the Dutch Embassy in Lebanon and Berytech. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands has granted a two year program on supporting entrepreneurs in agro-food in Lebanon. An acceleration program, an active agro food cluster and startup support will be developed by Berytech together with FoodValleyNL and StartLife. By visiting FoodValleyNL and StartLife, the delegation gained insight into the programs, support tools and network activities of our network. They met the FoodValleyNL and StartLife team, StartUpDelta and several startups at the StartHub. Starting in January 2017, FoodValleyNL, StartLife and Berytech will collaborate innovation a two year acceleration program for Lebanese agrotech and food tech startup’s and an innovative industry cluster. More information about Berytech can be found on the website.

 

The Libanese delegates visiting Unifarm