Yes!Delft recently climbed to number four in the rankings of the best European business incubators for 2015. This annual ranking is an initiative of Swedish-based UBI Global, a research and consulting firm that focuses on performance analysis of business incubation around the world.
An initiative by TU Delft, the city of Delft and TNO Companies, YES!Delft promotes entrepreneurship, specifically in industries where technology plays a key role. The majority of their startups build tangible products that offer solutions to problems in the real world. According to their website, over the last 10 years YES!Delft has supported more than 160 startups, that collectively generated more than 300 million euros in investment and created more than 1,000 jobs.
Up from the number nine spot in 2014, the team at Yes!Delft was pleased according to marketing manager Sagar Boers. “We know that we offer a strong incubation programme that caters to the needs of the startups. However we’re pleasantly surprised and delighted to hit the top five this year,” he said. “It’s an acknowledgement for our focus over the last 10 years: building tomorrow’s leading firms.”
Such a jump in the rankings seems to be the result of some continuous improvement efforts within the organization. “We always look at how we can make our incubation offering a better fit that matches the startup needs. Over the last year we did an assessment of our incubation programme and requested feedback from the entrepreneurs,” said Boers. One of the things they learned is that entrepreneurs see a need for even more push and to become more strict and committed. This is one of the reasons they are launching a new incubation programme next year. This new programme will put more emphasis on delivery and closing a deal, for example securing funding and finding a launching customer or partner. Boers noted that they will be more demanding in terms of what they expect from startups. “This is in their best interest, to build high quality and scalable technology and eventually become that leading firm,” he said.
Going forward, Boers said they will work to build on their strong track record with the ambition to become Europe’s best tech incubator. “We welcome ideas, entrepreneurs and startups from all over Europe to join our programme,” he said. “On a daily basis we’ll continue what we do best: support entrepreneurs in their startup journey.”
Also making the top 10 in the UBI rankings and strengthening the reputation of entrepreneurship in the Netherlands was UtrechtInc, at number six.
For a full list of the rankings visit their website.
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