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The winners of the Brabant Startup Awards – an event of Innovation Origins with the support of the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij BOM – present themselves on Monday in front of a delegation from the American festival South by South West (SXSW) and the city of Austin, Texas. Their performance fits within a broader visit of the Americans to Brainport Eindhoven and Amsterdam. They want to get to know the Dutch creative industry; on the one hand, to keep a sharp eye on potential participants for their own festival, and on the other hand to gain a foothold in Europe. SXSW in Austin will take place next year from 8 to 17 March.

new dutch wave
New Dutch Wave in Austin

The 15 people from Austin in the Netherlands are accompanied by New Dutch Wave, which has been in contact with SXSW for some time now. New Dutch Wave has been the place where the Dutch creative industry gathers and presents itself to a large international audience during SXSW. Today the Americans are at the Amsterdam Dance Event, from Sunday they set course to Eindhoven to visit a wide range of companies there until Wednesday, but especially to immerse themselves in the Dutch Design Week.

This ‘incoming trade mission’ called Counterwave is made possible by Brabant C and the investment fund for Culture, together with Creative Holland, Westergasfabriek, Gemeente Eindhoven, Hightech XL, Eindhoven 365, BOM, Brainport Development and The Living Museum.

For Eindhoven, this visit is about more than just SXSW. The two cities want to strengthen their ties around the themes of smart city, smart mobility and renewable energy. For this reason, Mayor John Jorritsma visited Austin earlier this year. On top of the twinning, the two cities are also looking for ways to give SXSW and Dutch Design Week a permanent place at each other’s festivals.

The pitches of the winners of the Brabant Startup Awards will be given Monday from 13:00 in the pavilion of the province of Brabant on the Ketelhuisplein. Other startups from Brainport will also get the chance to show themselves. The program starts at 12 pm with presentations by HighTechXL, the province of Brabant and SXSW, among others. The startups that give their pitches from 13:00 are:

Kontou
MANUS VR
ATO Gear
Totaly tuned
Symphonic Cinema
Studyportals
Dutch Rose Media
Hocosto
Expivi
Flow.ai
Morphotonics