“Together we create a community with impact”
Kazerne’s Annemoon Geurts is never far away when new initiatives around Tech & Design are created. So again, it’s no wonder that she is at the heart of an idea to start a weekly get-together for people from Eindhoven’s TDK-community: technicians, designers, knowledge workers, but also entrepreneurs, companies, education, and government. “In other words, the ecosystem that shapes Brainport. From student to CEO, from a startup to the mayor.”
Geurts, who gathered some 20 people around her idea, believes that connecting top talent with their ideas to the opportunities will fuel innovation. “In building the community we actively focus on (potential) TDK top talents, commissioning companies, and financiers. Together we create an accessible network of people who matter; a community with impact. The aim is to inspire each other, to accelerate innovation, to generate new partnerships and more business. And thus make a joint contribution to a livable world of tomorrow. In short: give to grow.”
Geurts and her team want to start EHV Innovation Café on June 7; from then on (almost) every Thursday from 17:00 to 19:00 the doors at De Kazerne will be opened for this meeting. “The idea has been around for some time. Thanks to Brabant C and the municipality of Eindhoven, we at Kazerne Foundation finally have the power to execute it.” EHV Innovation Café will not only be about socialising, but there will also be “compact break-out sessions with pitches, expert talks, discussions as well as workshops, lasting up to half an hour parallel to the drinks. English spoken, of course.”
For the development of the Eindhoven Innovation Café, the organisers have examined proven models such as those of the Venture Café in Rotterdam, Geurts says. “Based on our findings, we develop our own concept fitted to our TDK community. Our aim is to develop a non-profit organization that largely relies on volunteers.”
Although there is not much time until the first meetup, Geurts is confident that this will work out. “If we bring together innovators and entrepreneurs to foster spontaneous conversations and cross-pollination of ideas, they will come up with never-before-imagined innovations to make the world a better place and generate economic growth.”
Annemoon Geurts is still looking for more people who want to get involved in EHV Innovation Café: [email protected].
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