BUSINESS CASE

BRIGHTLANDS SMART SERVICES

CAMPUS HEERLEN
FUNDING CASE

Frederic Dai 1355368

Guillaume Piront 1361821
Lotus van Oers 1354310
Jennifer Nijs 1020390


Executive Summary

This report was written in order to explore the different options of funding. We start off with the

company profile and the central problem of Brightlands Smart Services Campus. It was

discovered that the company does not receive enough funding to be self-sustainable.

After this we conduct research in the subjects of subsidies, franchise start-up loans, crowd

funding and angel financing.

Furthermore, the current situation has been analysed internally and externally in order to fully

understand and utilize the information for the best possible outcome. It has been concluded that

internally, Brightlands did not apply for any funding yet. Most of BSSCs revenue comes from

renting out offices. In addition, the external environment shows the researchs findings towards

the funding opportunities. It has been divided between agencies, grants, governmental &

international funding and benchmarking.

Afterwards, the same layout has been used to describe the added value of the findings to

Brightlands Smart Services Campus.

In order to achieve the desired outcome, the Smart Services campus needs to think about how to

get from the current situation to the desired situation. The benefit of the campus would be to

increase human capital and the ability to allocate tasks and possible researches that needs to be

done.


Recommendations have been made in order to provide BSSC with different options to increase

their funding opportunities. The first option is to hire interns, as BSSC does not have any interns

yet. They can help the Campus with several tasks and research studies. They can also pair up with

partners that offer unique services, for example Brightlands Innovation Factory in Chemelot

Geleen. Brightlands can also work with an agency. These agencies provide in house advice on

funding options to Brightlands and also to the start-ups within Brightlands. The last

recommendation is the application of the Horizon 2020 grant.

A few of the interviews were added in the appendix.



List of abbreviations

BSSC Brightlands Smart Services Campus

SME Small & Medium Enterprises

BISS Business Intelligence & Smart Services

BIF Brightlands Innovation Factory

BMHC Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus



Table of Content

Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 2

List of abbreviations....................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 1: Research Set Up ........................................................................................................ 10
1.1 Introduction to chapter ...................................................................................................... 10
1.2 Company Profile ................................................................................................................. 10
1.3 Central problem ................................................................................................................. 12
1.3.1 Problem statement....................................................................................................... 12
1.3.2 Current situation ......................................................................................................... 12
1.3.3 Desired situation .......................................................................................................... 12
1.4 Company Goal .................................................................................................................... 12
1.4.1 Short-term goal ............................................................................................................ 12
1.4.2 Long-term goal ............................................................................................................ 13
1.5 Researcher goal and research questions: ......................................................................... 13
1.6 Methodology and Justifications ........................................................................................ 14
1.7 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 2 Literature Review ................................................................................................... 20
2.1 Subsidies .............................................................................................................................. 20
2.1.1 Advantages of subsidy ................................................................................................. 21
2.1.2 Disadvantages of subsidy ............................................................................................ 22
2.1.3 Conclusion of subsidy.................................................................................................. 22
2.2 Franchise Start-ups Loans................................................................................................. 23
2.2.1 The first steps to receive franchise start-up loans .................................................... 23
2.2.2 The financial implication of becoming a franchisee ................................................. 23
2.2.3 The on-going obligations ............................................................................................. 24
2.2.4 Financing from commercial banks ............................................................................ 25
2.2.5 Financing from other sources..................................................................................... 25
2.2.6 Financing from franchisors ........................................................................................ 26
2.3 Crowd funding .................................................................................................................... 27
2.3.1 The advantages of Crowd funding ............................................................................. 28
2.3.2 The disadvantages of Crowd funding ........................................................................ 29
2.4.1 Business Angel Seduction ........................................................................................... 32
2.4.2 Angels and Venture Capitalists .................................................................................. 34
2.5 Findings of Literature review............................................................................................ 35


Chapter 3 Current Situation (IST) .......................................................................................... 37

3.1 Brightlands .......................................................................................................................... 37
3.1.1 Founding Fathers ........................................................................................................ 37
3.1.2 Income .......................................................................................................................... 39
3.1.3 Marketing ..................................................................................................................... 40
3.1.4 Costs.............................................................................................................................. 41
3.2 Externally ................................................................................................................................ 43
3.2.1 Agencies ............................................................................................................................ 43
3.2.1.1 Wirtschaftsfrderung Limburg-Weilburg-Diez GmbH ....................................... 43
3.2.1.2 Symbid ....................................................................................................................... 43
3.2.1.3 PNO ........................................................................................................................... 44
3.2.1.4 Koenen & Co............................................................................................................. 44
3.2.1.5 European Angels Fund (EAF) ................................................................................. 45
3.2.2 Grants ............................................................................................................................... 45
3.2.2.1 Horizon 2020 ............................................................................................................. 45
3.2.2.2 Eurostars ................................................................................................................... 46
3.2.2.3 OPZuid ...................................................................................................................... 46
3.2.2.4 Interreg Vlaanderen Nederland ........................................................................... 46
3.2.2.5 Erasmus+................................................................................................................... 47
3.2.2.6 NWO Data management .......................................................................................... 47
3.2.2.7 EU Commission: European Angels Fund (EAF) ................................................... 48
3.2.4 Benchmarking.................................................................................................................. 49
3.2.4.1 Entrepreneurship Centre RWTH Aachen ............................................................. 49
3.2.4.2 Brightlands Chemelot Campus .............................................................................. 51
3.2.5 BSSC Project ................................................................................................................... 54
3.2.5.1. Techruption Project ................................................................................................ 54
3.2.6 Lobbying .......................................................................................................................... 54
3.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 54
Chapter 4 Desired Situation (SOLL) ....................................................................................... 56
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 56
4.2 Added Value to BSSC ........................................................................................................ 56
4.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 56
4.2.2 Agencies ............................................................................................................................ 56
4.2.2.1 Wirtschaftsfrderung Limburg-Weilburg-Diez GmbH (WFG) .......................... 56


4.2.2.2 Symbid ....................................................................................................................... 57

4.2.2.3 Koenen & Co............................................................................................................. 57
4.2.2.4 PNO ........................................................................................................................... 58
4.2.3 Grants ............................................................................................................................... 58
4.2.3.1 Horizon 2020 ............................................................................................................. 58
4.2.3.2 Interreg Vlaanderen Nederland ........................................................................... 59
4.2.3.3 NWO .......................................................................................................................... 59
4.2.4 Benchmarking.................................................................................................................. 59
4.2.4.1 Entrepreneurship Centre RWTH Aachen ............................................................. 59
4.2.4.2 Brightlands Chemelot Campus ............................................................................... 60
4.2.4.3 Microsoft Innovation Centre (MIC) ....................................................................... 61
4.2.5 BSSC project .................................................................................................................... 62
4.2.5.1 The Techruption project .......................................................................................... 62
4.2.6 Lobbying .......................................................................................................................... 63
4.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 63
Chapter 5 Gap ........................................................................................................................... 64
Chapter 6 Recommendations ................................................................................................... 66
6.1 Option 1 Internships ....................................................................................................... 66
6.2 Option 2 Pairing up ......................................................................................................... 66
6.2.1 BIF ................................................................................................................................ 67
6.2.2 BISS .............................................................................................................................. 67
6.3 Option 3 Networking with an agency ............................................................................ 68
6.4 Option 4: New Project through Horizon 2020 ................................................................. 69
6.4.1 Challenge ...................................................................................................................... 69
6.4.2 Scope ............................................................................................................................. 69
6.4.3 Innovation actions ....................................................................................................... 70
6.4.4 Coordination and Support actions............................................................................. 71
6.4.5 Brightlands Smart Services Campus ......................................................................... 72
Chapter 7 - Plan of action ............................................................................................................ 75
References ..................................................................................................................................... 80
1. Interview Bas Heeringa ....................................................................................................... 82
2. Interview Microsoft Innovation Centre Mr. Horemans ................................................... 87
3. Interview Brightlands Chemelot Campus Edwin Baker .................................................. 91
4. Form Data management section ....................................................................................... 97
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Chapter 1: Research Set Up

1.1 Introduction to chapter

In chapter 1 the company profile of Brightlands Smart Services Campus (will now be known as

BSSC) will firstly be discussed. After this, the problem statement that BSSC currently faces will

be explained. In addition to this the current situation and the desired situation will be discussed.

Furthermore, we will explain the companys goals relating to the short-term goal and long-term

goal. Lastly, we will examine the research questions and the justification of methods.

1.2 Company Profile

BSSC, located in Heerlen (Netherlands), is a unique place for smart services. The company is

dealing with a mix of a revolutionary institutes consisting of brilliant researchers and educators,

innovative entrepreneurs, and companies leading the field of human resource management and

smart services. In addition, the campus is attracting new young start-ups, looking for a great

future. All together, they are creating one of the worlds leading places for smart services.

(Brightlands Smart Services Campus Community, 2016)

BSSC is offering a modern and innovative working area, as well as the latest R&D

infrastructures. Peter Verkoulen, the CEO of BSSC, believes that by putting a scientific and

business ecosystem with innovation and expertise, it can create a single strategic location that

will make it a unique place where student, young start-ups, researchers, institutes or even existing

companies can work efficiently together. He also believes that every idea is important and

everyone is playing a role for the future. By attracting the expertise and the way of thinking of
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new students and researchers, the different ideas can be turned into great and innovative solutions

in order to improve the future. (Brightlands Smart Services Campus Community, 2016)

BSSC is focusing on collaborating with employees through their optimism and positivity. By

connecting their brilliant ideas and unexpected insight, the campus can create solutions that are

environmentally positive and could create a better future for our changing world and society.

(Brightlands Smart Services Campus Community, 2016)

Being a part from BSSC Campus is a step into the new future. The campus is a very attractive

community and really tries to make participants believe that they are here to be the best.

The professional working process and routine that BSSC tries to achieve is already showing great

results, as well as a very inspiring community. (Brightlands Smart Services Campus Community,

2016)

Start-ups and existing companies have the possibility to pay a contribution to the campus in order

to achieve their objective and run after the worlds goal. Today BSSC is looking for an extensive

help from everywhere in order to make that passion for solving problems and for creating

opportunities, a never-ending vision. (Brightlands Smart Services Campus Community, 2016)

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1.3 Central problem

1.3.1 Problem statement

The goal is to attract/apply funding opportunities from variety of different sources But BSSC

does not know how to approach different options that are offered, as well as not having the time

to look into different opportunities and what the requirements are.

1.3.2 Current situation

BSSC has many funding options including grants from governments, funds from founding fathers

and rentals within the smart campus buildings. However, in order to be self-sufficient, they need

to be able to have enough operation capital without the help of the founding fathers funds.

1.3.3 Desired situation

There are many funding opportunities within the Benelux and other government grants and

subsidiaries, which BSSC hopes to utilize and take advantage of. BSSC wants to be sustainable

and therefore, wants a strong foundation from external (funding, grants and subsidiaries

opportunities) and internal sources, in order to develop services.

1.4 Company Goal

1.4.1 Short-term goal

BSSC is mainly looking for investments in order to improve the quality of the building as well as

the quality of facilities in order to raise the interest of future visitors and participants. In 1 to 3

years, BSSC hopes to use these quality and facility improvements in order to achieve their main
 13

objective in terms of renters, which represents 90 to 95% of the building rental spaces occupied.

(Brightlands Smart Services Campus Community, 2016)

1.4.2 Long-term goal

In 3 to 5 years, BSSC forwards to use its own rents to cover the operational costs and use grants

and external investments for their own developments, projects and start-ups. (Brightlands Smart

Services Campus Community, 2016)

1.5 Researcher goal and research questions:

Who is currently funding the company? (Both internal and external sources)

Are there any funding opportunities within Limburg that they have not looked at?

Are there any funding opportunities within the Netherlands?

Are there any funding opportunities within the EU zone? Benelux?

What are the requirements for grants/funding opportunities in the Netherlands?

What are the requirements for grants/funding opportunities/subsidiaries within the

EU/Benelux zone?

Is it more beneficial to have income from rentals or from grants/subsidiaries?

(Internal/external)

What are the current methods they are using in order to attract new investors?

How are they finding out about the funding opportunities externally?

Are they open to attracting angel investors? One time fund donations from general public?

How are they attracting start-up companies to rent their working spaces?
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How much capital do they need per year in order to operate in the campus?

Are they maximising the use of their current funds? What is the maximum amount they

can get from the funders?

How are the other campuses utilizing their funding? (Heerlen, Aachen campus)

1.6 Methodology and Justifications

Desk and field research will be used throughout the entire process in order to understand the

problem statement and how to formulate the right recommendation.

Desk research will be mainly in terms of online research, books and business journals about the

current opportunities and the brief explanations of what is needed and how it would benefit

BSSC. Desk research for this topic is not as important as the field research. However, it is still

imperative to research what opportunities, competition and aids are present in the external

environment in order for BSSC to make use of. This method of desk research is the fastest and

most convenient way of research. This is the reason why majority of the desk research for this

topic will be done via an online research. Next to the desk research, field research will also be

carried out throughout the case.

Field research will be focusing on phone interviews, face-to-face interviews, focus groups and

questionnaires. The purpose of using both research methods will result in a more in- depth

analysis of not only the BSSC, but also other competitors and similar campuses currently

existing. Since the topic of funding is sensitive and complicated, quantitative approach is not as
 15

beneficial to the topic as the data gathered cannot be put into a form of useable statistic

information.

On the other hand, qualitative approach has been chosen to ensure facts, figures and data are

collected in order to gain useable information and knowledge to form a solution for any

underlying problem. If the information gathered is not sufficient, follow up conversations will be

made until a clearer result.

Research Questions Internal or Desk or Quantitative Sources used

External Field or Qualitative

Analysis Research Research

Who is currently funding Internal and Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

the company? external research

Are there any funding External Desk Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

opportunities within Research (Heeringa, 2016)

Limburg that they have Field (Brightlands

not looked at? Research Smart Services

Campus

Community, sd)

(PNO, 2016)

(Van Bun, 2016)

(Tilmans, 2016)

Are there any funding External Desk Qualitative (PNO, 2016)

opportunities within the Research (Van Bun, 2016)

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Netherlands? Field (Tilmans, 2016)

Research

Are there any funding External Field Qualitative (Schneck, 2006)

opportunities within the Research (how-get-

EU zone? Benelux? funding, sd)

(PNO, 2016)

(Van Bun, 2016)

(Tilmans, 2016)

What the requirements are Internal and Desk or Field Qualitative (kom-ik-

for grants/funding external Research aanmerking-

opportunities in the voor-

Netherlands? innovatiekrediet ,

sd)

(PNO, 2016)

(Van Bun, 2016)

(Tilmans, 2016)

What are the requirements Internal and Desk or Field Qualitative (PNO, 2016)

for external Research (Van Bun, 2016)

grants/funding/subsidiaries (Tilmans, 2016)

opportunities within the

EU/Benelux zone?

Is it more beneficial to Internal and Desk or Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

have income from rentals external Research

(Horemans,
 17

or from 2016)

grants/subsidiaries?

What is the current Internal Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

methods they are using in research (Heeringa, 2016)

order to attract/apply for

new investors?

How are they finding out Internal Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

about the funding research (Heeringa, 2016)

opportunities externally?

Are they open to Internal Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

attracting/applying for research

(Horemans,
angel investors? One time 2016)

fund donations from

general public?

How are they attracting Internal Field Qualitative (Heeringa, 2016)

start-up companies to rent research (Horemans,

2016)
their working spaces?

How much capital do they Internal Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

need in order to operate research

the campus per year?

Are they maximising the Internal Field Qualitative (Engelen, 2016)

use of their current funds, research

in terms of the maximum

 18

amount they can get from

the funders?

How are the other External Desk Qualitative (Bakker, 2016)

campuses utilizing their Research (Horemans,

funding? (Heerlen, Aachen 2016)

campus) (Nikkel, 2017)

1.7 Limitations

Due to the complexity of the research questions, we decided to base our methodology mainly on

interviews with partners, competitors and agencies. We have done field research in order to find

information and answers for the answers, but it is very hard to find raw, valuable data on this

topic. Therefore we have taken the matter into field research and interviewing

representatives/companies for the answers.

These different sites were interviewed on the basis of a standardized questionnaire; this ensures

the best outcome in order to create a relevant benchmarking environment. We were also able to

interview start-ups and companies within the BSSC campus to find out what their thoughts about

the campus are and what BSSC could do in order to ensure success.

The interviews were conducted by a combination of telephone interviews and face-to-face

conversations; this depends on the interviewee schedule and availability.

As previously mentioned, we have chosen to explore partners, competitors and agencies for this

report. We have contacted at least 2 companies within each category in order to make sure we
 19

could use the information for benchmarking purposes that would then allow our group to analyse

the data, so that we can conclude and sum up the recommendations we have to present to BSSC.

We have limited the geographical location within the Limburg, Noord-Brabant province for the

most relevant data information. The research interviews are an on going process that has started

since the end of October 2016 and can be found in the appendix. The interviews that have been

conducted were executed with Brightlands Chemelot Campus, High Tech Campus Eindhoven,

RWTH Aachen Campus GMBH, Microsoft Innovation Centre, Entrepreneurs and companies

within BSSC campus, such as Koenen&Co agency Maastricht, PNO and Gemeente Heerlen.

As mentioned previously, and relating to the topic, it is more beneficial to concentrate more on

field research than desk research, as well as on a qualitative rather than a quantitative approach.

Given the short amount of time and availability of resources, this means that qualitative research

will take more time and therefore limits the chances of interviews with only few companies.

This also means that the data gathered would be clearer than the quantitative approach, which is

not as appropriate for the topic. In order to fully understand the real geographical situation, the

desk research is used to narrow down the businesses and companies that pose relevant data in

order for the field research to take place.

Due to many factors, such as time, status and personnel, it will not be possible to have an in-

depth interview with every person/company relating to this matter. Although for the purpose of

benchmarking, at least two persons/companies of each sector are interviewed for a better

understanding of the overall situation.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

In order to really focus on how BSSC can benefit from what is currently being offered by the

environment surrounding the campus, it is necessary to analyse each possible chance for BSSC.

The topics chosen will be discussed further in details as it is seen to be the most valuable for

BSSC. These topics are: Subsidies, Angel investors, Franchise start-ups Loans and Crowd

funding. Each of the topics will be discussed in further details about the advantages and

disadvantages and what it means for BSSC in general. It would in fact, be beneficial to BSSC.

2.1 Subsidies

Subsidy can be defined as a direct pecuniary aid furnished by a government to a private

industrial undertaking, a charity organization, or the like. (Dictionary, 2016). A subsidy is an

amount of money given directly to firms by the government in order to help promote production.

Subsidies cover many different forms of funding. This includes things such as direct payments;

loan guarantees and special tax breaks, allowing businesses can use the money to offset operating

as well as management costs. There are namely 7 main types of government subsidies these

includes cash subsidies or cash grants, credit subsidies, tax subsidies, equity subsidies, in-kind

subsidies, procurement subsidies and regulatory subsidies. Only cash subsidies or cash grants will

be discussed in this review, it has been argued the reason why government subsidize is to help

motivate a sense of community (Online, 2016; Business, 2016; Schwartz & Clements, 1999).

It is clear that in the new ages, government and general public are becoming more and more

interested in Research and Development as well as new technology and innovative ideas.
 21

Governments are more than ever willing to subsidize the innovation that involves technology,

although it is difficult to measure the outcome in terms of technology and data. More and more

jobs are available and encouraged in the information and technology sector (Council, 1999).

Government supports funding in a form of subsidy by having a monetary lump sum readily

available for companies and entrepreneurs to make use of, but it is important for the companies to

understand how to apply for funding and what information is necessary for the application

process as the requirements for each subsidy differs. Information such as which job sector is

popular could ultimately help with the governments decision about the subsidy that are

available, this means in order to know which sector needs more subsidy, which sector could

ultimately survive without the help of local government subsidy. The aim of government cash

subsidy is to help promote and boost productivity in the company, although it can be challenging

to measure the level of productivity in companies like Brightlands Smart Services, as it is a data

gathering and processing innovative company.

2.1.1 Advantages of subsidy

There are many advantages and disadvantages regarding the different types of funding, subsidy is

no exception. It is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages in order to

understand if subsidy is appropriate and whether it will be beneficial. Some main advantages of

cash subsidy are helping to enable the growth of production by providing the necessary funds for

a company to help with production; similarly the government cash subsidy helps with promoting

activities that a company would not normally undergo without the cash subsidy. In the case of

Brightlands Smart Services, Heerlen the cash subsidy is mainly used for talent development to
 22

promote more sufficient use of the data procession and translating the information into a relatable

manner. Another advantage of a cash subsidy is that it provides a clear and explicit picture of the

amounts involved, which then provides a basis for estimating the affordability and desirability of

the subsidy (Schwartz & Clements, 1999; Wallsten, 2000).

2.1.2 Disadvantages of subsidy

Although subsidy offers clear advantages, there are also some disadvantages when it comes to

subsidy, one of the disadvantage is, it is difficult in this case to measure the amount of

productivity and this in return may not give sufficient or accurate information in order to

maintain a subsidy in the long run, another disadvantage is the company can become to

independent on the subsidy that is available to them, that they rely on subsidy in order to cover

the production as well as operating costs. Government themselves also has limitations in the

funding sector and there for it may be problematic to ensure the funding is readily and

sufficiently available (EconomicsHelp, 2015; Freinkman, Gyulumyan, & Kyurumyan, 2003).

2.1.3 Conclusion of subsidy

In conclusion, it is wise to make use of the resources readily available to companies and start-ups

by the government in terms of subsidy, however, it is a tool that should be considered by the

companies to use, as an aid of help and a secondary source to offset the cost instead of relying

and depending on government subsidy for a primary source of funding/aid. If this source of aid is

to be used to cover production and operating costs, then it is not going to be beneficial in the long

run, there for it is very important to consider whether this form of funding is suitable and for what

duration. In terms of Brightland Smart Services, it is a great opportunity to not only make use of
 23

the local subsidy options, but also expand into more subsidy opportunities within the Netherlands

and the rest of the EU zone to maximize their chances.

2.2 Franchise Start-ups Loans

2.2.1 The first steps to receive franchise start-up loans

The first step to receive a loan for a franchise is to conduct a research and look for the desired

franchise. Once the desired franchise has been chosen the next goal will be to find an

organization that is willing to finance the start-up business. Furthermore, there exist three

opportunities to financing a franchise start-up company. The first option is the bank; the second

option will be from sources such as the government, building societies and insurance companies

and the third option is to receive financial support from the franchisor. However, in order to make

a convincing proposal, the franchisee must hand in a business plan with regards to the execution

of the franchise and a good credit history because banks only lend money to trustworthy clients

(Franchise Direct, 2012).

2.2.2 The financial implication of becoming a franchisee

According to Schneck (2006) there exist two types of financial obligations for a franchisee:

The initial obligations

In order to access the network and receive training and support from the franchisor, the

franchisee must pay an upfront fee, which is a fixed amount. In addition, there are also setting-up

costs that need to be paid. These costs involve the costs for the equipment and the set-up of the

business (Schneck, 2006).

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Furthermore, in the beginning phase of the business the franchisee must pay up several deposits

and expenses that occur over time such as salaries and rent. It will take a certain amount of time

until the business reaches its break-even point and once the business is break-even, the franchisee

can start to fund the growth of the business, which required increased stock holdings. Therefore,

a working capital is needed (Schneck, 2006).

Lastly, there are also personal living expenses that every person has such as rent, insurance, food

and other expenditures that occur in a persons private life (Schneck, 2006).

2.2.3 The on-going obligations

First of all, there is the management service fee. This fee is usually a percentage of the sales and

can be paid monthly in arrears. How much percentage is being charged can vary widely from an

industry sector to another. It also depends on trading margins and sale volumes. Furthermore, it is

important to work out on whether a franchisee can afford the payment, pay a market related

salary and also make a reasonable return on investment (Schneck, 2006).

In addition, many networks charge an additional amount of fee that is provided for the national

product advertising. This fee can be seen as the contribution to the advertising fund. It can be

either a fixed sum or calculated as a percentage of the sales and can be monthly paid.

There are also other fees such as the fee which the franchisor charges for providing services that

exceed the franchisors level of support (Schneck, 2006).

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2.2.4 Financing from commercial banks

Receiving financial supports from banks isnt as simple as it sounds because they need to assure

that the money is paid back on time and including the interest that they charge for giving a loan to

a person or a company. Additionally, banks are very selective with regards to which person they

lend their money. On the other hand, they cant afford to be too selective because banks live on

the interests of their clients. Otherwise, they will all go out of business if they keep all the money

in the safe (Franchise Direct, 2012).

As Illetschko (2010) stated, Bankers are more willing to accept a franchisees business idea if the

franchisor is well known such as McDonalds, Toni & Guy, Burger king, etc. (p. 14).

Bankers are usually well informed about franchising and are franchise-friendly for a reason.

Experience has taught them that franchisees of reputable franchisors stand a significant better

chance of making the grade than wild-eyed entrepreneurs whose ideas may or may not work

(Illetschko, 2010, S. 14).

However, a franchisee from a not so well known franchisor might need to work harder on the

business plan and presentation to convince the bankers to fund their business (Illetschko, 2010).

2.2.5 Financing from other sources

Whether a franchisee will receive funding from the government or not depends on various criteria

such as location of the business, the industry sector, the business size, the purpose of the grant

and also if the franchisee is able to support certain groups like minorities, women young people

and etc. The government can grant loans that have been refused by banks. These loans can
 26

typically go up to 50000 and are usually granted for small or start-up businesses (Scheffler,

2010).

Receiving funds from building societies and insurance companies is another option and can be an

easier approach because they are usually less strict in terms of lending criteria (Scheffler, 2010).

2.2.6 Financing from franchisors

According to Landwehr (2015), franchisors typically dont fund their own franchisees. However,

franchisors always have at least some connections to some commercial banks that they could

introduce to their new franchisees that seek funding support. Nevertheless, a franchisee should

first make appointments with several banks and only requests for the franchisors support if they

are not able to receive financial support from the banks (Landwehr, 2015).

To sum it up, commercial banks are very strict and have high expectations of franchise start-ups

and therefore, receiving loans from the banks can be difficult. However, there are other options

such as financing from the government, building societies and insurance companies. These

funding sources are usually easier to convince than commercial banks because they have less

strict lending criteria. Lastly, the franchisor itself has many connections with varies funding

sources and can introduce the franchisee with one of them. So to conclude, it is not easy to

overcome the obstacles to become a franchisee because there are many criteria that can hinder the

start-up from executing this business plan. Therefore, the best way to tackle this might be to do as

much research as possible and have an organized plan.

 27

2.3 Crowd funding

The best way to describe crowd funding is as follow the practice of funding a project or venture

by raising many small amounts of money from many people, typically via the Internet. (Prive, T.

2012) The idea is that entrepreneurs can pitch their idea or product on a website to a big

audience. They need to attract people that want to invest in their idea. They can use videos,

images, descriptions or whatever you can think of to get their message out in the world. Many

people believe that crowd funding is only for small and medium enterprises, however, this is not

true it is also very convenient for already established companies. (Prive, What Is Crowdfunding

And How Does It Benefit The Economy, 2012)

There are several sites where you can upload your idea. Some of them are Kickstarter, Indiegogo,

Lendahand, Gofundme and Patreon. (Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites , sd)

The general public are the ones that invest in crowd funding ideas. They send capital to the

entrepreneurs, who need an exact amount which is described on the website next to their idea.

When they have collected the amount of capital that they need they will start up their business.

Every day in which they earn profit a little part is put aside for the crowd funding investors.

Most of the initial investors are connections of the entrepreneur such as friends, family and

colleagues. After the idea attracts some attention, other interested parties will become involved.

(Prive, What Is Crowdfunding And How Does It Benefit The Economy, 2012)

It is not easy to attract attention to your idea. Some entrepreneurs think that when they click

upload it will become viral by itself, this is not the case. You will have to do everything in your

power to get people to notice your idea. You will have to utilize social media, e-mails and local

media to the fullest. You will have to make your message to the public unique and catchy. (Prive,

What Is Crowdfunding And How Does It Benefit The Economy, 2012)

 28

Next to crowd funding being very useful for entrepreneurs to start up their company, it is also

useful for already established companies. They can use crowd funding for example, when they

want to produce another product range. They can receive the amount of capital needed but

besides that, the company can also see whether the product will be a success. The company will

receive reactions to the product and the amount of time that it takes to generate the capital is an

indication how the public thinks about this product. (Prive, What Is Crowdfunding And How

Does It Benefit The Economy, 2012)

Raising funds can be done in other ways; it can be done via venture capitalist, business angels,

and bank loans. However, take into consideration the time you will need and the risks you will

get with each of these. Crowd funding has relatively the least risks attached to it and it is

collected in a short amount of time. Figure 1 shows the approximate time it will take before you

will get the funds. (Stockley, sd)

2.3.1 The advantages of Crowd funding

The biggest advantage is of course raising capital for start-ups and already established

companies. (Prive, Top 10 Benefits Of Crowdfunding, 2012)

Another big advantage of crowd funding is the marketing that comes with it. First of all you can

see what the public thinks of your idea or product. This will be an indicator whether your idea

will be successful in the market. If the public like your idea they will respond to it, this is a

positive sign. However, they can also react negatively or no reaction at all this obviously means
 29

that your idea or product will not be successful. (Advantages and disadvantages of crowdfunding,

sd)

Reactions, comments and feedback given to your idea can also help you, meaning that they have

the ability to give insight and expertise into aspects you did not know. Therefore, your product or

start-up can develop with expertise without having to pay for it. (Prive, Top 10 Benefits Of

Crowdfunding, 2012)

As Prive T. (2012) stated; The momentum created by successful crowd funding campaigns

attracts potential investment from traditional channels and attention from media outlets. Your

idea can reach thousands of individuals and therefore receives free marketing and media

attention. These individuals can make your idea go viral they can share and spread the word to

others. Additionally, individuals that are invested in your product or idea are potential loyal

customers. These individuals are involved in the idea and brand and believe in the success of that

idea. Besides this the individuals that invested can also track the progress of the start-up, which is

good for public relations. (Prive, Top 10 Benefits Of Crowdfunding, 2012)

2.3.2 The disadvantages of Crowd funding

An important thing to remember is that you make sure that the profit you are providing your

investors are in line with the profit of the company. Providing them with too much can mean the

end of your company but providing them with too little can mean that you will not attract enough

investors to even begin your company. (Advantages and disadvantages of crowdfunding, sd)
 30

Furthermore, crowd funding is continuous work, with those thousands of individuals viewing

your idea also come a bunch of questions that the public want to know from you. You will get

questions and remarks 24/7 even when you are doing your regular day job. Moreover, you need

to invest a great deal of time to start up the whole crowd funding project and building attention

and interest along with keeping up your social media. You will need to interact on all kinds of

platforms on the Internet, for example; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs and even YouTube.

(Young, The Everything Guide to Crowdfunding, 2013)

Also make sure that you protected your idea or product with a patent or trademark. Since ideas

can be stolen when they are described on a public website. (Advantages and disadvantages of

crowdfunding, sd)

You also need to prepare for failure. Not every project on the crowd funding market is successful.

Over 50% of the crowd funding ideas that are uploaded on the websites fail to meet their goal

capital. When an idea fails to meet their goal capital every investor will get their investment back

and your idea gets nothing. (Young, The Everything Guide to Crowdfunding, 2013)

In the end when doing a crowd funding campaign, you need to keep these key factors in mind.

First of all how good is your idea? It is important that you thought of every aspect of your idea

before uploading on a crowd funding website. Make sure that you keep it interesting and unique

and provide enough information. (Young, The Everything Guide to Crowdfunding, 2013)

Secondly, do your finance. Calculate how much you exactly need for every phase from the design

phase to the production phase. Apply worst-case scenarios so that every cost is covered. Also

calculate how profit you can provide the investors, as mentioned previously, providing them with
 31

too much can mean the end of your business and providing them with too little can mean that

they become unhappy. (Young, The Everything Guide to Crowdfunding, 2013)

Lastly, keep in mind that a crowd funding campaign can cost you loads of time and effort. You

will have to create the idea, make it appealing, answer tons of questions, interact on all kinds of

internet platforms and keep your potential investors happy. Make sure you can give it enough

time to make it a success. (Young, The Everything Guide to Crowdfunding, 2013)

2.4 Angel Financing

Angel investors are usually recognized as individuals having a high-net-worth capital, which

allow them to conduct private funding in young and new companies, such as start-ups that have,

for them, a good future and great opportunities in the long term due to their new and innovative

ideas. These business angels are not always easy to attract since they remain rare and hidden in

the society. (Kerr W. R. et al., 2014)

As stated here above, an angel investor is a person who made a certain minimum amount of

money during the past 2 years and who is expected to make the same amount and keep his capital

influence for the following years. An angel investment is not always funds coming from

nowhere. Angel investors have hundred per cent priorities on their investments decisions and this

is probably the reason why these investments are not always seen as gifts, since they often come

with terms and conditions based in the investors decision. (Preston, 2007).

Usually, companies (such as Brightlands Campus) need business investors in their early stage.

This means that an investment is needed, usually during the three first years after the official start
 32

of the company business. Angel investors are also welcome when a company just introduced a

new service and definitely needs funds in order to push the idea to a success.

The best method to get known with business angels is to know their attributes. An angel investor

is present in the business for only one objective; making money (Preston, 2007).

They usually hope for a high return on their own investments and make sure that these returns are

in accordance with the risk they take to provide one of the first investments of the company.

These investors have a sense of social responsibility and are really involved in the entrepreneurial

process (Preston, 2007). For a company as BSSC, the goal is to make these angels believe in the

main projects and ideas. But what is the best method to conduct this attraction?

2.4.1 Business Angel Seduction

What characteristics do business angels prefer in investment proposals?

According to the 6 hypotheses of Annaleena Parkhankangas and Michael Ehrlich (2012), the

concerned company should motivate its organizational promotion through positive language

when arguing about its talent and strengths. When promoting an organization, the business angel

has to feel the competent, successful and effective method of the company via the positive

language in order to achieve an important fund-raising transaction. It is also important to keep in

mind that an angel investor is always looking for innovation. This is why it is always crucial for

organizations to strongly emphasize innovativeness when promoting a project to a business angel.

Angel investors do not only consider the competences and the qualities of the business ideas of

the concerned organization, but also look at the likability of the company. As an ingratiation

technique, the opinion conformity is therefore very important since it increases the credibility of
 33

both parties towards each other and it also facilitates the communication and collaboration. The

company can also attract business angels by making use of exemplification, which helps the

organization to express its own qualities, integrity and social responsibility.

On the other hand, a business can attract investors by emphasising its weaknesses and neediness.

By showing this vulnerability and its limitations, the company might be able to gain sympathy

and assistance from investors. This method is called supplication and can also be linked to

another method, which is intimidation. By intimidating the business angel through examples on

their dangerous roles on the market, an organization can incite the investor to believe in this role

and make it happen. This technique can also be joined with the blasting method, which basically

consists of putting the organization above the competition. By showing negative aspects and

disadvantages of its rivals to the investor, the company will make the business angel even more

optimistic regarding the fund-raising project (Parkankangas, Ehrlich, 2012).

But when is actually the best time to look for angel investors? At first, it has to be reminded that

there is not really a right and wrong time to look for angel investments, since it all depends on the

business status. On the other hand, there is quite often a special need for help at the beginning of

a business creation. After the research and development, the company is always facing a question

of funds due to a negative cash outflow forwarded, which is called The Valley of Death

(Comben, 2016). According to figure 1 (Comben, 2016), it can be easily inferred that the best

time for investments is during the early stage, in order to help the business to get through the

negative cash flow during the launch of the product and/or service. After passing the valley of

death, the angel investor is purely contributing to the businesss success and can enjoy his return

little by little. It does not have to be forgotten, that due to the investors decision process, the
 34

company has to make the investment request preferably 6 to 12 months prior to the actual need in

order to be in accordance with its expectations and in order to be successful (Venturegiant, 2016).

2.4.2 Angels and Venture Capitalists

According to the work of Thomas Hellman, Paul Schure and Dan Vo (2014), the choice of the

investor is very crucial, since the wrong decision on the investor might close other investments

opportunities. Business angels are not the only one to save a company in its early stage. Venture

capitalists could also be another strategy in order to pass the Valley of Death (as cited in

Comben, 2016).

But what are the main differences between the two? Business angels are more individuals

investing their own money (usually from $10k to $100k), having a lot of contacts and

experiences to contribute and to add skills to the company. On the other hand, Venture capitalists

are more companies or businesses rather than individuals. They are especially interested in early

stages and can make bigger investments that business angels ($1M.+). Furthermore, Venture

capitalists tend to focus more on the market itself (Hellman et al., 2015).
 35

2.5 Findings of Literature review

After exploring all the possible types of funding available throughout the literature review, it

became clearer that there are a lot of opportunities within the Netherlands, in terms of crowd

funding, angel investors, government subsidies and franchise start up opportunities. From the in-

depth research, it has been shown that there are sectors, which BSSC did not consider in order to

raise capital. Therefore, it is wise for BSSC to make use of the opportunities available in each

sector that has been explored.

Firstly, crowd funding is an easy way to raise the required capital as well as it does not involve a

lot of time and effort. Marketing is needed to get the word out and the rest is up to the public

audience. Angel investor is similar to crowd funding in terms of attracting the interested audience

to donate capital for BSSC in order to help with data development and entrepreneurial skills.

Angel investors are abundant and have been known to look for new and innovative projects in

order to incest. What BSSC could to do is market themselves in order to reach the potential

investors.

Secondly, after investigating the opportunities of government subsidies, it is obvious that BSSC

did not explore all the opportunities that are currently offered. This is due to the fact that BSSC

does not have enough employment capital in order to really explore the availabilities in a more

in-depth procedure. Franchise start up could potentially also be beneficial to BSSC. It is a start up

company that is technically under APG and can use many advantages for this specific sector.
 36

To sum it up, the research that has been performed for the different types of funding has result in

an amazing opportunity for BSSC that allows this report to explore the added value BSSC could

take advantage of in the future. The literature research has not only concluded the advantages

from public funding (crowd funding and angel investors) but also from government in terms of

grants and subsidy (capital subsidy and franchise start up). It enables this report, as a

representation of BSSC, to investigate their opportunities and implement them into their

operations for a positive effect.

 37

Chapter 3 Current Situation (IST)

To understand how to maximize the potential for BSSC, the current situation has to be analysed

in order to fully understand and utilize the information for the best possible outcome. Next to this

the external environment including agencies, grants, governmental & international funding and

benchmarking with similar campuses will be researched.

Due to confidential reasons, Brightlands could not provide any concrete financial data of the

campus. Only the percentages of the total costs and the funds they receive from their founding

fathers were allowed for consultation.

3.1 Brightlands

3.1.1 Founding Fathers

Mainly the Founding fathers, the rent and the municipality of Heerlen currently fund BSSC.

The founding fathers are Maastricht University, Province of Limburg and APG BV.

Maastricht University will give 3 million euros over 3 years. Until now, they already gave 2,62

million. In 2017, BSSC will receive 0,35 million and in 2018, 30.000 euros from Maastricht

university. (Engelen, 2016)

 38

The province of Limburg will give 3 millions over 6 years. In 2016, they gave 1,9 million.

BSSC will receive 0,35 million in 2017, 0,23 million in 2018, 0,15 million in 2019, 0,30 million

in 2020 and 70.000 euro in 2021. (Engelen, 2016)

The last founding father, APG BV, will also give 3 million over 6 years. In 2016 they already

gave 1,9 million, 0,35 million in 2017, 0,23 million in 2018, 0,15 million in 2019, 0,3 million in

2020 and 70,000 euro in 2021. (Engelen, 2016)

The municipality of Heerlen provides a few contributions by additional funding. They want the

campus to look further into regional contact. BSSC also hired a business developer who is doing

research into companies about the interest of office space rents inside the campus. He therefore

created a large network to bring attention to this possibility. BSSC can obtain his services with

the funding they receive from Heerlen. The municipality of Heerlen is providing funding with

specific tasks they would like to see from BSSC. This is, for example, to include more regional

companies in their business. (Engelen, 2016)

From the founding fathers BSSC receives around 10 million for 10 years. Every year they can ask

for how much they think they need. This funding is to cover production shortage. In year 1 they

received a larger amount from the founding fathers due to the large investments needed to open

up the campus. For this funding the campus needs to create a quarterly report. (Engelen, 2016)
 39

BSSC is just getting started in the funding part and are still looking around which funding they

can attract. Currently BSSC only applied for one grant, which is the EMR Start-Up. This is a EU

regional grant to support the start-up of new SMEs. BSSC is still in the application process of this

grant. They currently do not receive any money from this grant.

Furthermore, the campus does not have the sufficient funds or employees to apply for grants or

other funding opportunities. Therefore, the EMR Start-Up is the only grant they have applied for.

(Engelen, 2016)

Currently there are only 7 people working in the campus and they have not considered any

funding arrangements for the campus itself. The Manager Business & Innovation Development is

the only one currently in the campus who knows something about funding opportunities. He has

his network and other campuses to find out these opportunities. Next to this he also finds out

funding opportunities via his advisors. (Heeringa, 2016)

Currently BSSC does not invest in any projects. For the future, there are not any project plans

made that are suitable for applying for a grant. (Engelen, 2016)

3.1.2 Income

Income is generated from fees paid by start-ups and other participants in the BSSC. This is

expected to be about a fourth of the personnel costs and 30% of total income. Then from renters

of the office spaces, who are also paying for facilities and ICT. This is about a third of the

personnel costs and 37% of total income. Additionally, there are some income from events and

rents of meeting rooms, which are very hard to predict due to their instability. However, it is
 40

expected to make up to 25% of the total income. Then there is roughly 8% of total income

expected to come from the "other income". (Engelen, 2016)

3.1.3 Marketing

BSSC mainly attracts start-up companies via word of mouth. When they opened, they received a

great deal of marketing and many people heard about it. Sometimes, they get an email from the

start-up companies. They can, for example contact them via their own networks.

They also advertise via social media and via magazines where they put articles about the campus

and what it offers. (Engelen, 2016)

The Artificial intelligence seminar asked to rent a room, which provided BSSC more marketing

advantages. Also companies nearby come for a tour and they ask for info to rent space in the

campus. Also a lot of companies subscribed to the BSSC online newspaper.

Currently they rent out the lecture room and most of the meeting rooms. BSSC and BISS also

provide lectures in which they do not receive any funds. However, if an external company rents

the lecture room or meeting room, they do receive funds. The companies renting the rooms

mainly emailed the campus by themselves. BSSC did not attract any companies for this yet. For

example, the companies saw the lecture room during the opening and wanted to rent it. Later on,

they spread the word and told other companies about it. However, BSSC wants to stay relative to

the campus e.g. they will not host a farm event. They want events with relative and innovative

ideas. (Engelen, 2016)

 41

3.1.4 Costs

BSSC has a staff of 7 persons, which 2 of these are hired externally, and have 2 car leases. In

general, these personnel costs will make up the major portion of costs in 2017. This is around

40%.

The depreciation of the building and parking spaces represents 22% of the total costs in 2017.

Our ICT and Facilities, which is also largely covered by the fee of our renters, is about a third of

our personnel costs and 24% of total costs 2017. Finally, there are some other costs as the

marketing costs, which are expected to be about a third of our personnel costs and 14% of the

total costs. The company is not predicted/expected to break-even or make a profit until the 9th

year of being present in the business. So basically, this means in 2024. (Engelen, 2016)

In order to attract customers, BSSC has chosen the path of media advertisement in order to attract

new customers. This has proven to be rather successful, as BSSC has received many additional

enquiries in regards to the free workspace. However, it is also costing funds that BSSC does not

actually has. BSSC is aware of the fact that having customers renting office spaces are more

beneficial to them. However, they do not have the human capacity to deal directly with the

potential new customers. (Engelen, 2016)

Other strategies to attract new/potential customers include the participation of fairs and events in

order to get the word out. Invitation of public speakers to have an information session at BSSC is

being implemented in order to maximize the chances of gaining more public audiences. (Engelen,

2016)
 42

After speaking to different entrepreneurs and current companies within the BSSC, the current

customers seem to appear happy about the situation. However, majority of people do wish that

BSSC would offer some type of platform/service that would distinguish BSSC to other campuses.

However, BSSC currently does not plan to offer any form of services or platform that would be

beneficial to the BSSC environment. (Engelen, 2016) (Heeringa, 2016)

Strength Weaknesses

Innovative! It has a solid Not enough workers in

brand name and is order to efficiently

therefore stable explore the funding.

Opportunity Because of this brand Not enough employees

A lot of funding name, the investors to explore the funding

opportunities they have already know that BSSC opportunities

not looked into. is a well-established

company.

Threats They can generate Not enough time to

Not enough interest interests through their spread the word, as not

from the general public brand name and could enough workers to get

as it is a start up get the word out. the word out.

company.

 43

3.2 Externally

3.2.1 Agencies

Agencies provide expert advices. Clients can control their budget when hiring an agency. Next to

this, they have a deeper level of knowledge than they would have without an agency. Agencies

have a wide range of network that their clients can use and often give presentations & reports of

their advices to their clients. (Wikipedia, 2017)

3.2.1.1 Wirtschaftsfrderung Limburg-Weilburg-Diez GmbH

Wirtschaftsfrderung Limburg-Weilburg-Diez GmbH (WFG) is a client-oriented service

provider. The associate organizations of WFG are the municipalities, economy and administrative

district and the long-term partners. These organizations created an attractive network for WFG.

This organization supports start-ups, companies and investors with a competent consulting and

service team. (WFG Limburg, kein Datum)

3.2.1.2 Symbid

Symbid is a funding network and is located in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This company was

created with the intention to help other companies to enter the funding network so they can

connect with the most suitable investors and discuss together about the funding for a companys

business. Symbid is able to provide different types of funding such as angel investment, crowd

funding, loan bank, leasing, factoring, venture capital and funds & family offices and can go up

to 10mil and more. (Centre, 2016)

 44

3.2.1.3 PNO

PNO Consultants is an independent consulting company operating in Europe and has offices in

the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and The United Kingdom.

PNO supports companies in their application for grants and their innovation process. It provides

its services to a big range of clients, such as SMEs, multinational companies, non-profit

organizations, technological platforms, multi-stakeholder partnerships, universities and

governments. For PNO, the goal is to come up with a reduction in term of workload and an

increase in return on investment. The company is divided into multiple field research with a

broad range of internal specialists. (PNO, 2016)

3.2.1.4 Koenen & Co

Koenen & Co is a consulting company, which helps entrepreneurs to be successful. They

continuously work on optimising their services. This consists of different kind of specialisations.

Such as accountancy, corporate finance, tax services, they provide consultancy in e.g. subsidies

& management. Next to this, Koenen & Co has specialised sector teams. Examples of these

teams are the Innovation and the Agri team. These teams provide added value and experience to

the entrepreneurs. (Co, sd)

 45

3.2.1.5 European Angels Fund (EAF)

The EAF is an organization that provides equity to business angels and other non-institutional

investors in return for financing of innovative companies. The European Angels Fund can bring

support to innovative companies and organization in order to find the appropriate business angels

for that company. (what we do, sd)

3.2.2 Grants

Grants are funds that are distributed often by the government but can also be distributed by a

cooperation, trust or foundation. Most grants are made for a specific purpose and require the

receiver to apply for it through an extensive application process and also to report back to the

distributer after receiving the grant. (Wikipedia, 2017)

3.2.2.1 Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is a EU funding program for research and innovation. This program for research

organizations and companies strongly focuses on results and gives a big opportunity to

entrepreneurs to show their innovations. The Horizon 2020 grant will be available for specific

fields of BSSC. These are:

* ICT

* Nanotechnologies, materials, manufacturing and processing industry

The EU Commission has around 80billion available until 2020. (PnO Consultants, sd)
 46

3.2.2.2 Eurostars

Eurostars is a funding program for innovations. This program provides support for SMEs and

R&D activities working together with at least one other European party. This programs helps

companies to develop their innovative ideas and to enter new markets. This program has strict

requirements for its application.

(PNO, 2016)

3.2.2.3 OPZuid

OPZuid investment priority: "Promoting research and innovation and the development of

connections and synergies. 1B1 Objective: To strengthen and broaden the southern Dutch open

innovation in crossovers between the international top clusters and between national and

international top clusters with larger SME participation. OPZuid opens on 9 January 2017. (PNO,

2016)

3.2.2.4 Interreg Vlaanderen Nederland

The objective of this grant is to promote research and development by expanding infrastructure

and cooperation between knowledge institutions. (PNO, 2016)

Only the best projects will be able to receive this grant. The assessments criteria are based on the

quality, the extent to which the project meets the objectives and the number of companies

involved in the project. (PNO, 2016)

The grant is provided by the ERDF fund and consists of a contribution that can reach up to

50% of eligible project costs. The total budget for the third application round is approximately

43 million euro:
 47

for Priority 1 (innovation): 16.3 million euro

for Priority 2 (energy): 11.9 million euro

for Priority 3 (environment): 7 million euro

for Priority 4 (labour mobility): 7.8 million euro. (PNO, 2016)

3.2.2.5 Erasmus+

The objective of this grant is to create knowledge alliances, to strengthen European innovation

force by innovation, entrepreneurship and to promote the knowledge exchange. European

cooperation in education and research between universities, industry and government is the key.

Next to this, the grant exists also to boost innovation in higher education, business and in the

socioeconomic environment, developing entrepreneurship mind-set and skills, as well as

stimulating the flow and exchange of knowledge between higher education and enterprises.

The key features of knowledge alliance are: Innovation, Sustainability and Impact. (PNO, 2016)

3.2.2.6 NWO Data management

NWO Data management offers grants to companies that deal with data management. With the

data management section, NWO mainly wants to raise awareness about the importance of

responsible data management. Research results should be stored in such a way that they can be

retrieved and reused in the long term, also by researchers in disciplines and organizations other

than those in which the research took place. (STW, 2017)

 48

3.2.2.6.1 OTP

The Open Technology Program (OTP) aims to achieve knowledge transfer between technical

sciences and end-users of research results. These end-users can include companies, hospitals and

insurance companies. The open character of the program provides a continuous opportunity for

scientists at Dutch universities to propose applied projects. Proposed projects are assessed on

both scientific quality and utilization.

Applications can be made for grants up to 750.000 (or 1.000.000 in case of projects with large

investment). Any amount above 500.000 requires to be co-financed (either in-kind or financial)

by the end-users for 25%. The grant covers costs of material, investment, temporary personnel

and foreign travel. (de Boer, 2016)

3.2.2.7 EU Commission: European Angels Fund (EAF)

The European Angels Fund (EAF) is an organization that provides equity to business angels and

other non-institutional investors for the financing of innovative companies. EAF establish strong

and fair relationships with business angels in order to increase their investment capacity.

European Angels Fund can bring some support to innovative companies and organization in order

to find the appropriate business angels. EAF is operating in 6 countries counting The

Netherlands. The European Angel Fund S.C.A. SICAR-EAF Netherlands has been established in

September 2015. EAF wants to support innovative start-ups and SMEs in all sectors and in all

stages of the companys development. It could be interesting to know how BSSC could be
 49

attractive for Business Angels and how useful would it be to work with the European Angel

Fund. (EIF, 2016)

3.2.4 Benchmarking

Benchmarking is measuring BSSC quality of policies, products, programs, strategies, etc. in

comparison with other similar campuses in this area. This is used to find out where improvements

could be made, to analyze how other campuses work and to see how they have become a success.

(Businessdictionary, sd)

3.2.4.1 Entrepreneurship Centre RWTH Aachen

The Entrepreneurship Centre supports 30-40 start-up companies each year. They aim to provide

full support for start-ups by the Universitys students, researchers and graduates. (Minis, 2016)

As a key player in the entrepreneurial landscape in the region of Aachen they work together with

the investors such as the Aachen branch of the German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IHK)

and the German bank Sparkasse in Aachen & Heinsberg to provide excellent services for young

entrepreneurs, which includes the support of new ideas, guidance to apply for a grant and post

start-up support. (Minis, 2016)

Start-Up Consulting and Start-Up Support

They offer a wide range of services such as:

Discussions about new ideas

The creation of business plans

 50

The assistance of experts

Connecting start-ups with the right business partners

Finding suitable team members

Providing office spaces

EXIST scholarship

Finding the right investors (Minis, 2016)

With the support of EXIST III entrepreneurship program provided by the Federal Ministry for

Economic Affairs and Energy, it was possible to improve their organizational and coaching

activities with more consultants. Furthermore, partners of the network of the Entrepreneurship

Centre are growing continually. They were able to create values for young entrepreneurs and new

businesses with the focus on organization, training and coaching. With around 30-40 new

incoming start-ups each year, the instructors were able to develop the necessary expertise to

supervise new and emerging businesses. (Minis, 2016)

TRACE programme

The entrepreneurship centre also offers a programme called TRACE, which addresses students

from RWTH Aachen and FH Aachen to give them the opportunity to have insight into processes

of starting a business, to develop entrepreneurial skills and experience entrepreneurial activities.

In addition, students that participate in this programme will have access to the growing network

of entrepreneurs in Aachen. (Minis, 2016)

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3.2.4.2 Brightlands Chemelot Campus

Brightlands Chemelot Campus is a world-leading innovation Campus and home to a vibrant and

fast-growing open community of ground breaking companies and knowledge institutes.

(Chemelot Campus, sd)

Brightlands Chemelot campus offers the newest technology and support for their customers.

Examples of their customers are DSM and Sabic. Brightlands Chemelot campus offers many

added values to their customers by offering newest state of the art technology readily available

for their customers to use within the campus. Not only do they offer rental spaces for start-ups as

well as established companies, but they also cater to the wishes and needs of their customers by

building the office spaces according to the customers needs. (Chemelot Campus, sd)

The campus itself has an idea of bringing together knowledge and skills by applying them into a

flexible working environment. Brightlands Chemelot campus aims to develop the location into

the primary European site for companies, educational organizations and research facilities for

high-performance, biomedical, and bio-based chemicals and materials. (Research Business, sd)

Not only is the Chemelot campus progressively growing every year, but they also have a

respectable number of strategic partnerships.

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3.2.4.2 Brightlands Innovation Factory (BIF)

Brightlands Innovation Factory is a part of the Brightlands Chemelot campus. They help and

empower entrepreneurs in advanced materials, health, nutrition and smart services. They provide

knowledge, expertise, programmes, value-added facilities and access to funding in order to help

the start-ups to grow. Their slogan is; Incubate. Accelerate. Validate. Scale. Thats what we

do. Start-ups can apply for 2 programmes, which are the Incubate and Accelerate programme.

(Brightlands Innovation Factory, sd)

The Incubate programme is a 2-year programme consisting of a 6 week Venture Essentials, as

well as a follow up programme. Start-ups can follow master classes, inspirational speakers and

workshops. They have a weekly 1-on-1-progress meeting and daily support by an incubation

manager. (Brightlands Innovation Factory, sd)

The Accelerate programme is an intensive 3-month boot camp. This programme is especially

made for start-ups who already have a product or prototype. After the 3 months there is another 3

month follow up programme. The start-ups have access to master classes, workshops, as well as

introductions to customers & suppliers. They have a daily 1-on-1 meeting with mentors, advisors,

venture partners and other entrepreneurs. (Brightlands Innovation Factory, sd)

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3.2.4.3 Microsoft Innovation Centre

The Microsoft Innovation Centre located in Genk is designed to create opportunities for new

start-ups and SMEs and to emerge new possibilities for the IT sector. It looks like the community

of the Microsoft Innovation Centre is performing all over the world. (Horeman, 2016)

The Microsoft Innovation Centre was funded by the city of Genk together with LIOF and EFRO.

LIOF is a regional development and investment group for the province of Limburg (Horeman,

2016).

The Centre tries to attract relevant start-ups in the region and is currently hosting 40 start-ups in

their current building. A start-up is paying around 400 to 450 a month in order to rent a room

in the building. By 2018, the company wants to double it. (Horeman, 2016)

The centre is in a nice location and it therefore attracts businesses faster. Microsoft itself plays a

role in the material supply for the campus; the company focuses on the promotion and the use of

their own technologies inside the building. (Horeman, 2016)

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3.2.5 BSSC Project

3.2.5.1. Techruption Project

The Techruption project is the creation of a contract between APG, Brightlands Smart Services

Campus, the Province of Limburg, TNO and the knowledge institutes linked to the campus, with

a special objective, which is to create a new community in order to focus their interests and

knowledge on the fields of block chain, artificial intelligence and climate change. Conducted by

the professor Willem Vermeend, already eight companies and institutions have decided to

participate in this new project. Moreover, we can clearly see a certain potential in this initiative,

since already 40 start-ups have shown their interest to be part of the community. (Maastricht

University, 2016)

3.2.6 Lobbying

In order to have an increased chance of a grant it is important to take the time to talk and invest

time in the right people. Get to know people that work with grants or in the government and

they will gladly help you with your project and funding application. (Nikkels, 2017)

3.3 Conclusion

It can be concluded that currently, BSSC is still a start-up and cannot operate without the

founding fathers funding. BSSCs income is mainly generated from the founding fathers

funding but next to that, it also generates income from renting out spaces to companies. These

companies discovered that BSSC was mainly found via word of mouth, as well as at fairs and

events. The main expenses for BSSC currently are the 7 employees, the ICT and the facilities.
 55

Furthermore, the only grant they are currently making progress with is the Euregional EMR

grant. Furthermore, this is still in the application process. The other grants and subsidies are all

possibilities. But after the research, BSSC needs a product in order to apply for any grants or

subsidies as BSSC is already done with infrastructure and therefore, cannot claim the grants that

could help. The only thing BSSC can pay attention to are, the opportunities offered to

development of products, whether BSSC would develop a product by themselves or pair up with

other companies that exist within the eco system.

After exploring and seeing the possibilities of agencies, it can be said in confidence that BSSC

has a lot of opportunities when it comes down to working with agencies for a own added value.

BSSC could potentially look at other successful campuses such as RWTH and MIC and adapt it

to what BSSC could use in order to add value to the campus.

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Chapter 4 Desired Situation (SOLL)

4.1 Introduction

In this chapter the desired situation will be explained after the analysis of the current situation of

the Brightlands Smart Service Campus. It will mainly focus on the added value of the research

that has been done in chapter 3.

4.2 Added Value to BSSC

4.2.1 Introduction

This part of the chapter will focus on the added values that come from agencies, grants and

benchmarking of campuses.

4.2.2 Agencies

Agencies can be an added value to BSSC because they serve as a middleman to connect

companies with investors and also have teams that guide companies through this whole process.

The added values will be explained in the following sections.

4.2.2.1 Wirtschaftsfrderung Limburg-Weilburg-Diez GmbH (WFG)

WFG is a company that can connect BSSC with its network since it can be seen as a start-up

company that is still in development. As a start-up company that is located in the region of

Limburg, BSSC is able to apply for the funding programme of WFG before the launch of a new

project. With this programme, WFG is able to find the investors for BSSC, which are most likely
 57

commercial banks, or credit institutions that are willing to work with BSSC and receive guidance

from the service team. However, BSSC must have at least 15% of the required capital in order to

fit into the criteria of WFG. The fund must be used immediately after the agreement and each

transaction must be recorded so investors can see if the investments done by BSSC are justified.

(WFG Limburg, no date.)

4.2.2.2 Symbid

Symbid is also a company that has a funding network but compared to WFG they have many

connections to private and institutional investors. With the access to this funding network, BSSC

will be able to use different types of funding opportunities such as angel investment or using

crowd funding to show their projects to the public and receive funds from people that are

interested in their projects and many more. By being part of the Symbid funding network, BSSC

will receive guidance from different expertise and the amount of funding can go up to 10 M.

(Centre, 2016)

4.2.2.3 Koenen & Co

During the meeting with Koenen & Co, the added value that they could provide to BSSC has

been discussed. Koenen & Co has many networks and connections that could potentially help

BSSC with developing a product for subsidies and grants purposes. Koenen & Co is also willing

to work together with BSSC in order to help the entrepreneurs and start-ups to get the right grants

and/or subsidies. Koenen & Co advises BSSC to pay close attention to the customers section

within the ecosystem in order to provide added value to them. If they generate revenue, BSSC

can do the same thing. If BSSC provides the eco-system with someone who is willing to help
 58

with networks and funding, BSSC could potentially charge a premium service for this. (Heuntjes,

2017)

4.2.2.4 PNO

Since PNO has already worked with BSSC in the past, they already know the organization and

people that are working at BSSC. PNO will gladly offer free consultancy hours every week if

BSSC is willing to work with them and sign a contract with PNO in order to have access to their

network. Therefore, BSSC can benefit from the broad network of PNO.

4.2.3 Grants

Grants can benefit BSSC because they cover a huge part of the costs that are necessary for the

research of a project and depending on the relevance of the projects, the grants can go up to

millions of euros. The added values will be explained in the following sections.

4.2.3.1 Horizon 2020

With the Horizon 2020 funding program, BSSC can apply for a EU funding program for research

and innovation. This funding program offers an opportunity for ICT facilities such as BSSC,

which is involved in the big data project to receive grants that can go up to millions of euros.

The EU Commission has approximately 80billion available for companies coming from the

European Union. BSSC is still able to apply for this program since it runs from 2014 to 2020.

(PNO, 2016)
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4.2.3.2 Interreg Vlaanderen Nederland

With this program, BSSC is able to pitch its project such as Block Chain or Big Data to the

investors. If BSSC fulfills the assessment criteria then, they would be able to cover up to 50% of

the project costs with the funding.

4.2.3.3 NWO

NWO is an organization, which ensures innovative and quality in facilities and science, which

has an impact of the society. Their main task is to fund scientific research from public research

institutions only in the Netherlands such as Universities, Research Centers and more. NWO is

focusing on all fields of research and scientific disciplines. Funds are granted if a company passes

the assessment criteria and successfully pitch its project. In addition, the amount of the fund

depends on the relevance of the project.

4.2.4 Benchmarking

This part of the chapter will mainly focus on the benchmarking of different campuses so BSSC

can see what they do different and maybe adopt some of the ideas to attract more clients and

grow its own business.

4.2.4.1 Entrepreneurship Centre RWTH Aachen

The Entrepreneurship Centre from RWTH Aachen is a similar campus to BSSC. They also offer

offices for start-up companies and also for one man companies but what they do different

compared to BSSC is that they provide coaching and funds to the companies and guide them
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through the one year that they are allowed to stay in the campus. The funds come from different

sources such as the city or investors that are interested in their projects. In addition, the campus

itself is focussing on the success of start-up companies so it is important for RWTH to provide

coaching and give them as much support as possible since successful companies will benefit the

economy. BSSC does not seem to have this kind of service so they can consider implementing a

similar system in order to attract more clients and help the economy to grow in their region

(Minis, 2016).

4.2.4.2 Brightlands Chemelot Campus

BSSC could possibly look at the success of Chemelot campus as guidance. Not only the

Chemelot campus is progressively growing every year, but they also have a respectable number

of strategic partnerships. What BSSC could learn from Chemelot campus is to be able to offer a

unique selling point for their customers. At the moment BSSC is very generic and many other

campuses offer the same deal. In order to distinguish themselves, BSSC needs to come up with a

service that would benefit their potential partners/customers. (Chemelot Campus, kein Datum)

4.2.4.2.1 Brightlands Innovation Factory

In order for BSSC to provide laboratories to their start-ups, they could sign a contract with

Brightlands Chemelot Campus so start-ups, that are located in BSSC, could make use of the

research facilities. BSSC itself does not need to build their own laboratories because they would

need a lot of money to invest in these buildings as well. And since both, the ICT Campus and
 61

Chemelot Campus, are part of Brightlands, it should not be an issue to rent the research facilities

of the Chemelot Campus.

BSSC could also sign a contract with the coaches of the Chemelot Campus so that they can offer

consultancy hours to the start-ups for two to three days a week at BSSC or at the Chemelot

Campus. The coaches can guide the start-ups through the development of their business by

proving them the necessary knowledge of a successful business. In addition, BSSC could attain

access to networks through the Chemelot Campus since it has already established relationships

with many investors and partners by having expertise from RVO located in the campus.

4.2.4.3 Microsoft Innovation Centre (MIC)

As learned during the meeting with the Microsoft Innovation centre and taking the example of

such a success in terms of innovation centre, BSSC could offer a seat position in the board or in

the advisory committee to business angels in order to attract stronger private investments. Some

private investors might be interested to be part of the board of such campuses in order to give a

voice and opinions to a larger scale. (Horemans, 2016)

A membership fee might also be a sector to look at. External entrepreneurs and companies might

be willing to become part of the committee by not being physically active in the building, but by

taking benefits and new from the campus. From that point of view, another example could be the

implementation of a high-tech lab inside the campus that external companies could use by paying
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high membership fees to the campus in order to raise the performance of their business or

technologies. (Horemans, 2016)

4.2.5 BSSC project

The Techruption project might be one of the key factors of a successful business for BSSC and

the following section will explain why it is essential for BSSC to focus on this project.

4.2.5.1 The Techruption project

Referring to the Techruption project, it seems that it might be a good opportunity to push their

awareness to the top. One reason to find more investments for this project could be the presence

of big companies inside the building. It looks like the BSSC has still a lot of empty places inside

their building and it might be a good opportunity to attract bigger and well-known companies in

order to engage an attractive location argument. (Brightlands Smart Services Campus

Community, kein Datum)

In addition, we could suggest for BSSC to raise its rents by introducing an effective and well-

structured contract. As an example, the campus could offer a one-year free rental for start-ups

with an obligation to pay a certain amount after the first year and with an obligation to stay in the

community for at least 3 years. By applying for such a system, the start-ups might be even more

attracted to these kinds of offers since they usually do not have any investment or low

investments in their early stages. This strategy may raise the awareness of the campus and

therefore attract bigger companies that are willing contribute to the raise the funds. (Brightlands

Smart Services Campus Community, kein Datum)

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4.2.6 Lobbying

BSSC would benefit greatly by lobbying. This means BSSC should keep in the loop of the

government officials and the policy makers, keep the relationship good between other companies

and officials and in return BSSC would be kept in the loop. Lobbying would be a great added

value to BSSC as BSSC would know exactly what the opportunities are available for them and

what the requirements are. Example of places BSSC could lobby at are RVO, municipality of

Heerlen, municipality of Sittard-Geleen as well as networking with agencies.

4.3 Conclusion

Some of the findings in chapter 3 prove to be irrelevant for Brightlands Smart Services Campus,

these are Eurostars, European Angels Fund, Erasmus + and OPZuid. Therefore, these grants were

not taken into account.

In conclusion, BSSC can use the agencies as a middle man to connect with private and

institutional investors to talk about the campus itself and think about what BSSC can offer to

convince investors to put their money in BSSCs business such as a new project because that

would be one of the requirements to receive funds. Furthermore, BSSC can finance their research

centre with grants coming from different sources such as the EU commission or COST. Lastly,

BSSC could adopt some services of other campuses to see if their business will grow, for

example BSSC could use one of the selling points from RWTH or Chemelot Campus in order to

attract more clients with services such as coaching programs which teach start-ups to learn how

to visualize their ideas and how to make profit with it and also offer customizable offices that are

adjusted to the needs of the clients.

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Chapter 5 Gap

In order to achieve the desired outcome, the smart services campus has to think about the gap

situation, which represents how to get from the current situation to the desired situation. The

benefit of the campus would be the increased human capital and the ability to allocate tasks and

possible researches that needs to be done.

BSSC lacks in offering something that would be added value to their current and potential

customers.

The internal situation is not so much of solving a problem, but more a problem of finding a better

and more effective way of dealing with the current situation. BSSC has a strong internal

foundation, as well as good ideas of running the company, but as mentioned before, the campus

itself lacks in the human resource departments and the added value to the customer.

As an external point of view, the primary goal is to make a comparison between different

campuses and see what are the real benefits and differences to take into account in order to have a

better idea concerning our problem statement. Moreover, consultancy groups, investments

companies, etc. will be the following target sector to analyse.

We realize what Brightlands Smart Service Campus has and does not have. In fact, the external

impact of Brightlands is smaller than the internal impact. We learned that Brightlands got funded

from several sources but mostly internal than external. The main issue is that BSSC did not

registered in enough funding program before the establishment of the project. The problem is that
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nowadays, BSSC cannot get funded for the building from funding programs such as Horizon

2020 since the whole project was already created and that there should be a new project to attract

external funding sources. Therefore, the main target will be to establish a new project, idea in

order to utilize the consultancy research data such as the ones offered by PNO. (PNO, 2016)
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Chapter 6 Recommendations

The following recommendations are made on the fact that Brightlands does not earn enough to be

self-sustainable. Due to confidential reasons, Brightlands could not provide any concrete

financial data.

Since BSSC does not have a current activity in order to get grants, there are many ways that

BSSC could team up with different campuses/companies in order to create a project to achieve

grants/funding opportunities.

6.1 Option 1 Internships

In order to close the gap for the human capital, BSSC could offer internship positions to

academic students; this means its a win-win situation for both the interns and BSSC. Interns can

help solve problem of human capital for a low cost and can ultimately bring in new ideas to the

eco system and the BSSC management team can delegate tasks to the interns for more efficient

way of working. The community could be available for some companies to bring something

positive on its early stages process. (Bissinstitute, 2016)

6.2 Option 2 Pairing up

BSSC could potentially differentiate themselves from others by offering services that other hi-

tech campuses do not. One of the ways this could be achieved is to offer coaching for companies

and entrepreneurs. Offering such a personal coach will be an added value to BSSC and for this

premium, BSSC could charge a premium fee for this service.

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6.2.1 BIF

BSSC has many opportunities to work with many companies within the Limburg region. One of

the campuses explored is BIF Brightlands Innovative Factory located in Geleen, Limburg.

BIF has programs that would benefit the start-ups and entrepreneurs at BSSC, as BIF is a part of

Brightlands itself. BSSC would take advantage of this opportunity, as BSSC does not offer the

start-ups and entrepreneurs in the eco-system any unique added value. This could mean that

BSSC could pair up with BIF and sign a contract to state that any start-ups and entrepreneurs are

allowed to use facilities at BIF if the entrepreneurs and start-ups can combine the use of big data

information together with chemical/materials. This would mean the contract would lead to a win-

win situation for both campuses.

6.2.2 BISS

Another way that BSSC could add value to their existing and potential customer is by joining

forces with another company within BSSC (such as Accenture or BISS) to create a

project/product for the customers to use. Via this project BSSC could gain an access to funding

opportunities. The BISS institute is an institution that combines the intelligence and the

experience of professionals, researchers and students in order to bring a positive impact on data

ecosystems, data analytics and decisions & impact. (Bissinstitute, 2016)

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6.2.3 Brightlands Maastricht health campus

Brightlands Maastricht health campus and BSSC can join forces in order to make a

project/activity that involves open innovation between the two campuses. Since BSSC is

specialized in data collecting and Maastricht health campus specialized in hospitality &

innovation, it could qualify the OTP grant application.

6.3 Option 3 Networking with an agency

Another option is to offer in-house help with regards to funding opportunities for those who need

them. Therefore many agencies are available at hand for BSSCs, those start-ups and

entrepreneurs could make use of for free. If BSSC is attractive by offering new customers unique

points in the market, they are more likely to be desirable and the rental spaces will be more

appealing to the customers. They could then charge premium prices for the added value they

offer to their customer.

It is important for BSSC to realize that it is better to have good networking and try to build a

good relationship with people who can help them, rather than trying to figure things out

themselves.
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6.4 Option 4: New Project through Horizon 2020

Application of HORIZON 2020 / ICT-32-2017: Start-up Europe for Growth and Innovation

Radar

6.4.1 Challenge

From this overall analysis, it can be understood that Brightlands Smart Services Campus, as well

as the high tech start-ups and innovative SMEs do not succeed in their awareness expansion on a

larger scale. It can be learned that these companies often seems to be blocked on a national

market level and do not have enough resources to participate in an international growth. They

usually remain too small and therefore fail to become a real key point on the international market.

It is often seen that a start-up or innovative SMEs is not technologically supported enough and

could cause a crash on a long-term perspective. (EUCommission, 2016)

6.4.2 Scope

One of the goal of this program is to establish success for start-ups and tech entrepreneurs on the

market, as well as a concrete push and support to a broader awareness towards the different

potential innovators across Europe targeting several activities for progress innovation excellence

in EU-funded ICT projects. These targeted activities have the objective to expand the start-ups

and SMEs on a European and international scale. Furthermore, this program has the purpose to

stimulate even more tech entrepreneurship, as well as the implementation of recent high growth

businesses and jobs by absorbing a maximum of useful resources through this European

ecosystem. The innovation radar has to find coherence between start-ups, SMEs and research
 70

centers through this ecosystem in order to bring to the different participants the benefits they

expected. (EUCommission, 2016)

6.4.3 Innovation actions

One or both of the following themes should be covered:

A) The activities should reinforce the network for the growth power of the tech start-ups and

SMEs by establishing a certain connection between 3-4 companies in Europe. These actions

should also be the establishment of a coherent connection between the relevant stakeholders such

as the tech entrepreneurs, customers, media, investors and local authorities.

Cross-border actions can include: strategic partnerships among the players from local startup

hubs across Europe; actions to help startups to find skilled employees throughout the connected

hubs; access to the right combination of finance; helping startups to have access to procurement

opportunities; and provide information to allow startups to grow across borders.

(EUCommission, 2016)

B) The improvement of the financial aspects should be emphasized, as well as the liquidity for

European investments in fast growing ICT startups in order to increase their chances to succeed.

The network should be strongly supported in order for the investors to improve their knowledge

of opportunities to stimulate financing through European stock markets, preparing the companies

for investments and expanding the list of potential investors with a more precise understanding of

the market trends and business models.

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It is the decision of the Commission to select at least one action of each themes in order that

proposal comes in existence. Secondly the Commission takes into account that proposals

requesting a contribution from the EU of around 1.5 million would allow this area to be

addressed appropriately. (EUCommission, 2016)

6.4.4 Coordination and Support actions

The actions describes have to be targeted towards the technologies developed in EU funded ICT

projects according to the following themes:

A) According to the Innovation Radar , the proposed actions should contribute to the support

towards the start-ups and SMEs in order to make their research results real products and/or

services available on the market. This support should allow the EU-funded innovative start-ups

and SMEs to prepare their promising innovations to the market introduction and/or technology

transfer. The different actions should be taken with the objective to emphasize the recognition of

the best ICT innovators and innovations from ICT specific programs. (EUCommission, 2016)

B) The establishment of a new network in Europe supporting the needs of EU start-ups and

SMEs by organizing workshops for market-oriented researchers; e.g. practitioner-led, customer

and user-centered, hands-on courses based on proven, state of the art methodologies for the

development of business models for growth (e.g. customer discovery, lean startup, business

model canvas, minimum viable product). These facilities are targeted for researchers, start-ups,

SMEs and ICT based high tech start-ups. It should take into account the customers and users

interactions, as well as the market and regulatory conditions.

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It is again the role of the Commission to decide on on action in each theme, as well as taking into

account that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of around 1 million would allow

this area to be addressed appropriately. (EUCommission, 2016)

6.4.5 Brightlands Smart Services Campus

As stated in this report, BSSC is currently suffering from external long-term resources, as well as

internal key facts such as the awareness of its office spaces inside its building. It can be learned

that a project has to be established in order to access to a potential financial support. Via Horizon

2020 and its opportunity ICT-32-2017: Start-up Europe for Growth and Innovation Radar, it can

be inferred that a possible project for BSSC could easily match the different requirements and

conditions towards this proposal.

6.4.5.1 Project

As stated in the criteria of the ICT-32-2017, BSSC could establish a network with other

campuses and other research centers across Europe. The main goal would be to establish new

technologies and actions inside and outside the campus in order to allow the start-ups and SMEs

to use these new technologies and network. By interconnecting the different technologies,

facilities and field opportunities of the communities across Europe, the innovators could not only

stay on a national level, but could see them travelling to a whole new process and opportunity

across Europe. This would help the start-ups and SMEs to push their awareness, to access some

resources that could be only accessed through an international scale. The strategy would not only

be to concentrate on the well being of the companies, but it would be also affect the campus in a
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positive way. With such a project, BSSC could, in a near future, see its awareness increasing

remaining to its problem of office rentals. By developing this project, BSSC could indirectly

financially sustain its buildings, as well as its community. This Innovation Radar would increase

the Start-Ups Europe Ecosystem.

6.4.5.2 Action Plan

- The primary objective is to establish a partnership across Europe between other campus,

research centers and start-ups community. It has been learned from Mr. Nikkel (Public Funding

Manager for Brightlands) that a possible partnership would allow the campus and its companies

to access hidden keys and resources. As potential partners, BSSC would tend to focus more on

similar campuses and research centers at first. By emphasizing the network with foreign

countries, BSSC would also keep its attention on partnerships as with the Microsoft Innovation

Centre, the Chemelot Campus, etc. (Nikkel, 2017)

- The second step could lead to the creation of technology standards across the different

participants. Part of the funding proposal, the building of new technologies and smart-labs inside

the different communities would allow the participants to work in efficient conditions and on

standardized materials.

- Part of the plan, internal courses, conferences, coaching, trainings, etc. would be available for

each participants. It is very important to implement a human interaction between each start-up

and community. This would support the start-ups and SMEs directly inside the campus. The

network would also allow the start-ups and SMEs to access better employees as well as better

customers.
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By involving such support, the plan is to connect all key resources, opportunities, investors,

technologies, facilities, etc. in order to allow each start-up and SMEs of BSSC to access to key

information and key opportunities brought by so called and created the start-up Europe

ecosystem. By bringing the possibility to make the product/service of the different occupants

available on the European market, BSSC would indirectly be beneficial for itself in terms of

awareness across Europe.

6.4.5.3 Expected Impact

* Tech start-ups connection and concrete collaborations between relevant players within existing

networks to larger European business ecosystem.

* Effective partnership between BSSC and its potential collaborators.

* Accessibility to new customers, products, services on the european market increased.

* Accessibility to better employees increased.

* Access to new job opportunities.

* Stimulation of European investments through a better understanding between the investors

communities and tech start-ups.

* Improvements of the relation between H2020 and ESIF.

* Allowance of innovators to access the relevant EU networks created by Start-up Europe.

* Sustainability of the start-ups ; Life beyond the project.

* Pushed awareness for BSSC.

* Positive impact on BSSC office spaces and building in general.

* Increased BSSC reputation and image towards the start-ups.

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Chapter 7 - Plan of action

WHAT WHO HOW WHEN

- Solve the problem of - Brightlands Smart - Establishment of a - Considering the

human capital. Services Campus partnership with current partnership of
BSSC, BISS Institute BISS, the execution
- Bring new ideas to - Students from and the universities of this option expects
the eco-system. universities according to the win- to be realised in the
win strategy of the year of 2017.
- Bring added value to - Business project.
the campus Intelligence and - Internal
benefitting internal Smart Services: BISS implementation of
awareness. Institute interns via BISS on
BSSC.

- Establishment of
working programs
and objectives for
interns towards the
start-up community.

- Offering students an
internship salary of
350/months. Their
contribution can
attract more start-ups,
which could lead to
an increase in the rent
frequency of BSSC.
 76

- Service - Brightlands Smart BSSC with BIF - Prioritize the project

differentiation. Services Campus: - Pairing up the two establishment of
BSSC campuses by contract BSSC and BMHC in
- Increase the with the purpose to order to deliver an
awareness and the - Business make BIF facilities application at the OTP
value of BSSC. Intelligence and available for BSSC grant.
Smart Services: BISS start-ups and SMEs. (Opened October 1st.
- Offer premium Institute 2016.)
facts and services. - Win-win contract by Deadline: October
- Brightlands combining the big 1st., 2017
- Gain access to Innovation Factory: data information
funding opportunities BIF together with - Execute an internal
chemical/materials. contract of
- Brightlands partnership between
Maastricht Health BSSC with BSSC, BISS and BIF
Campus: BMHC BISS/Accenture in the year of 2017 in
- Pairing up the order to be able to
companies to create a make profit of this
project/product project in the 2018
relative to the year.
customer use. Deadline: December
31st., 2017
- Bring positive
impact on data
ecosystem and data
analytics via the BISS
combination of
intelligence with the
students and
professionals
 77

experience.

BSSC and BMHC

- Pairing up the two
campuses and
establish a common
project of Open
Innovation.

- Satisfying the
requirements of OTP
grant via the data
collection of BSSC
and the innovation in
hospitality of BMHC

- Networking with - Brightlands Smart - Executing an - The analysis has to

agencies. Services Campus: analysis of the be realised before
BSSC different agencies June 30th. 2017.
- Be more desirable. available.
- Networking - The collaboration
agencies - Establishment of the with the agency has to
- Increase the office concrete project. be executed before
spaces rent frequency. December 31st., 2017.
- Offering customers
unique points in the - Implementation of
market. the project from
January 1st., 2018.
- Execute an efficient
networking and build
good relationships.
 78

- Application of - Brightlands Smart - Establish a - Grant is currently

HORIZON 2020 / Services Campus: partnership across open.
ICT-32-2017: Start-up BSSC Europe between other Opening date:
Europe for Growth campus, research December 8th. 2016.
and Innovation Radar. - Microsoft centers and start-ups
- Receive the project Innovation Centre: community. - Establish the whole
funds of 1,5 M. MIC project and
- Creation of partnership with the
- Chemelot Campus. technology standards campuses before
- European Campus across the different April 15th. 2017.
community participants
- Submit the
- European Business - Make internal application to the
ecosystem. courses, conferences; commission for
coaching, trainings, Horizon2020 ICT-32-
etc. would be 2017.
available for each Deadline: April 25th.
participants. 2017 at 5:00PM

- Emphasized and - Deadline Model:

implement Human Single-Stage.
interaction.

- Connect all key

resources,
opportunities,
investors,
technologies and
facilities.
 79

- Allow each start-up

and SMEs of BSSC to
access key
information and key
opportunities brought
by the start-up Europe
ecosystem.

-Bringing the
possibility to make
the product/service of
the different
occupants available
on the European
market.

- Make BSSC
beneficial for itself in
terms of awareness
across Europe.
 80

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 82

Appendix

1. Interview Bas Heeringa

Brightlands Smart Services Campus: Bas Heeringa

- Can you tell us about your current project that you are working on?

Yes, so, the campus is based on the idea of having an eco system that in general, keeps itself

alive. So theres a bunch of SMEs, start ups, up until corporates. That mix of knowledge and

project desires of customer should actually find each other to design your services. There are, lets

say, from very high level of perspective two challenges for making that work because thats my

responsibility, to start the eco system and to make it work. Im a lazy guy, so I need to make it

sustain itself, rather than me always injecting initiatives and all that. First of all, the simple thing,

if we want these companies to work together and if you look at the core of what they are doing,

they are IT companies, you need to have a platform where they can develop together. For

example, youve got your apple, Ive got my apple, theres another guys got his windows laptop

and now we decide, lets work together, how do you do that? Where is the shared platform to do

that? That is one basic need that the eco system need, I can easily say, well do it yourself, then

you have a very inflexible workplace. If you look at within the eco system, its about supply and

demand, some companies might want to develop something, but is lacking resources or

knowledge of data gathering. There might be a student working on the internship within the

company. Bottom line is, you have to bring these people together, again I could say find a

solution yourself, but that is not really effective, so you need to have a platform where you bring

all these people together. You could do it in the standard way of having social collaborations
 83

platform, like jive, its actually the idea that I want to implement into the ecosystem, but there

will be some specific processes where you have to apply some additional functionality on the

standard platform, so a platform like jive, brings me chat capabilities, brings me blogging and

exchanging documents and that kind of stuff, but the real specific project to which kind of

internship do I have and what internship matches to which kind of projects that are within the

campus is quite a specific solution I want to have and you have to model that into jive of build

that into jive, but that was, lets say the easy stuff, the difficult thing for us to solve is what we

want companies to do is to use data to define services and sell by services, where do they get

data? The idea now is, the campus would talk to companies that has data, like health insurances,

health cares, hospitals, general practitioners, banks, CBS, so there are huge variety of data and we

say, well if you would open up the data set to a platform that I would build, and I ensure that

people getting access to that platform is secure and privacy complaint. Would you be open for

discussing whether or not you would consider giving me the data, but not give me a data in a

sense of copy and paste, but giving access to the data, in a way that it is secure, so it could not be

hacked and in a way that it is privacy compliant and that is crucial when you have medical data,

you have to be very careful about that, by opening up the data set, I would allow them to have

their own business model, so they wont do it for free, they would actually be paid to make the

data set available to my platform. Then you get different kind of model, for example, hospitals

could say, well, thats fine for me, companies can get access to the data, but, we do that on a

yearly basis and it will cost you 10,000 for doing that, that might not be suitable for a start up,

but it might work for SMEs, then I would say, well if a guy comes in, I would charge him by the

hour, but a very small fee, because I own the platform. Thats the main idea. At the end of the

day, the success of the campus depends on the eco system within the campus and ultimately, its

about the increased way of life we provide to the local community.

 84

- How did you come across the funding opportunity for this project?

It is expensive, it can cost anywhere from 3-5 million, depending on how you want to build it,

depends on how you apply it. However, the money doesnt exist, the budget does not exist, where

do I get the money? So, one of the ways, of course is to go to EU funding, but then you have to

match the requirements, I did a check in the mean time, when I looked at the innovation related

calls in the innovation 2020, within Interact 4 then youve got the SME funding of EU, different

approaches right, in the beginning I was flabbergasted about how people could make a living of

explaining how funding works, now I do understand, very complicated. So Ive got, lets say

these different ways of calls, now I have to make a decision of which way is the best way forward

for me as a campus. These funding only repay the cost I made, they do not give me any funding

up front. they only give back x percentage of what I spend. If I spend a million, they wont give

me a million back, they will give a percentage back, so I need to find a party to fund the other x

percentage that I did not get back. But it is very risky because no one has a clue about this as its

never been done before in a scale that we want to do it. I mean, technically wise, can I build it?

Absolutely yes, but whether or not there's a business model that justifies that level of investment,

I really dont know, so I am calculating it.

- Have you ever thought about the possibility of Angel investors?

When I have, lets say, time, angel investors take a lot of time in a sense that you need a long

time to find the right person. The problem there is that it is pretty complex, if I ask some guy to

invest half a million to get me going, he would want to know how does it work, then I have to

deep dive into technology, there are not that much of angel investors that wants to spend the

effort of understanding it and taking the risk of doing it, to be honest, if someone gives me
 85

10,000, for me it is useless, I could make a small start, but that would mean, I would need to

find a lot of other investors to fund my project. This is a huge effort, so angel investors, I am not

sure whether that will work for my case. However, I have thought about crowd funding, that I am

still investigating, again, people would like to see a product, they want to see what it is, then I

come with I want to build a platform, ecosystem of companies, people dont have a general

understating of how they could benefit from such a thing, so that is also difficult. I have spoken

to other companies within the eco system to see if they are interested in investing the platform,

believe it or not, I have found a company that is willing to do so.

- What are the current methods used in order to attract new investors for Smart services

campus in general?

We get a budget from municipal of Heerlen, for getting start ups into Heerlen, it is all politics,

Heerlen benefits from having start ups and different companies into Heerlen. We have an indirect

method to say to companies if they come to our campus, we will help them with getting the help

they need from municipal of Heerlen.

- How is BSSC finding out about the funding opportunities externally?

Obviously, I have my network and we also have other campuses to help us. We do have our

networks of the companies that we know, but not many companies are interested in funding on an

IT company. Next to that, I also talk to LIOF, so we have multiple ways of getting money, but

its not the task of the campus to apply for funding for the start ups, however, we do bring them

into contact and helping them apply. I also have to rely on EU funding, Ive had contacts so far,
 86

content wise, we can get the money from the organizations, my task is to choose which funding is

attractive for me. The requirements what I have to meet is quite easy, but the challenging part is

competing amongst the other companies that would also like the money. I have to work with

many different parties from different countries in order to get the best possible outcome. It is

extremely difficult and complex. It is not that I have a problem, I need a solution, it is more of a I

have a problem I have many different solutions, but which one is the best for the situation.

- Can you say that you have explored all the possible options within the region when it

comes to grants and subsidization?

I have to rely solely on what the consultants tells me. It is hopeful for me to work with them, they

advise me. What I am telling you is not actually what I find out, it is actually what the consultants

told me. To be able to find the possibilities it is a full time job and I dont have that kind of time

to go through all the different funding opportunities. I trust the consultants, I think they are doing

a good job, but if you were to ask me have I ever did research myself, I havent and I dont have

time, that is why I said I rely on the consultants.

- What are the main difficulties (if any) you have come across when it comes to finding new

funding opportunities?

I dont have enough knowledge over the procedures, so I have to rely on the consultants. They

are very good, that is why I trust them, even municipal of Heerlen uses them, so I know they are

good. I also dont have enough time, I already have a full time job and my own project going so I

really dont have the time to do research, as I have mentioned before that it is pretty much a full

time job.
 87

2. Interview Microsoft Innovation Centre Mr. Horemans

Microsoft Innovation Centre Genk with Mr. Horemans

- How did you find investment for the Microsoft Innovation Centre as a whole?

We as MIC are not the owner of this domain it is funded by RLM which is the same as LIOF

which is the investment fund from the region. They invested in the infrastructure and we

converted it into the incubator together with the city of Genk and EFRO. We rent spaces here and

attract start-up companies. You get persons paying their rents and they have the opportunity to

make use of the Microsoft system.

- So you are similar to Brightlands then?

The only thing is we are not responsible if it doesnt work out for them. We get funding from

LRM and Genk to keep this facility running. And the KPI is also putting pressure on us to make

it break even every month. If your goal is to only make money you do the housing to get money

which is not the issue here.

- Are you committed to help the start-ups succeed in their business?

No, we only provide the infrastructure and if possible try to get the best start-ups from the region.

That is what we can do. In Limburg we have 8 campuses and it is more or less the same investors

which are the local city and the boards are similar. They also share the same goal which is to get

the campus fully booked with start-ups. We also work as a virtual organization for the other

incubators which are not only in this region but also in other regions as well such as Antwerp.
 88

The head of the board are the same people everywhere which make communication and

management easier.

- So you try to make spaces busier here?

Yes, we try to attract more start-up companies. In the past we rent space where we had our own

small incubator but then we had our idea to start with companies small and after one year they

rent their own bigger space themselves. There are also funded start-up that get rooms for free but

they need to be selected by incubators and as soon as they make their first capital seat they need

to pay, but the disadvantage is that many companies move out as soon as they need to pay.

Here in MIC, the start-up companies need to move out as soon as they grow larger and thats why

we are called an incubator because we are incubating start-up companies to grow larger. This is

also part of the deal to prevent companies from occupying all spaces. Start-ups also get spoiled

because they get guidance for free which would normally has to be paid by established

companies.

- How many start-ups can have their seat here?

Currently we are having spaces for around 40 start-ups but we plan to expand and double the

spaces next year. There are still buildings around here and they will start renovating next year.

- And are the prices all the same or are there different prices?

It depends on the size of the room, usually companies pay around 400-450 a month.

Are there other costs as well?

 89

No, pretty much everything is included in the price such as internet, furniture and the whole

infrastructure of the building.

We dont earn money from it; we only try to attract start-up to come here.

- Where does the money go then?

Actually we have a director and a board of directors, which are responsible for the money, and

they make sure to spend the money back to the company. Actually every region is also trying to

attract start-ups because these companies pay the taxes and the city benefits from it. In case the

incubator is not working, the building can be used for companies.

Investors that are not located in the region also fund MIC. The start-ups also have the

opportunities to get proper guidance to make their business work but that they need to pay and it

is expensive. Brightlands on the other hand wants to help their start-ups getting their business

running with the support of other companies.

For Microsoft it is only important that we use their system. MS does not benefit from the building

but only from their system that is being used in our facilities.

As long as you are part of the MS community or just using their tools would be enough. They

dont really care what you do with it as long as you use their system. We on the other hand are

independent and start-ups that have their seats here can benefit from the MIC system.

MS see this as a nice location where people can work as a company but it is not necessary has to

be an incubator. They also target region that also has not much of MSs system. Our region is
 90

economic wise not doing very well so they are investing a lot in start-up projects to support the

economy and help it growing.

However, the economic values of start-ups are very low. The success rate is just 10% and 1%

very successful. 100 people for example can make more profit than 100 start-ups because not all

of them will succeed.

Every incubator including Brightlands cannot make a living with just the start-ups. But the

question is how can incubators make profit? Thats the big question.

Brightlands for example only have limited funding opportunities because they already have their

infrastructure build. They need to come up with a project to attract investors.

- So in your point of view what can Brightlands do to attract investors?

So what they can do is build a system where you say, lets make an application form and you can

bring an idea and we can select a few start-ups that can sit in the campus for free for one year. On

the other hand you need to fill it with other companies to cover your costs. In this one year you

search for your seat capital so you can pay the rent at the end of the one year. This is a good way

to attract a lot of companies. But there are also risks because companies might leave after the one

year period so you wasted your efforts on them.

 91

- Wouldnt it be better for them to charge commissions? Wouldnt that increase the

income?

Well, they can actually offer companies to buy shares so Brightlands can use the money to invest

in their projects. But in a campus that is tricky to do this because not everyone is willing to do

this.

- The question is why should investors invest in the Brightlands Smart Services Campus?

Investors need a good reason to invest. You need to make clear the gives and gets. For example I

give you a hundred thousand, what can I get in return? Fr example Microsoft, investors know

what they get from investing into Microsoft because it is known worldwide.

3. Interview Brightlands Chemelot Campus Edwin Baker

- What are the external funding opportunities that are being used by the Chemelot Campus

currently? (Which grants, subsidies?)

Things here are different than in Heerlen or Maastricht, as we have a campus organization and we

have money to invest in equipment and in research both 50/60 million euros in general. This is

mainly use to have a leverage to attract new customers. We got our funding and grants through

connections, not so long ago, we had an opportunity for a unique grant, we got, if I am not

mistaken, 7 million euros from the government and 5 million euros from the Gemeente of Sittard-

Geleen. In order to ensure you get grants, you first need to have a good project, but you cant

only rely on grants, you need a sum of money yourself in order to develop your project. It takes

time and a lot of effort, speaking about time, we have actually had to cancel one of our projects
 92

that we have been working on for over a year today, just because the cost revenue was not

attractive anymore.

Other part of the funding is that governments have policy advisors and they want to have

influence in what you are doing, and the registration behind it is very costly. A big grant will

have a good cost revenue but a smaller project takes the same time as a big one. There should be

a balance. The funding is important but its also important to have new and good partners with

good relationships between the partners, to also create added value between the companies. The

companies want quality partners. You need to deliver this. The grants are in incentive for the first

contact and share each other network and do more business together.

- How is the Chemelot campus finding out about new funding opportunities? (are there

special sector for it? Working with agencies?)

The programs I know them because that is my job and we try to develop projects and we have a

wider market and try to develop projects by ourselves. We also have a team that is always

looking for new opportunities.

I have a person contact in the Hague and everyone is helping each other with finding and creating

as much opportunity as possible. A lot of opportunities are in infrastructure, I have been working

here for 5-6 years and I have, in that time developed contacts for this reason. For example, some

grants are very generic about the chemical grants, but some are very specific about what they are

willing to support. The chance of getting the grants is a lot bigger with you have the support of

your partners.
 93

Maybe you have also IT side you have infrastructures, big servers and data, on EU level, there

might be a chance for Heerlen, but you have to have network. International funding. Its important

to have your own money, thats the problem in Heerlen. You need time and money. First

opportunities then project with partners, and you need your own money. You have leverage.

Flandersnederthers, minimum subsidy is 50%. Took 2 years to have a plan to make these funds.

The cost revenue are out of balance, so they decided to stop with the project and that project

would have given Heerlen 300,000 a year.

The grants are for 3-4 years. When you hire someone its for a particular time frame.

- Are the office spaces being rented out? How much of a success is it?

We only build when we have customers, so that means every office is rented out. Because we

have grants, we have good business case and half of it is empty at this moment. We have a

programme for start ups, we try to get the start up centres as full as possible, as soon as possible,

in that case, the building is not full right now. UM, chill, ZUYD, DSM, Chemelot campus, so the

campus itself is full. We are working on a new building but its with new tenants, or existing

tenants that wants to expand. The buildings are very expensive to build, we have to get funding

from the banks, so we can only build when we have the customers.

- What methods are being used in order to attract the renters?

The competition is high; we have an EU competition on companies. We have existing tenants,

they are looking all over the world. For example Sabic has offices in India, China, US, the NL,

they always look where is the best place to expand, we try to have contact with them every week
 94

build a relationship. When they want to expand, we want to be there to give them proposals.

Networking with several companies and go to fairs, get in contact with other companies and other

research institutes. Acquisition project with a very big company at the moment, it took one a half

year, but they are still negotiating for the first phrase and the negotiation already takes 2 months.

Normally it takes 2 years to sign the contract then we have to build for them. Takes 1-1.5 years

after the building is done then they come. DSM has 500 people working, sabic, also, they have

their own building that is built by us. They move around the campus from small to big. Over

here, the companies need labs, Life Science Company.

We have a unique infrastructure over here; we have a specific target group of companies. We are

working very hard on bringing in education and research institutes, 4-5 years ago there were no

research institutes, only companies, to create an eco system, we need to bring in young people to

work in the eco system, we need education and also institutes. We acquire companies from

outside, they do projects over here because they are big projects, sometimes they see, well, they

heard about the campus and well a part of our business should we here, so we have growth from

the education, we have growth from institutes and companies who work together in those

education and research institutes. Because they are here, its a unique selling point for companies

to be here. Eg, DSM, its important PhD students they can get access over here, because its

difficult to find high qualified personnel, they look all over the world and also on their topics.

This is why this is our selling points, we give them the first picks, its an easy access. The

networks are also important.

- What is the added value that Chemelot campus creates for the renters?
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The infrastructure over here, so we have license for all companies here and that they can do

chemistry, so thats very basic, but we also have gas, electricity, thats also basic infrastructure.

Young companies for example, we build for them so they do not have to invest in building, rather

than just renting the space. Its difficult for them to raise money for building is out of the

questions as they only have enough to do research. So we build, they rent and they can focus on

their business research, I still think thats very basic. We also have the community over here with

education and the research institutes, we invest in that. We also invest in high end equipment.

They can also use the equipment offered over at the campus. We try to bring business to them,

eg, month ago we had director of BMW, we had a meeting with BMW and interested company.

We offer networking, we are independent its also important we are independent party we can

invite these kind of people and sometimes they are competitors, but still they are invited by us,

normally they dont share networks with each other, but we are neutral, we try to organize these

meetings for the tenants. Business opportunities, projects with our institutes, we bring in the

company in the campus and they get funded by that.

- Which sector is creating the most profit for the Chemelot campus? (internal, external?

How?)

Biggest community is ftes, sabic & dsm etc. renting out the buildings that we build for them. Our

main target is growth, not profit, but when it comes to down to it, these two virtually go hand in

hand, our biggest growth is also our biggest profit maker, which is renting the office spaces. We

invest the money into building better infrastructures, something that we can be of added value to

our customers, well, as much as we can. That is our strength, we are selling our strength to our
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customers, we offer the science labs and machines to our customers so they can use, it is

expensive, but it attracts the right kind of partners and customers to the eco system we have here.

Someday, we hope to sell shares of the company and we hope to make money from that too. In

reality, we would like to be sustainable instead of earning a lot of profit, we also try to help our

other Brightlands campuses, such as Heerlen, by sending some of the people to rent office spaces

there, so I hope that Heerlen will benefit from that too.

- What makes the Chemelot campus such a success?

We know what we want to achieve and the board knows how to build business from the

beginning they organized it as a business every year, strategy is reviewed. We focus and we

know where we have to put the most effort. We know what the right time is. We have structure

and work a time with this. The companies see us at the same level as them. They dont think of us

as just being there and they can replace us anytime they want, but they really see them as one of

their own level. We work well as a company and we have a clear direction of where we are

moving towards, I believe that is what makes this campus such a success.
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4. Form Data management section

Notes on Data management section

NWO wants to contribute to the development of good data management by asking researchers to

make all relevant data sustainably available for reuse. Therefore in the data management section,

researchers will be asked before their research starts to think about how the data collected should

be ordered and categorized such that it can be made freely available. Researchers will often need

to take measures to this effect during the production and analysis of the data.

NWO understands data to include collected, unprocessed data as well as analyzed, generated

data. This includes all conceivable forms of digital and non-digital data (such as samples,

completed questionnaires, sound recordings, etc.).

NWO only requires the storage of data that are relevant for reuse. NWO assumes that within

disciplines there are widely held opinions about which data are relevant for storage and reuse.

Research Data Netherlands offers a checklist for the selection of data that can be eligible for

archiving.

Research results should be stored in such a way that they can be retrieved and reused in the long

term, also by researchers in disciplines and organizations other than those in which the research

took place. The operating principle is that all stored data are, in principal, freely accessible and

that access is only limited if aspects such as privacy, public security, ethical limitations, property

rights and commercial interests require that.

The costs of data management are eligible for funding and should be included in the project

budget. Important factors that determine the costs are:

* the type of data;

* the capacity needed for storage and backup;

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* the amount of manual work needed to allocate metadata and the compilation of other

documentation such as codebooks and the queries used in the statistical package;

* the extent to which the data needs to be protected;

* the hiring in of external data management expertise or other expertise.

With the data management section NWO mainly wants to raise awareness about the importance

of responsible data management. The section is therefore not included in a committee's decision

about whether a proposal should be awarded funding or not. STW does, however, submit this

section to the committee and referees for advice. After a proposal has been awarded funding the

researcher should elaborate the section into a data management plan. For this, applicants can

make use of the advice they have received.

Questions Data management section

1. Will data be collected or generated that are suitable for reuse?

Yes: Then answer questions 2 to 4

No: Then explain why the research will not result in reusable data or in data that cannot be stored

or data that for other reasons are not relevant for reuse

2. Where will the data be stored during the research?

3. After the project has been completed, how will the data be stored for the long-term and made

available for the use by third parties? To whom will the data be accessible?

4. Which facilities (ICT, (secure) archive, refrigerators or legal expertise) do you expect will be

needed for the storage of data during the research and after the research? Are these available?*

*ICT facilities for data storage are considered to be resources such as data storage capacity,

bandwidth for data transport and calculating power for data processing.
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