The Netherlands: Business Startups are moving to Amsterdam, but should you? - by Eliz D'Agostin

A couple of months ago our CEO Boris was interviewed by Tech City News, an UK publisher, to talk about why Amsterdam and The Netherlands became such a hype place for startups.

The topic has been explored a number of times, as cities in Europe furiously compete for the title of tech capital of the continent. While London and Berlin are considered top of the pile, when companies like Tesla, Uber and Netflix decided to base their European operations in Amsterdam, things changed.

There are many reasons why the Dutch city is attractive for business. There is a whole raft of insightful articles outlining  the environmental, political and even historical conditions that sparkled such a tech driven scene in the country and specially in the capital.

The city has been labelled Europe’s West Coast startup capital and Forbes went so far to say Amsterdam is a genuine alternative to Silicon Valley.

This superlatives have come about thanks to initiatives like StartupDelta, an important program that stimulates the startup environment in the city and connects companies with investor and talents.

The “Start-up Visa” is also a big facilitator to bring startups to the city. It is a new type of visa that allows entrepreneurs to apply for a one year resident permit to develop their ideas in the country.

Another great initiative is StartupAmsterdam – a public/private scheme that joined forces with the government to improve the benefits and incentives for startups to come to Amsterdam – with the aim of catapulting the city into the top three startups hubs in Europe.

While big multi-nationals have been lured to the city, there’s an ever-growing list of home-grown startups to emerge including Booking.com, TomTom and of course, The Next Web that help the city attract investment and professionals from all over the world.

The Next Web itself has more than 20 different nationalities – most of which now call Amsterdam home.

But what does the city have to offer  all these immigrants and internal migrants moving to the city? We asked around the office what people thought about living in the Venice of the North.

“Rent in Amsterdam isn’t cheap, it takes up a lot of your paycheck. But you can do a lot with what is left. You can buy so much more with your money and if you decide to stay for good, the government helps you out with the costs of buying a property, for example. That makes the choice of staying a lot easier.”

“As a “digital nomad”, I love that Amsterdam is a relatively affordable international city with lots of history and culture. I’m not a fan of all of the bureaucracy (who is?) and having to pay for public libraries/museums.ousing is extortionate. However, there’s this great “don’t care” attitude here compared with elsewhere. Coming from the UK where social class and where you went to school is still a huge deal, it’s super nice and inspiring.”

"everyone speaks English"

Read more: Startups are moving to Amsterdam, but should you?

The Netherlands - start-up companies: Dutch start-up "Internet of Things" brings the future closer

Imagine a house in which the plants alert you when they need watering or your cat is automatically fed.

Then take it wider, across your neighborhood and your city. The Internet of Things is a network of physical objects, or things, which have been equipped with software, sensors and network connectivity. This enables them to collect and exchange data and improve the way they work, bringing greater efficiency and economic benefits.

Wired magazine says "this Dutch invention "The Internet of Things" revolves around increased machine-to-machine communication; it’s built on cloud computing and networks of data-gathering sensors; it’s mobile, virtual, and instantaneous connection; and they say it’s going to make everything in our lives from streetlights to seaports “smart.”

A sensor is not a machine. It doesn’t do anything in the same sense that a machine does. It measures, it evaluates; in short, it gathers data. The Internet of Things really comes together with the connection of sensors and machines. That is to say, the real value that the Internet of Things creates is at the intersection of gathering data and leveraging it. All the information gathered by all the sensors in the world isn’t worth very much if there isn’t an infrastructure in place to analyze it in real time."

Cloud-based applications are the key to using leveraged data. The Internet of Things doesn’t function without cloud-based applications to interpret and transmit the data coming from all these sensors. The cloud is what enables the apps to go to work for you anytime, anywhere."
 
The idea behind the Internet of Things (IoT) first came about in the 1990s when the board of Dutch electronics giant Philips, together with American innovators, coined the term ‘Ambient Intelligence’. Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments equipped with devices that are sensitive to the presence of people, can sense change and relay information to a base – independent of human control.

The theory went that the instruments themselves, working in chorus, would support a more convenient, efficient, life-enhancing world for humans; and become reality between 2010 and 2020.

Last year Wieke Giezeman, a serial start-up entrepreneur, launched The Things Network. The aim: to set up an IoT communication network throughout Amsterdam. He laid out his plans for citywide coverage, set up by and for users, with LoRa Wan (Long Wave Radio) gateway boxes which the company would produce themselves at low cost. Much to his astonishment it was fully crowdfunded and operational within six weeks.

‘We did it because we can. We believe in an open and free internet,’ Giezeman said. ‘The hardware is cheap enough. With this anyone can set themselves up. You don’t even need coding skills.’

LoRa Wan is the same kind of tech that telecoms giants such as KPN and Vodafone are hoping to exploit in order to profit from the need for a reliable IoT network. ‘If we leave this task up to big telcos, a subscription model will be enforced and we will exclude 99% of the cool use cases,’ says Giezeman. ‘Instead, let’s make it a publicly owned and free network so businesses and use cases will flourish on top of it.’

‘In future everything will be connected. A lot of data will be collected to make our lives better. It will allow service providers, of all sorts, to make their services cheaper and better for us, the consumers.’

Since the launch the idea has rapidly gone global. Over 20 cities (from Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Almere to Sao Paulo and Montevideo) are now taking part, 2,000 people are actively seeking to help, and 200 are specifically looking to set up their own local network. In November,

The Things Network launched a second Kickstarter campaign to try and support global roll out.The main aim is to have a network in every major city by the end of 2016. From then on it will need to grow via local communities. They succeeded in raising €295,000, more than €100,000 over their target.

IoT devices don’t need the constant internet access of your laptop. However, they do need consistent coverage, to be reliable in varied environments, safe from hacking and have long battery life in order to transfer data as and when they need to. ‘LoRa Wan has a range of up to 10 kilometres, low bandwidth and the battery use is very low.

This is perfect for machine-to-machine communication,’ Giezeman explains. By producing their own hardware, he and his team have worked hard to make options for different budgets: starting with The Things Gateway, a €200 version, with a range of five kilometres, allowing citizen users to contribute to the network from their own home.

Users have been quick to start using the network, designing tools that can link to it. As an Amsterdam-born idea it’s not surprising that these uses include intelligent sensors that alert you if your boat begins to take on rain water past a safe level for staying afloat. Or a device that locates your bike among the hoards of others parked outside the city’s main railway station.

The city’s port authority and successful sharing startup Peerby have also joined the enthusiastic user crowd. Outside cities, IoT trackers are already being used to monitor rhinos in the wild. In the home, uses could include remote thermostat, cctv or baby monitor control. Some of these are essentially familiar and perhaps don’t seem like such a breakthrough change from apps.

However, Giezeman and IoT innovators like him are anticipating the next stage of development being where the IoT will really take flight. ‘When I talk to people outside tech, in operations for instance, within ten minutes almost everyone can think of new uses. You just need to think of how far digital tech has come in the last thirty years and try and project forward.’ -  (from Dutch News NL and Wired Magazine reports)

Almere-Digest

The Netherlands - culture: How China Conquered the Dutch - by NINA SIEGAL

In 1558, a single Portuguese trading ship returning from Asia carried 1,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain. A Dutch ship making the same journey 50 years later brought 60,000 pieces. And by 1638, about 900,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain were transported via Dutch trading vessels.

In the span of one century, the fine, thin, white ceramics made from a clay called kaolin and fired in blazing hot kilns went from being a unique treasure for a handful of wealthy European connoisseurs to a common household item, especially in the Netherlands.

Today, this porcelain is known in everyday English usage as china, and as early as the 17th century it was already being copied throughout Europe.

How did china and other Asian commodities, such as Japanese lacquer chests, Ceylonese ivory cabinets and Indian silks, first come to the Western world, and what impact did the European appreciation for them have on the kinds of products that were produced? These are the questions raised in “Asia in Amsterdam,” an exhibition that opened at the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum on Oct. 17 and runs until Jan. 17, when it will move to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.

 Read more: How China Conquered the Dutch - The New York Times

Netherlands - USA: How does D.C. compare with Amsterdam when it comes to the use of Marijuana

Initiative 71 became law in Washington, D.C

Recently initiative 71 became law,in Washington, D.C.,  legalizing marijuna under certain circumstances.

Commemorating this fact Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the District will not become “like Amsterdam,” as though being “like Amsterdam” would be a bad thing. City Hall even refers to Amsterdam in their official Q&A.

To give the people of Washington, D.C. and hopefully also their mayor an educated view of how D.C. compares to Amsterdam, the Netherlands Embassy in Washington offered this Q&A about Dutch marijuana laws and policies and an infographic.

• 1. What are the differences between Washington, D.C., and Dutch law on the possession of marijuana?
• 2. Are there any differences between how each handles the selling of marijuana?
• 3. Can anyone traveling to the Netherlands consume marijuana in a coffee shop?
• 4. But in Amsterdam, it’s legal to possess, grow and sell marijuana, isn’t it?
• 5. So the Dutch consume larger quantities of marijuana than Americans, right?

See how Washington, D.C. and Amsterdam compare to one another in  this infographic.

1. What are the differences between Washington, D.C., and Dutch law on the possession of marijuana?
In Washington, D.C., under initiative 71 it is legal for any person over 21 to:

• Possess marijuana weighing 2 oz. or less;
• Grow no more than 6 cannabis plants (<3 being mature) per person or no more than 12 plants (<6 mature) per house or rental unit.

In the Netherlands, it is illegal to possess (and grow, prepare, process, sell, deliver, distribute and transport) marijuana. However, the Dutch police and public prosecutors have designated the following cases (for persons 18 years or older) as a low-enforcement priority:

• Possession up to 5 grams (0.176 oz.) of marijuana;
• Growing of a maximum of 5 cannabis plants for personal consumption in a single household.

2. Are there any differences between how each handles the selling of marijuana?

Because of Congressional interference, D.C. can’t enact any regulatory framework for the sale or taxation of marijuana. So the sale of marijuana is illegal. However, it is permitted to give (without remuneration) less than 1 oz. to another person over 21.

In the Netherlands, the prohibition on the sale of marijuana will not be enforced by the police only if it is sold in a licensed coffee shop to persons 18 or older and the following criteria are met:

• No more than 5 grams of marijuana can be bought per person per day;
• The total supply of a coffee shop can be no more than 500 grams (17.6 oz.) at any given time;
• No alcohol can be served in coffee shops;
• Minors are not allowed inside coffee shops;
• It is forbidden to advertise marijuana or other drugs;
• No nuisance is tolerated in/around coffee shops. 

The sale of marijuana in any other circumstance will be prosecuted.

3. Can anyone traveling to the Netherlands consume marijuana in a coffee shop? 

No, since 2013 the sale of marijuana in coffee shops is only permitted to residents of the Netherlands aged 18 years or older. The primary reason behind this new law was the nuisance of drug tourism in the provinces bordering Germany and Belgium. However, local governments have the authority to designate a level of priority to the enforcement of this law. As a consequence, in the provinces bordering Germany and Belgium there is a higher enforcement priority than in a few cities, like Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

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4. But in Amsterdam, it’s legal to possess, grow and sell marijuana, isn’t it?

No, as explained in Question 1, Dutch law applies everywhere in the Netherlands, and Amsterdam is no exception.

5. So the Dutch consume larger quantities of marijuana than Americans, right?

Not quite, the lifetime rate of marijuana consumption for ages 15-64 in the Netherlands is 25.7% compared to 41.5% in the US.

Lets hope Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser puts this information in his pipe and smokes it.

Click here to learn more about the Dutch government's laws and policies regarding drug use

EU-Digest

The Netherlands: 154 Dutch citizens die in Malaysian Airlines crash at Ukraine Russian border as their flight from Holland to Malysia gets shot down by Russian missile

U.S. officials have confirmed to several media outlets that the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane that crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border Thursday was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

The origin of the missile remained unclear and both government officials and pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied responsibility.

The number of fatalities in the crash was not immediately clear.

There were 295 people on board, 280 passengers and 15 crew members. Ukrainian authorities told U.S. Embassy officials that everyone on the plane was "believed dead" and that the aircraft debris was scatted over a 10-mile swath of land, ABC News reported.

Malaysia Airlines released a partial list, published by the Washington Post, of the nationalities for 233 of the plane's 280 passengers: 154 Dutch, 27 Australian, 23 Malaysian, 11 Indonesian, 6 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino and one Canadian. The airline said it did not yet know the nationalities of the remaining passengers yet.

Every member of the 15-person crew was Malaysian, the airline said.

An aide to Ukraine's interior minister quoted by Interfax said the total number of dead in the crash was more than 300 and included 23 U.S. citizens.

Note: the number of Dutch casualties has now risen to 194

Read more: Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 295 people shot down in missile strike near Ukraine-Russia border: U.S. official - Yahoo News

The Netherlands: McDonald's Small Wrap Kills Dutch Teenager Following Allergic Reaction

McDonald's announced it has stopped the sale of a 'Small Wrap Saté' in the Netherlands following the death of a 17-year-old teenager after he got a severe allergic reaction in a McDonald franchise in Amsterdam  from eating the wrap.

The saté wrap, selling for €2 in the Netherlands, consists of  "fried chicken and onions in a spicy peanut sauce", kown in the Netherlands as.Saté sauce. Saté sauce, which has its origins in Indonesia, became a very popular sauce in the Netherlands and is even eaten there on french fries.

A spokesperson  for McDonald's confirmed the product has been withdrawn but declined to give any further information as to questions about warning labels on McDonald's products which contain peanut products or have been prepared in the vicinity of peanut products.

EU-Digest