{"id":4783,"date":"2018-10-23T08:33:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T14:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/?p=4783"},"modified":"2023-05-18T21:21:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T02:21:04","slug":"sxsw-comes-to-eindhoven-weve-been-here-24-hours-and-im-blown-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/sxsw-comes-to-eindhoven-weve-been-here-24-hours-and-im-blown-away\/","title":{"rendered":"SXSW comes to Eindhoven: \u2018We\u2019ve been here 24 hours, and I\u2019m blown away\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Terry Boyd<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Suddenly, Eindhoven is on the radar of one of the most heralded American tech centers&nbsp; \u2013 and its world-famous innovation conference. A delegation from Austin, Texas including several executives from South by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sxsw.com\/\">Southwest Conference and Festivals<\/a> (SXSW), the world\u2019s largest event for creatives,&nbsp;was in Eindhoven Monday to see the city for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The delegation was here as part of a new reciprocal program in which groups from Austin and groups from Eindhoven visit each other\u2019s cities on alternating years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program started with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newdutchwave.com\/\">The New Dutch Wave<\/a>, a group of Dutch startup teams and entrepreneurs who hosted SXSW venues in 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"New Dutch Counter Wave 2018 - AWESOME RECAP\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/299217127?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AUSTIN COMES TO EINDHOVEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis year, it\u2019s the New Dutch Counterwave,\u201d said Erica Shamaly, music and entertainment division manager for the City of Austin, as the Americans invade Eindhoven. Shamaly was one of five people from Austin on the multi-day trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition&nbsp;to Austin official Shamaly, the group includes two SXSW representatives, a venture capitalist and the VP of global trade for Austin\u2019s World Affairs Council. The Austin group, in turn, is part of a larger global delegation here from cities including Montreal, Los Angeles, London and Philadelphia for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ddw.nl\/\">Dutch Design Week<\/a>,&nbsp;one of the premier design conferences in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Dutch Wave launched the Counterwave trade mission in collaboration with Brabant C, the investment fund for culture in the Brabant province that includes Eindhoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor New Dutch Wave, the Counterwave is a great addition in our mission to create inspiring meeting places and long-term collaborations between our own creative industry and those abroad.\u201d Says Arne Koefoed, co-founder of New Dutch Wave and Head of Ideas at creative agency WINK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From 19 to 24 October, entrepreneurs, investors, bookers and curators from the U.S. visited the Netherlands during the Amsterdam Dance Event and Dutch Design Week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/dispatcheseurope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Fred-Schmidt.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41460\" width=\"307\" height=\"307\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fred Schmidt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 22 October, Fred Schmidt, director of international affairs for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capitalfactory.com\/\">Capital Factory<\/a>, a startup community in Austin, said he\u2019d only arrived from Amsterdam, but already, he was amazed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is not what we thought we were going to see,\u201d he said amid the DDW crowds and displays at Strip-S. \u201cWe\u2019ve been here 24 hours, and I\u2019m blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of the Austin visit, several Eindhoven startup and scale-up teams pitched to the group at the Brabant Living Lab, and HighTechXL founder Guus Frericks introduced Eindhoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The teams earned the right to pitch by winning the&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/brabantstartupawards.nl\/\">Brabant Startup Awards, an award presented by Innovation Origins.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Those pitching included:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kontou.nl\/6468890\">Kontou<\/a> \u2013 Justin Kontou<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/manus-vr.com\/\">Manus VR<\/a> \u2013 Stephan van den Brink<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arion.run\/\">Arion<\/a> \u2013 Andy Statham<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.studyportals.com\/\">StudyPortals<\/a> \u2013 Edwin van Rest<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchrosemedia.com\/\">Dutch Rose Media<\/a> \u2013 Natasja Paulssen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.expivi.com\/\">Expivi <\/a>\u2013 Babbak Mirzae<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Statham got great reviews for his Arion pitch, a pitch the assembled agreed could work at SXSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arion&nbsp;is a wearable for runners, and Statham has patented tech that collects biometric data. That data can help runners change their style and mechanics on the way to improving times and avoiding injury. Arion is currently raising 1 million euros to \u201crevolutionize running wearables forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>TECH LINKS EINDHOVEN, AUSTIN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schmidt and others in the group told Dispatches Eindhoven was on Austin\u2019s radar because Mayor John Jorritsma visited Austin earlier this year.&nbsp;Before Jorritsma\u2019s visit, some of the Texans said, they\u2019d never heard of Eindhoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, they were talking about how Eindhoven could do business with Austin and other American cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/dispatcheseurope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ben_Ramirez.jpg?resize=610%2C404&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41564\" width=\"364\" height=\"241\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ben Ramirez, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/\">World Affairs Council Austin<\/a>, said he was here because 65 percent of small-to-medium enterprises, or SMEs, in Texas want to do business in Europe. \u201cIn Europe,\u201d Ramirez repeated. \u201cNot Mexico. Not Canada. And Mexico is only a six-hour drive away. But for a number of reasons, it\u2019s Europe. The affinity of culture \u2026 the desire to&nbsp;travel&nbsp;Europe. The CEOs want to come over here. And then there\u2019s not as much of a language barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo we see a big interest from the central Texas companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin is the HQ for Dell Computer. Most of the Austin-based companies are tech-focused, with the area\u2019s largest export categories computers and components, and the semiconductor&nbsp;industry. \u201cThat\u2019s where the&nbsp;relationship with Philips came in,\u201d Ramirez said, referring to the Dutch electronics giant that was founded in Eindhoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are a lot of opportunities for us to bring Brabant and Austin together.\u201d Getting Texas companies focused on foreign markets \u201cis our No. 1 priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rameriz said he was already familiar with Eindhoven because of the connection to Philips and the importance of computers and the semiconductor industry. \u201cEindhoven\u2019s always been on my radar, but it\u2019s not been to the threshold point of, \u2018Okay, there\u2019s so much design happening there and we need a trade mission to come over and find the connectors.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith the New Dutch Wave and the Brabant scene, Austin officials and business leaders need to say, \u2018Okay, we have the people on the ground here who\u2019ll be good partners.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, they can start referring startups and SMEs&nbsp;in Texas to the companies they\u2019re seeing here, Ramirez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schmidt, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., said why stop with Texas? Southern Michigan has a large population of people descended from Dutch settlers and even has a city named \u201cHolland,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That could lead to a natural partnership between Eindhoven and an area of Michigan which has a large number of investors with serious capital to deploy. What Schmidt likes about Eindhoven is that it brings tech and design together, \u201cand they work better together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She sees Eindhoven and Austin as having \u201cinteresting, complimenting ecosystems based on the fact we both have left-brain and right-brain folks,\u201d said Betsy Lindsey, HighTechXL\u2019s managing director, investor relations. \u201cWe both have creatives and tech people in one city, which is a powerful combo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As he boarded a bus to another stop at DDW, Schmidt predicted great things for Eindhoven: \u201cIt can happen quickly for a city. Six or seven years ago, London didn\u2019t have any capital. Now it\u2019s the top tech center in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Austin delegation included:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ben Ramirez<\/strong>, VP &amp; executive director, Center for Global Trade at World Affairs Council Austin<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Erica Shamaly<\/strong>, manager, music and entertainment director, City of Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Fred Schmidt<\/strong>, Capital Factory, Austin\u2019s startup mega-center and&nbsp;accelerator that connects startups to investors. Capital Factory has 750 members and has raised several funds, most recently $5 million in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Peter Lewis<\/strong> from South by Southwest. Lewis is global head of Sales and Exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Todd Hansen<\/strong>, conference manager for South by Southwest<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About SXSW:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South by Southwest, which began in 1987, is a conference\/festival that takes place every March in Austin, Texas. SXSW actually is three conferences \u2013 a music festival, a film conference&nbsp;and an interactive conference. Each conference draws from 20,000 to 50,000 attendees. Everyone who is anyone has attended SXSW, performed there or presented films or talks there from Johnny Cash to Elon Musk to London Mayor Sadiq Khan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Terry Boyd Suddenly, Eindhoven is on the radar of one of the most heralded American tech centers&nbsp; \u2013 and its world-famous innovation conference. A delegation from Austin, Texas including [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,84,66,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-cgt","category-news","category-recent"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018.jpg",1000,535,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018-150x250.jpg",150,250,true],"medium":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018-300x161.jpg",300,161,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018-768x411.jpg",768,411,true],"large":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018.jpg",1000,535,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018.jpg",1000,535,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/EindhovenPitch-Oct-2018.jpg",1000,535,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ben Ramirez","author_link":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/author\/bramirez\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Terry Boyd Suddenly, Eindhoven is on the radar of one of the most heralded American tech centers&nbsp; \u2013 and its world-famous innovation conference. A delegation from Austin, Texas including [&hellip;]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacaustin.org\/wp2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}