Innovation Ecosystems Unpacked Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship

Lotte Leufkens, founder and CEO of CloudCuddle and Maria Carmen Punzi, PhD candidate at RSM in Menstrual Health and Social Change, share their expertise and insights about social entrepreneurship to contribute to Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship's SHE LEADS research. 

We’ve seen a rise in new mobility solutions, such as solar electric vehicles, in the scaleup ecosystem. Lightyear, a pioneer in the solar mobility market, founded in 2016 is one of the fastest-growing companies in the Netherlands according to the Top250 Scaleups. How have they achieved such tremendous growth even without selling a single car yet? What is the secret behind their success? Find out in this episode featuring Tom Selten, Head of Business Development & Policy at Lightyear, and prof dr. Tom Mom, professor of Strategic Growth and Implementation at Rotterdam School of Management & Senior Fellow at Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship.

Knowledge-intensive startups are considered to be key drivers of innovation and have an enormous impact on society. However, they face a unique and complex set of challenges in their growth trajectory. But what are knowledge-intensive startups exactly and how can they scale up in such a challenging and complex landscape? In the fifth episode of our podcast series ''Innovation Ecosystems Unpacked'', find out more about the innovation ecosystem surrounding knowledge-intensive startups and scaleups during an engaging conversation between Chris Eveleens (advisor at AWTI) and Cinzia Silvestri (founder and CEO of Bi/ond), moderated by our director Martin Luxemburg.

At some point in a startup’s growth trajectory, scaling up often means going international. But how should startups leverage their innovation ecosystem to successfully expand internationally? Which international markets should they consider? Is there a difference when scaling to China, the US or within Europe? What is an optimal international growth strategy? In this episode, together with internationalisation experts and founders of weGrow, Gernot Schwendtner and Florent Coudyser, Martin Luxemburg unpacks the key factors to consider when scaling internationally.

Access to market is one of the determining factors driving the success of an innovation ecosystem. Without knowing the right way to acquire (potential) customers and partners, startups and scaleups cannot grow and create impact. In this episode, Martin Luxemburg engages in a critical discussion with Maarten Bosch, CEO Mosa Meat, and Jonathan Teoh, Entrepreneurship at Foodvalley NL. Together, they uncover the secrets of go-to-market strategies by focusing specifically on the AgriFood sector.

The 2nd episode dives into the funding landscape within innovation ecosystems for startups and scaleups.  This time Rinke Zonneveld, Executive Director of InnovationQuarter, and Gianluca Valentini, VP Marketplace Operations at HousingAnywhere | Venture Advisor at EQT Ventures | Founding Partner of Great Stuff Ventures, joins Martin Luxemburg in a fascinating discussion about the importance of access to capital within an innovation ecosystem. How should startups and scaleups navigate through the complex capital landscape, with different types of (international) investment and myriads of stakeholders each playing a different (supportive) role? We unpack these complexities in this episode and address not only the availability of capital in an innovation ecosystem, but also how accessible it really is.