Meet the founders.
Arjan Goudsblom | International programs
Arjan Goudsblom is a passionate advocate for science-based innovation and entrepreneurship as powerful concepts to ignite social and economic transformation. After a corporate career in business transformation and innovation, he took up the role of Head of Global Growth and Mentoring at Cicada Innovations. During his tenure, this Sydney-based incubator was voted ’Best incubator in the world’ by INBIA for the second time in 5 years. Back in his home country of The Netherlands, Arjan is now pursuing his ambitious agenda to connect scientific knowledge to entrepreneurship and social challenges on behalf of the University of Amsterdam, ACE Incubator and Amsterdam Science Park.
Ellen Spithoven | SME and startup programs
Ellen thrives on the excitement of building programs from the ground up, with a keen focus on innovation and impactful outcomes. Having launched her career at Unilever, where she managed renowned brands like Ben & Jerry's, Ola, and Lipton, Ellen possesses invaluable insights into corporate dynamics and the art of securing their engagement. Ellen is a business development and sales expert. She is co-founder of the Digital workspace, partner of the Ready to Scale program, founder of the PIM launching customer platform and founder of the Circular Matchmaking Program. She is a networker and always seeking for new business opportunities, connecting people and thinking out of the box. She is excited to kick start projects from scratch, to scale up and reach targets!
Erik Boer | International programs
Erik is the former director of the Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) where he created programs and partnerships that enable students and researchers to start high impact ventures. His work resulted in many awards; the 2011 European Enterprise Award, the #1 Dutch incubator in 2018 and the best PhD course of the Medical Graduate school in 2019. He created Startup Village, a tech, innovation and co-working space housing more than 35 startups and scale ups. Erik was the university Lead for Entrepreneurship at VU where he led the team that created VU Starthub. Currently Erik is also program director at UvA campus Roeterseiland shaping the UvA Impact centre for social sciences. Erik’s strength is helping university leaders to create entrepreneurial universities as well as academics and students to transform their ideas and research into businesses.
Joost Reimert | SME and startup programs
Joost is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for funding and scaling startups to success. As the founder of the Digital Workspace, partner in the Innovation Program for SMEs, and initiator of the Dutch Academic Investment Fund (a venture capital fund investing in university startups), he has a track record of turning ideas into thriving businesses. Joost is enthusiastic and effective, specializing in business development and team building, particularly in the seed and early growth stages.
So far we have reached…
55
Universities
3100+
Students & Researchers
280+
Teachers
1901+
Entrepreneurs
Let's connect and discuss your projects!
Do not hesitate to contact us for any request. We can’t wait to engage and collaborate with you, to transform your ambitions into success stories.