Who can apply?

The Startup in Residence programme is open to startups, scale-ups, social enterprises and innovative small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We use the term ‘Startup’ as an umbrella for all these types.

In addition, the business must be registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce or a similar chamber in its country. The business must have no more than ten salaried employees.

Note: you can submit your application through the Starthubs platform. You will find a link to the application form on each challenge page. 

Application procedure

• Applications are open from February 13th until April 1st (17:00).
• You can start  your application by clicking on ‘apply’ button on the challenge pages. This will redirect you to Starthubs.co.
• The application will cover the basics of your startup and the solution you offer to the challenge. You can apply in both English and Dutch.
• The provincie Zuid-Holland will organise an information meet-up on March 22nd to give you a better understanding of the challenge.
• A number of applications per challenge will be selected to present their solution to the selection committee.
• The final decision will be made based on the bid, the pitch, and the responses to the questions asked by the assessment committee.

See the timeline of our 2019 programma

Assessment

The assessment committee consists of representatives from the programme, experts on innovation and entrepreneurship, and the civil servants responsible for the specific challenges.

The assessment committee invites any number of startups per challenge to pitch for the assessment committee. It is up to the startups to decide on how they will do this (pitch, film, etc.), but they have a time limit of 10 minutes. After the pitch, the assessment committee will get the opportunity to ask questions for 20 minutes. The startups will be selected based on these 30 minutes and their application.

The assessment committee will arrive unanimously at one integral score based on the three criteria described below.

1. Vision and innovation

The assessment committee will look at the following aspects of vision and innovation. The more persuasive the vision and innovation, the higher the assessment. Think about including the following elements in your proposal:

• What is the company vision in tackling the challenge and to what extent does it contribute to solving the challenge?
• How unique is the design of the solution in the short and long term?
• To what extent does the solution already exist and to what extent is the solution innovative?

2. Impact

The assessment committee looks at what the positive impact on the provincie Zuid-Holland and/or its citizens could be. The bigger the expected positive impact, the better the evaluation of the committee. Think about including the following elements in your proposal:

• To what extent does the solution contribute to solving the challenge?
• What possible impacts will the solution have in the short and long term?
• What are the expected (positive/negative) spin-off and spill-over effects of the solution or service?

3. Implementation

The more specific the proposal for realisation and implementation, and the more confidence this instils, the higher the assessment. Think about including the following elements in your proposal:

• How feasible is it that the solution will be implemented?
• Is the timeline realistic and is it financially feasible?
• Who is responsible for implementation and maintenance?
• What does the solution require in terms of cooperation with other departments of the province or external suppliers?
• What is the scalability of the offered solution and how can it be replicated in comparable parts of government?