With a focus on technological, scalable and innovative products, the Young Entrepreneurs Society Delft (YES!Delft) offers business support at its incubation centre to help start-ups succeed.
- 27 November 2015
In search of the right partner to bring our idea to the market, we have engaged in a lot of conversations with many parties. It is not always easy to find the right match, but YES!Delft’s Network Event changed that in the blink of an eye. I was pitching Nerdalize’s story to a large audience. Within several weeks, the chairman of Eneco was visiting our office. Today we are partners in a field trial!
Students, professionals and scientists with concrete ideas get advice, coaching and access to facilities, often offered by Delft University of Technology, to develop prototypes, products or processes as part of their first steps towards becoming entrepreneurs. This is just one part of many things YES!Delft has to offer. Its main strength is having a large network of corporations, investors and government officials.
Growing future businesses
Since its establishment in 2005, YES!Delft has supported over 160 companies of which about 90 % are still active, some with dozens of employees and multi-million Euro turnovers. These companies have had an impact in such sectors as medical and clean technology, ICT, industrial applications and consumer products. YES!Delft has helped to create an estimated 1 000 jobs, of which around 750 are long-term. As of Spring 2016, YES!Delft will also have the facilities to house and accelerate biotech companies.
YES!Delft is based on inspiration, education, incubation and growth. It inspires by showing future entrepreneurs opportunities and explaining benefits of entrepreneurship. Education comes through high-quality training on finance, sales and management which lays a solid foundation for start-ups. Office space, technical facilities, an international network of contacts and potential partners, investors and customers, as well as optimal knowledge-sharing conditions incubate and make companies grow.
Overcoming modern challenges
YES!Delft harnesses the power of innovation to overcome modern challenges, contribute to economic and societal progress and develop the knowledge economy. It does this by bringing together start-ups, coaches, investors, and innovative corporations to fuel success.
The current incubation centre, completed in 2010, is a key part of this as basing many start-ups in one building creates local jobs and generates social and economic growth. It also provides a platform for collaboration on development of innovative ideas as YES!Delft organises dedicated networking events to support further experience exchange.
Owing to the success of this approach, the centre is almost full, resulting in a need for a new building for biotechnology start-ups. It should open in 2016 and will host 1 200 m2 of fully-equipped shared laboratory facilities and 3 500 m2 of office space.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “YES!Delft” is EUR 12 925 131, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund is contributing EUR 2 502 204 from the Operational Programme “West Netherlands” for the 2007 to 2013 programming period.