By Helmuth Fuchs
Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau, special envoy StartupDelta in the interview
- on his first impression of the Swiss Fintech Mission
„I am deeply impressed by the focus and the vision of the Canton of Zug and of what’s going on in Zurich.“
„You managed in a very short time to become the epicenter of blockchain and crypto developments.“
- on the primary focus of the Dutch initiatives like the StartupDelta
„We are not supporting a specific technology or sector, we are looking at which factors are driving entrepreneurship“
„We want to make sure our entrepreneurs get access to talent, to capital, to networks, to technology, and to markets.“
- on the climate for startups in the Netherlands and potential areas for improvements
„The Netherlands has an excellent climate for startups, it has a very entrepreneurial mindset.“
«Where we can improve, it’s in the area of bringing breakthrough technologies to the market.»
- on examples in the Netherlands, where the blockchain is used successfully to create real-world benefits
„The blockchain really fits well with our culture, we like decentralization, we don’t like authorities.“
«Even the government is participating. There are 30 different pilots in the government for blockchain applications.»
- on where Switzerland could improve to become more attractive for international startups
„What we all need to do together is to make sure that we are better connected.»
«It’s in the collaboration that we can find the power to grow big companies which have a global importance.“
- on the tangible lasting results from this mission
„More than anything it’s the start of two quite similar countries, doing relatively similar things, working together. That it becomes a more natural thing that we grow companies together.“
- on digitization and the potential decline in the labor market
„We see a lot of new jobs being created. It as a transition, current jobs disappear, but new jobs are being created.“
«The problem is how to make sure that people don’t have obsolete skills, that they find new opportunities.»
- on which startup he would fund or participate in if he would have unlimited resources
„A startup that could return waste into energy without producing CO2. I would like to be in a startup like that.“
Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau on Wikipedia
The interview was conducted with the support of the Kickstart Accelerator
