International investors meet entrepreneurs from the Benelux region…
On 28 May 2009, the 8th edition of the Benelux Venture Forum took place at the International Convention Center (ICC) in Ghent / Belgium.
Almost 200 participants enjoyed a great networking event with high quality presentations from the most investor-ready high tech companies in the Benelux.
Yet again, the Forum welcomed European investors from the Cleantech, Life Sciences and ICT sectors who selected the 9 best companies out of the presenting Benelux Venture 50. These companies qualify for presentation slots at the European Venture Summit, taking place in Germany from 30th November and also join the Top100 2009 companies for the Eurecan European Venture Contest (EEVC), from which 25 finalists will be selected at the end of October.
Europe Unlimited would like to thank all participants for attending and wishes everyone a good follow-up from their networking and partnering! The BVF has established itself as a unique platform promoting a dynamic and professional image of innovative entrepreneurship and venture capital in the Benelux region to the rest of Europe.
We are happy to see that the experts have also seen the benefits of this, and as Dr Ronald van der Geest (Chief Development Officer - Kinesis Pharma) puts it: "We were invited to showcase one of the companies we support at the Benelux Venture Forum this year. We owe it to the event, as the initial contacts were established at a previous BVF and have ignited a very successful collaboration. We are already looking forward to the next one!”
The 2009 edition successfully continues this mission and we already look forward to 2010 and to seeing the results of this year's event.
A special thanks goes to the sponsors and supporters of the event: Ernst & Young, the Flemish Government, Microsoft, POM Oost-Vlaanderen and Gent BC.
The Nordic Venture Forum helps identifying the most promising start-up companies across Europe for participation in the European Venture Contest 2009. The best 10 presenters from the Benelux Venture Forum will be invited to join the European Venture Summit (December 2009), where the finalists of the European Venture Contest will be selected.