Navy Yard

Brooklyn Navy Yard announces plans for European startup incubator

B.Amsterdam Will Open 100,000 Square-Foot Facility in 2017

September 8, 2016 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Here is a rendering of what Building 127 is expected to look like when B.NY opens next year. Rendering courtesy of the Brooklyn Navy Yard
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More jobs are coming to Brooklyn, and this time, they are coming via the Netherlands.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard held a press conference atop building 292 on Wednesday to announce that B.Amsterdam, Europe’s largest small business incubator, will set up shop in Brooklyn sometime next year.

“This is a really big day for us,” said Navy Yard CEO David Ehrenberg. “We’re welcoming B.Amsterdam to the Navy Yard, to Brooklyn, to New York. It’s the largest small business incubator in Europe, and the program here is designed to establish a pipeline for companies who are in Europe and want to come to the United States and vice versa for American companies who want to branch out in the European market.

“It’s a big day for us to have made it into the national and global scene now,” Ehrenberg continued.

Ehrenberg was joined by B.Amsterdam founder Ricardo van Loenen, New York City Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, Amsterdam Deputy Mayor Kajsa Ollongren and Henry Gutman, chair of the Navy Yard, to make the announcement. The new venture, dubbed B.NY, will occupy 100,000 square feet of Building 127 and is expected to provide at least 500 permanent jobs.

“B.Amsterdam’s new Navy Yard hub will become a launching pad for new businesses across the five boroughs,” said Glen. “The startups and spinoffs that start here will translate into good, living-wage jobs for New Yorkers.”

The new space will be designed to give European startups a foothold here in the United States and should help American companies do the same across the Atlantic.

“Cities like Amsterdam, Paris and Stockholm are teeming with entrepreneurs looking to conquer the world with a new product and service. And they are all looking for ways to scale up,” Ollongren said. “With the creation of B.NY, these startups will be able to enter the U.S. market faster and easier.”

B.Amsterdam operates a 300,000 square-foot facility in Europe that houses more than 300 businesses. It provides those businesses with real estate and business services (legal, tax and human resources, among others) for startups. B.NY will focus on product design, hardware and tech companies that will designate at least 15 percent of their facilities to manufacturing, according to officials.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard currently houses more than 300 businesses and more than 7,000 people. Between this and other current projects, the Navy Yard expects to increase its number of jobs from 7,000 to 16,000 within five years.

 

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