The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) has decided to extend Techleap’s role as a tech sector booster for another three years, according to the FD. However, the initiative will have to fulfill its mission with a budget that is just over half of the previous one. It is still unclear whether Prince Constantijn will continue to lead the initiative.
Techleap has been striving for the past four years to make the Netherlands a hub for tech start-ups, with a budget of 35 million euros. The new three-year period will begin at the end of June, with 15 million euros allocated for it.
The role of Prince Constantijn is yet to be determined in consultation. EZK Minister Micky Adriaansens has said that the prince has “a lot of expertise” and “international experience”.
The challenge for the ministry is that it is difficult to measure Techleap’s successes. For example, the increased importance of the Netherlands as a ‘tech ecosystem’ cannot be attributed solely to the interest group, the ministry states in an evaluation of Techleap and its predecessor StartupDelta.
Various reports indicate that Techleap has been dissatisfied with the Dutch government’s attitude towards the tech sector. At the beginning of this year, researchers from Techleap said that domestic start-ups are increasingly losing out to foreign competition. Earlier, Prince Constantijn had said that the Dutch IT industry was entering “a period of great uncertainty”. This does not bode well for the feasibility of Techleap’s objectives.
