Registration for the sixth edition of Mobility Lab is now open. Entrepreneurs who want to test their prototypes or ideas for new services in real-world settings have until May 31st to apply for THE start-up program in the field of mobility.
The first applications are already coming in. Under the motto “Niet Lullen, Maar Testen – Don’t talk, test!” Mobility Lab links entrepreneurs from the Netherlands and abroad to an appealing first customer in a 9-month program, where they can prove their innovation in practice.
What is Mobility Lab?
The startup program Mobility Lab was founded in 2017 and is celebrating its sixth edition this year. It was originally an initiative of ‘De Verkeersonderneming’, which in recent years focused on better accessibility of the Rotterdam region. In addition to the municipality of Rotterdam, the innovative mobility program in the south of the Netherlands SmartwayZ.NL and the province of Limburg are also partners. This year, the province of Utrecht will also become a partner of the program.
Mobility Lab aims to improve our mobility and make it more sustainable with innovative startups. Societal objectives are paramount for this. There are no commercial objectives in supporting the startups.
Pilot with a first costumer
More and more people are living in cities, new residential areas are being built and so the pressure on public space is increasing. Our mobility system is processing more and more movement, but in order for this to continue, innovation in the field of mobility is essential.
Mobility Lab helps startups with this. Startups are given the opportunity to test new mobility concepts in practice, which can attract the attention of investors. Pilots take place in Rotterdam, Noord-Brabant, and Limburg, at organizations, municipalities, and companies with mobility issues. Starting this year, pilots could also take place in the province of Utrecht.
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Startups from the Netherlands and abroad
This is not the first edition of the Mobility Lab program. In the five previous editions, the program has created hundreds of jobs and the startups have raised more than 34 million euros in funding to be able to scale up. In recent years, 89 start-ups from the Netherlands and abroad have participated in Mobility Lab and 74 pilots have been carried out.
Mobility Lab has already set up pilots in various municipalities, such as Ahoy, the Efteling, Eindhoven Airport, RET Rotterdam, and Dura Vermeer. Well-known participants from previous editions include Amber, Felyx, Cargoroo, Tiler, SD Insights, Citysteps, Juuve, and Samotics.
“With projects such as Mobility Lab, we give startups that are ready to start real-world testing a chance to develop further. They are linked to a company or organizations with the aim of improving mobility. This not only has an effect on the mobility systems of the participating regions, but also in the rest of the Netherlands and even beyond,” says Paul Bevers, cluster head of Innovation and Development at SmartwayZ.NL.
