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'Helping innovative start-ups in South East Brabant achieve their ambitious dreams' – that is the mission of the Bright Move incubator, which combines the talent of specialists at Brainport Eindhoven, Eindhoven University of Technology and the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM) (Brabant Development Company) to help budding entrepreneurs to achieve their goals. In their selection process, they use a funnel model to filter out the best ideas. The first step in this model is the Business Development Committee, in which various participants all play a role in honing the idea, carrying out the actual research, and clarifying the idea. Rabobank is also a member of this committee. If the idea is believed to be viable, the Expert Panel helps to ensure it can be further developed. This panel is comprised of specialists affiliated with research and educational institutions, test consumers and leading companies such as Philips, ASML and VDL. If a company shows itself to be truly exceptional, the Investors Committee – of which Rabobank is a member as well – decides whether they will receive a loan, and on what terms. Finally, local Rabobank Eindhoven-Veldhoven decides, based on the Expert Panel’s findings, whether it will provide an additional credit facility. The long-term support of talent in this incubator is paying off: an impressive 40 percent of all patent applications submitted in the Netherlands originate in the Brainport region, making it Europe’s leading incubator.
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