Amsterdam, March 4, 2019 - Arcadis (EURONEXT: ARCAD), the leading global Design & Consultancy organization for natural and built assets, today launched the Digital Innovation Hub in central Amsterdam as part of its broader digital transformation program. The Digital Innovation Hub will focus on identifying opportunities for new products and services to meet clients' needs today and tomorrow. It houses two new initiatives: 1) the three-month Arcadis City of 2030 Accelerator, powered by Techstars, which is kicking off today with 10 selected startups, and 2) the Digital Studio Incubator, the company's internal product and service development group, starting on April 1.

The hub and its two programs are part of Arcadis' city-centric vision and strategy of continued digital innovation and growth. "We have to establish both internal and external initiatives to identify and carefully grow 'the new'. We are serious about being a digital frontrunner in our industry and therefore we have to develop certain value propositions ourselves, as well as co-create and buy into what happens at the frontier through early stage ventures," added Patrick van Hoof, Global Director Innovation at Arcadis.

Shaping cities of the future through digital

The theme "City of 2030" relates to the strategic vision recently developed by Arcadis and is based on the fact that in the next decade the vast majority of people will live their lives in cities. Arcadis is perfectly positioned to not just play a role in those future cities, but to shape them. Aside from impactful client relationships and more than a century of industry experience, this will require a deep understanding of human needs and a bold exploration of new ways to meet those needs. The Digital Innovation Hub has been created for that purpose, to provide an environment and operating model suitable for exploration and experimentation.This benefits the internal product development team and the startups, which are still in an early stage of development.

In the City of 2030 Accelerator, Arcadis aims to contribute extensive subject matter expertise through mentorship and the involvement of its broader ecosystem of clients and partners. Arcadis and Techstars will help the startup teams rapidly iterate concepts to grow their business, as well as prepare for fundraising and Demo Day to showcase their ideas at the end of May.

The first selected group of 10 global startups

The ten early stage startups selected from a pool of hundreds of applications received from across 50 countries are focused on developing ideas around the following city related themes: urban planning, mobility, resiliency, citizen-city engagement, housing shortage, field collaboration, and workplace wellness. The core technology of their various solutions focused on revolutionizing how people live, work, and travel in cities include artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, parametric design software, task management software, and GIS.

The 10 innovative startups are as follows:

Urban Data Eye (Spain): Data analytics on use of public space, by applying Artificial Intelligence on the life stream of cameras
ModelMe3D (Netherlands): City and asset digitization and 3D real time master planning platform
Iomob (Spain): Blockchain enabled mobility as a service platform
Etalyc (United States): Data analytics play applied to traffic management systems
Senscity (Australia): Climate change impact assessment platform to inform investment decisions on cities' green spaces
CAALA (Germany): Sustainable building design and carbon footprint optimization across the entire asset life cycle
City Flag (United States): City/citizen engagement platform, social network for city services
Kndrd CoLiving (United States): Housing as a service, Proptech for the coliving industry
Mela Works (United Kingdom): Real-time project and task management field collaboration application
Pause (United States): Meditation pods with companion software for public spaces


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