In the inspiring IJzaal of the Tolhuis Tuin overlooking the Amsterdam IJ on March 28th, the Interreg project Connected River kicked-off a 3-day event with a 10-minute count down and a loud sounding ship’s horn.
About 80 attendants heard opening speeches from Benno Bultink (Project Manager Connected River) and Arno Valkhof (Director Network Management) of behalf of lead partner and kick-off host, Rijkswaterstaat. Anne Pintz, Project Advisor on behalf of the Interreg North Sea programme wished Benno, and all the other team members a successful and exiting time with lots of fun and new friendships.
During the first day, professionally chaired by Aileen Schmuck, Head of Open Innovation Ecosystems from Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, the attendants were taken at a great pace through the various aspects of the project. Challenged by tantalizing questions of each of the work package leaders and activated by inspiring speeches and discussions. In between, the leaders of the pilot projects, the Amsterdam IJ, (Spiegel)Waal in Nijmegen, homePORT Hamburg, Kleine Nete and Lille Ports gave insights into their challenges.
During the second and third day, interaction was key. Partners were already able to get inspired by a sensor safari walk through Amsterdam’s Marineterrein, a visit of the Waag Futurelab and through an experiment of an innovative app solution on the Amsterdam IJ. The Steering Group, the Communication team and the Consortium members were also able to start working in parallel sessions, addressing the first steps of the many tasks ahead of the project.
Special thanks to the valuable input of the management level of all partners involved, who had their first opportunity to meet within the steering Group of Connected River. Lastly, the third of the event-packed days was concluded by a masterclass on multi-stakeholder ecosystems, hosted by the project partners Antwerp Management School & InnoValor.
The whole project team was grateful to Benno Bultink and the team of Rijkswaterstaat for hosting the three-day event, as well as providing such diverse, inspiring and interactive kick-off program!
For more information on the project, please follow us on LinkedIn and visit our methodology platform Flow Forward.
You will also find a recording of the first day on our YouTube channel.