Coworking spaces have become popular in the Nordics, but few of them are focused on a certain vertical. Torben Klitgaard, director of BLOXHUB, describes the unique initiative from Denmark. It invites architects, designers, contractors, and tech companies to create better cities.
“BLOXHUB is an urban innovation lab; it’s a coworking space and community providing a platform for companies within the open built environment,” Torben says.
BLOXHUB was founded on June 3, 2016, by Realdania; the City of Copenhagen; and the Ministry of Industry, Business, and Financial Affairs. The hub has a physical space downtown Copenhagen. In full scale, BLOXHUB will have about 10,000 square meters of brand new space and roughly 500 desks, of which 20 percent are dedicated to startup companies. Torben expects 50 to 60 companies to be residents and about 150 companies to be part of the community.
Matchmaking is the core competence of BLOXHUB. “We want to create an ecosystem of built environment stakeholders: startups, SMEs, and corporations,” says Torben. BLOXHUB hosts programs for business development, acceleration, and innovation challenges. The hub’s ultimate mission is to help Danish companies dealing with urban issues to work closer together, work on projects, and collaborate in order to grow.
This article by Aarni Heiskanen first appeared in ReCoTech Review, November 30, 2017.
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