The Living Lab

Rotterdam is an international world city, which has one of the largest harbours in the world and is a key port of entrance for products entering the EU. Accessibility by plane is also very good, with Schiphol Airport less than half an hour away by train.

In spite of its global outlook in the context of business and good accessibility, Rotterdam has historically received relatively few visitors. Starting from the new Millenium, this started to change. Rotterdam was named the European capital of Culture in 2001 and since the city has continued to develop. This resulted in the city being lauded in international travel blogs and magazines. In 2017 the city was listed as the capital of cool in an article by CNN and it was chosen as the host city for the 2020 Eurovision song contest. Although this did not take place due to the COVID 19 pandemic. It is set to host the event for 2021.