In Amsterdam, businesses both large and small are increasingly trying join forces in order to increase their competitive strength. However, some of them also do this with the aim of improving the liveability or sustainability of the city.

Collaborative Entrepreneurship has a considerable potential, including contributing to addressing urban issues. However, to date there has been little research on this topic. Parties largely work by trial and error, and good practices/lessons learned are hardly ever shared in a systematic way.

The Municipality of Amsterdam is now looking for new ways to facilitate and encourage Collaborative Entrepreneurship. The initiators of the AUAS research priority area Urban Management aim to study and further develop the possibilities offered by Collaborative Entrepreneurship in the context of the Entrepreneurship programme.

We will concentrate on questions such as:

• How, where and why do collective initiatives come into being?
• Which competences are required on the part of government, businesses and SMEs in order to do business on a collective basis?
• Which new organisational forms and business models are being developed and how effective are they?
• What is the role of spatial conditions and concepts (science parks, co-working spaces, etc.) and which innovations are desirable in this area?
• To what extent does the legal, financial, social and administrative context impede or encourage this development ?
• How do collective initiatives contribute to a sustainable and inclusive city?

Over the next two years, we will concentrate on three areas in which Collaborative Entrepreneurship could play a decisive role in sustainable and inclusive economic growth:

1: Strengthening neighbourhood-oriented economic development
2: Strengthening urban consumption areas
3: Strengthening the knowledge economy (facility sharing, collaborative R&D, circular economy, platform concepts, further development of business sites, start-up incorporation)