6 coworking: Zoetermeer

Zoetermeer is one of the largest population centres in the South Holland region, the Netherlands. It is mostly famous for the rapid development of the IT industry. Due to the increasing number of freelancers and digital nomads who don’t have their regular office space, Zoetermeer becomes a popular coworking centre. Each business centre in Zoetermeer boasts flexible workplaces that can be shared between a vast number of specialists. These offices offer hot and dedicated desks to cater to the needs of solo-entrepreneurs, startuppers, and home-based firms that occasionally need a physical space to perform tasks. When renting a workstation in a coworking unit in Zoetermeer, tenants can count on ultra-fast Internet and WiFi, tech devices(printers, scanners, etc.), secretarial support, coffee/tea/drinking water and, very often, lunch facilities. The development of coworking in the city foresees the change in the entire working structure, where more time is dedicated to business, rather than to office maintenance. Coworking venues in Zoetermeer are often called flexible workplaces because they adapt to the tenants’ needs. You can decide on the rental contract duration and choose whether you need a core or a hot desk. In such a way, you customize the space to your rental budget. In average, the fees for a workstation in a coworking suite in Zoetermeer start from EUR15 per day. Monthly rental is more cost-efficient. It costs around EUR300 to get a desk on such a basis.

Comparing to the large Dutch cities such as The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the startup ecosystem in Zoetermeer is significantly weaker. But the fact that the city is developing IT infrastructure is unbeatable. The local authorities designate much money into the computerization and digitalization of the educational process in schools. Moreover, Zoetermeer is the first place in the world to have the city hall in the global online virtual world - Second Life. Around 20% of the local population have jobs in the IT branch in the city. It is not, by the way, surprising, as Zoetermeer is a seat of numerous renowned companies such as Toshiba, Siemens, NINTec, KPN, and others. A city has become home to several recognized startups. The majority of them are in the spheres of SaaS, mobile technologies, sales and marketing and security. According to the strength of its startup ecosystem, Zoetermeer ranks 22nd in the Netherlands and 801st globally.