Why choose Amsterdam for business?

A history of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship

Amsterdam, renowned as the vibrant city of canals, bikes, and tulips, has ingrained in its identity a history of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. This dynamic DNA has shaped the city's business landscape, making it an international hub for collaboration and forward-thinking ventures. Dating back to 1602, Amsterdam is the birthplace of the world's first stock exchange and the first publicly traded company, laying the foundation for a legacy of financial and business innovation.

Forward-looking industries

Today, the city continues to break new ground. It’s home to the Netherlands’ most powerful supercomputer and the European Medicines Agency, and continues to break new ground in the application of AI and production of clean energy. It’s a city where scientific conferences can easily mix with visionary startups, and unique collaborations push the boundaries of traditional industries.

Within Amsterdam’s growing business districts and specialised hubs, crossovers and collaborations are frequent. World-leading finance and tech companies benefit from transparent regulations and digitally advanced consumers looking for smarter user experiences. Excellence within academia and research inspires a thriving life sciences and health sector, galvanised by the possibilities of AI. Greener ways of living are explored by sustainable creative industries, while the city’s emissions and circularity targets are giving rise to a dynamic cleantech market. 

A highly competitive region

Here is a glimpse of how Amsterdam stacks up next to other metropolitan areas:

• Top 5 leading metro globally for growth of digital infrastructure according to GXI 2023
• 10th most sustainable city in the world according to Arcadis Sustainable Cities index 2022
• 2nd most attractive European city for investment according to fDi's European Cities and Regions of the Future 22/23 
• Top 3 European tech hub in 2023 according to Startup Genome 

Attracting global talent

To turn innovative ideas into reality, businesses can count on a steady supply of skilled talent. Alongside a highly educated local workforce, various incentives and visa schemes make international recruitment easy. People from all over the world are attracted to the high quality of life found throughout the region. In fact, the Netherlands ranked #1 for quality of life in 2023. The Dutch capital offers an environment that turns ideas into future-changing actions.

The Dutch capital has become a magnet for tech talent, boasting a talent pool of over 250,000 tech professionals. Its growing and active community of tech lovers are from all backgrounds, whether founders, UXers, growth hackers or developers. Amsterdam's high rate of English fluency means that internationals can assimilate easily. The city is also home to Europe's only fully English speaking court, highlighting the ease of doing worldwide business in Amsterdam.

Connections are quick and convenient

With its small scale and welcoming international culture, connections are quickly made at home and abroad. There are currently more than 3500 international companies in the Amsterdam Area, plus almost 2,000 startups and scale-ups. Convenient connections by land, water and air – as well as super fast internet speeds – make the region a prime location in Europe for businesses to sustainably extend their reach. With this, Amsterdam is one of the world’s largest internet hubs. With a network of high-speed trains to European cities as well as the 327 destinations served by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which is itself just a 15-minute train ride from the city centre, the possibilities are endless in Amsterdam where good grows better.