The ORIGINAL initiative

In the Zwolle region, the fourth economic region in the Netherlands, a long term development plan has been set up for a startup and Scale-Up ecosystem. In this program four development lines have been defined:
Program line 1 - Knowledge & Talent
Program line 2 - Market & Facilities
Program line 3 - Culture
Program line 4 - Capital

Program line 3, the building block Culture, has been defined as follows:
1) the degree to which social-cultural aspects have an influence on the ecosystem;
2) the extent to which the physical environment has been developed in which the ecosystem has its roots.
The intention of the Culture program line is to set the necessary steps towards the further development of entrepreneurial talents, such that the entrepreneurial mind of individuals can evolve in the direction of a sustainable entrepreneurs-mindset.
A mindset in which startup and scale-up initiators have the courage to experiment and investigate, such that innovations emerge and progress.
Where entrepreneurs understand that risk-taking is part of the game and that learning from making mistakes is a necessity for becoming successful.
In short: invest in entrepreneurship-development.

The foundation of a regional Innovators Profile database within the framework of this longterm development plan has the intention to:

Offer individual innovators (participants) the opportunity of a personal development process, parallel to the development of their enterprise;
Help startup companies to transform into a full-fledged scale-up organisation; and help them in the formation of a complete, strong and close-knit team, able to lead the business, inspire the staff and convince the customers.

The profile database (PDB) is a modern basic registration of the innovators ecosystem. Participants get registered with an initial assessment with the Leadership Development Toolbox (LDT). The PDB will also be used for organizing common activities of the innovators network.

Innovators, registered in the PDB, come from the business environment (for instance Small and Medium sized Companies), but also from learning institutes (in the Zwolle region for instance from Windesheim, Deltion, Landstede, Cibap, etc.): students starting their own enterprise.
The LDT-assessment can even help them to make their career choices.

The initiative to develop the PDB is called:
ORIGINAL:
Official Regional Initiative for the Registered Innovators Network
for
Accelerating Leadership-talent

The objective is to help Startups and Scale-Ups the become more successful in the Value Creation, by accelerating the personal development and to help them become good leaders for their fast-growing organisation.

The ORIGINAL initiative is a regional initiative, which can be followed by other regions.
A real ecosystem starts, almost per definition, regionally.
This does not mean that it will stay that way, also because of the national and international growth of the participating enterprises.

The individual participants in the network can be called Originals, a term that fits well with their innovative character.
The ORIGINAL initiative stands for
Accelerating the Careers of Entrepreneurs (ACE).