Paves a positive way forward for SME’s to set up shops in the Smart City; Amsterdam
Mumbai, 6 April, 2015: Born in Amsterdam and grown in India, Brand Dialogue is an Amsterdam and Mumbai based consultancy. A conglomerate of three expert firms, Brand Dialogue collectively offers solutions for all branding and design requisites. In association with the Embassy of Netherlands, SME Chamber of India, Brand Dialogue recently organized a seminar titled, ‘Amsterdam: Cradle of Creativity, Oasis of Innovation’.
Mayor of Amsterdam, Mr. Eberhard van der Laan, during his week-long visit to India with his 60-strong delegation, inaugurated the seminar. While giving the opening remarks, honourable Mayor said, “Amsterdam maybe small but that is also one aspect which makes us more interconnected and humane. Over the years, Amsterdam has learnt to think International.”
Talking about India, Mayor Laan added, “India’s democratic aspect is wonderful. We respect Indians for being hardworking and internationally oriented. Earlier, India needed to reach out to the world for its development but today the world comes to India for its high quality of services like Information Techonology.”
Sharing his first-hand experience with the two cities, Willem Woudenberg, Founder & CEO, Brand Dialogue said, “India’s design industry has a strong creative design base and works in the multi-discipline approach and Amsterdam has a really strong designing culture, the two cities in a way complement one another. At Brand Dialogue, one of our ambitions is to reach out to India in the best possible way and support India in reaching out to us.”
Paul Stork, Designer & Partner at Fabrique said, “Branding and design comes from your DNA. In designing and innovation, you have to let go off ideas and make mistakes. 99% of your thoughts can end up wasted but the 1% which can result in a creative concept can do wonders for your business.”
Other eminent speakers at the forum included, Geoffrey van Leeuwen, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Chandrakant Salunkhe, Preseident & Founder, SME Chamber of India, Mark van Iterson, Global Manager, Design and Concept, Heineken, Radharamanan Panicker, Director, DGM India and Loe Limpens, CSD & Partner, Yellow Dress Retail. Through their intriguing presentations, the speakers enlightened the audience with the experiences their brands have encountered in the Indian and global markets.
The seminar concluded with a huge positive outcome where Mr. Laan promised to look into the possibilities of hosting an interaction between 20 Indian and 20 Dutch SMEs in the coming year.