Co.Station BXL Celebrates One Year of Activity
Co.Station BXL is celebrating its first anniversary. Exactly one year ago, with Alexander De Croo, Belgium’s Minister for the Digital Agenda, in attendance, the co-working space and startup/scaleup accelerator officially opened its doors. Today at 6pm, the Minister will kick off the anniversary celebrations with an address on the need to support entrepreneurship in Belgium, applauding the vital role which Co.Station BXL is playing in this respect. Co.Station BXL has already succeeded in building a strong bridge between startups and major corporates. Some 100 invited guests will hear testimonials by various speakers from these two business worlds, providing a cross-section of the many successes achieved during this past year. The extension of Co.Station BXL with 1.052 m2 extra and the opening of Co.Station Gent are the cherry on the cake.
About Co.Station
Co.Station BXL is a co-working space for startups in the centre of Brussels, which in addition to logistical assistance also provides financial support plus training and development opportunities. The organisation also encourages interaction and discussion between various different enterprises with a view to improving collaboration.
BNP Paribas Fortis and social network communications specialist SocialCom, the two original partners that ministered to the birth of Co.Station BXL exactly one year ago, were later joined by telecoms operator Mobistar and HR specialist USG People. HR services firm SDWorx also came on board on 21 March this year. The arrival of these partners has enabled Co.Station BXL to broaden its range of expertise so as to provide even better support to its community.
Today Co.Station BXL offers three modular/combinable formulae:
- Co.Station Village: In this co-working space, which offers both fixed and flexible workstations, the emphasis is on building a diverse community of entrepreneurs by organising events and providing networking opportunities.
- Co.Station Virtuology Academy: This is the Co-Station training centre, where training sessions are run and coaches made available to entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups. The training expertise on offer ranges from finance to marketing, communications, legal affairs, and more besides.
- Co.Station Accelerator: Differing in its approach from startup incubator programmes, this special 6-10 month acceleration programme is tailored to the needs of scaleups, i.e. growth-stage companies preparing to expand abroad. An initial batch of four scaleups is due to embark on the first acceleration programme before summer 2016.
Co.Station: some facts and figures:
- 2.844 m2 of space, 30 startups and 200 residents, 1,500 community members
- Hosts events such as Startup Weekends and the BNP Paribas International Hackathon scheduled for 17 June this year
- Co.Station Ghent is due to open in June in the Quantum Building near Dampoort station.
Contact- Karen Opdecam, Co.Station Marcom: 0495 237 007; karen@co-station.com
