Meet the Community: 'Together responsible for success'

Bluehub is a resident of the first hour at Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. In 2017, the marketing and innovation agency started with five people in a box on campus. Since then, the team has more than tripled and moved to a 190-square-meter office in Villa Flora. Director Bart Verlegh: "I advocate a rent and ecosystem agreement for every campus resident."

What kind of company is Bluehub?

We help companies in the agro and high-tech manufacturing industry that want to grow, innovate or become more sustainable. Are you an SME and feel that things need to be done differently, but you don't know exactly how? Then you've come to the right place. No standard marketing tricks, but strategic thinking and participation.

What do you mean by thinking along and participating?

Innovation and growth are never achieved alone. We believe that knowledge sharing and collaboration are the key to real breakthroughs. That's why we work closely with entrepreneurs, partners and ecosystems. On this campus, for example, we collaborate with 40 of the 80 residents.

Our strength lies in translating knowledge into concrete business and cleverly combining entrepreneurial practice, strategic marketing, technology and market insights. This is how we know how to get clusters of companies to work together effectively and how to connect parties quickly.

What happens when an SME knocks on your door?

We often come in to a company to help think about taking a new step. The business case is leading. We understand what an entrepreneur wants and make a well thought-out plan, test the feasibility and open up the market. It's all about sustainability and earning.

The focus is on agri-food and the manufacturing industry. Why?

These sectors are strongly embedded in our region. In addition, they face major market challenges. But it is precisely these bottlenecks that also trigger companies to innovate and collaborate on themes such as digitization, sustainability and circular entrepreneurship. The best innovations are created by looking beyond the boundaries of your own sector. Our role is to bring these different parties together.

How do you differ from other innovation and marketing agencies?

You don't have to come to us if all you want is a website or campaign. We stand out because we are earlier in the cycle of our clients. We start with the entrepreneur who thinks things should be different, but doesn't know how. We unravel that and come up with a clear plan: where are you now and where do you want to go? Then we bring that plan to life together with the entrepreneur, with smart marketing and AI tools, creative content - eventually - well that website or advertising campaign.