Meet team SBIC
An extremely experienced and energetic team with the right entrepreneurial mindset!
Martijn Leinweber
COO / Community Manager
About Martijn
Martijn gained wide international experience in community management, business support, marketing and communication. He is able to work in these different fields, uniquely combining them to achieve goals. Martijn’s focus is always on hospitality, service and quality. With his positive and problem-solving attitude he’s always looking for opportunities for clients and partners!
Rianne van der Poel
Administrative Office Assistant
About Rianne
After working for over 15 years in the travel sector, Rianne joined SBIC in March 2019. As office assistant she is the first point of contact, having a key role in the organisation. In her spare time she likes to do long distance open water swims, goes to festivals/parties, escaping from escape rooms – within time – and she likes to travel several times a year!
Lorenz van Gool
Content & Marketing Manager
About Lorenz
Lorenz has a background in journalism – writing about startups, entrepreneurship and business. In these 10+ years, he has developed a distinct passion for creativity and innovation. Next to being at SBIC, Lorenz is one of the local leaders in the Founder Institute Amsterdam program, a pre-seed accelerator. In his spare time, he likes to draw and play strategic card games. Also, he’s the one to beat at the ping pong table.
Managing Board
Gerard Hegemans
CEO
Paul Pearson
Chief External Relations & Development
Matthijs den Os
CFO
Martijn Leinweber
COO / Community Manager
Our vision
A startup hub for explorers
Space exploration is not only a curiosity-driven endeavor. ‘Space’ has also given us many useful applications right here on earth. We can hardly imagine our lives anymore without satellite navigation in our cars, satellite TV in our homes, and location-based apps on our phones. Space is also responsible for innovations such as LED lighting, solar panels and freeze-dried food. And we have learned many valuable lessons by observing our own planet from space, with the help of earth observation satellites.
Down to Earth
Still, we believe that ‘space’ is not being used to its maximum potential – especially by small businesses and startups. There is a need for startup hubs for the space industry. That is why the Space Business Innovation Centre Noordwijk supports entrepreneurs and startups that want to launch or improve a product or service that makes use of space technology. Think of an agriculture app that uses satellite data to inform farmers, or a product developer that uses space-grade technology to store medication. Now that’s #downtoearth!
We want to provide a solid base – a foundation – for these companies. We want to be the innovative hub, containing everything a startup needs. So they can focus on what matters: building an impactful business.
