On Thursday, August 25th, 2022, Blaauwberg will celebrate its 25th anniversary!

On Thursday, August 25th, 2022, Blaauwberg will celebrate its 25th anniversary! Blaauwberg invites
you to join them in a celebration of what they've have been doing all those years: producing,
disseminating and having fun with knowledge. Sound empirical and analytical knowledge.
About the economy, about urban and regional development, about entrepreneurship,
about education and healthcare. About empowerment and democracy.

One of Blaauwberg's flagship products nowadays is the masterclass ‘Leidenkunde’, an inspiring
summing-up of the dynamics and future of our home town of Leiden. They have some offspring from this masterclass already in other regions and cities. On August 25th, they'll launch
a new off-spring: a comparison of Leiden with seven or eight of its associate cities across
Europe.
In the late 1970s, Leiden was called one of the ‘seven poor sisters’: a row of derelict
industrial towns in The Netherlands. In just two generations, it transformed into a thriving
knowledge hub. The success came in part by cooperating with other hubs in The
Netherlands, Europe and the world. Right now, the city with its educational institutions and
its liberal outlook on life is a magnet for young people and explorative businesses. What did
Leiden well, what can be learned from sister cities elsewhere? What lifestyle have Leiden
and its new sisters in common? What does the rise of the knowledge hubs mean for the
non-urban regions? For the political stability? For an ageing and slowly depopulating
continent?
This chain of cities across the continent is often identified as a new Hanseatic League. If the
new league is as important for our century as the old one was for 15th century Europe, it is
indeed necessary to recognize its mode of operating.

Blaauwberg made their anniversary part of the great festival ‘Leiden 2022: European City of Science’.
They'll offer their festive masterclass ‘Leiden and seven of its sisters’ free of charge and fully in
English. Please, join them, Thursday, August 25th, from 13.00 till 17.00, and enjoy some drinks
with us afterwards.

You can register now already, by sending ‘Yes! I will be there’ to robmanders@blaauwberg.nl

Practical information: 

13:00 - 17:00 
25th of August 2022 
PLNT 
Langegracht 70
2312NV, Leiden