Copenhagen is a city of impact makers. Although Copenhagen is a rather biased on being part of the European union, entrepreneurs from Denmark have quite an impact on the European economy. Actually, a lot of entrepreneurs launch their ideas or new product in Copenhagen and Denmark before rolling it out in other markets.
Also on the part of social, environmental and cultural entrepreneurship Copenhagen plays a leading role. At KPH in Copenhagen you will find a lot of these impact makers.
A rough building in “Sydhavnen” near Vesterbro is the setting where these entrepreneurs are co-working. The scenery itself is challenging as KPH is sharing this area with Copenhagen Skate Park, AFUK // The Academy for Untamed Creativity // and Game, a non-profit organization working with street sports and street culture.
KPH Projects is located on the 3rd and 4th floor of one the old warehouses. When you enter, you immediately get the sense of the creativity and out of the box thinking. The interior is practical, creative and made by the people who work here.
At KPH exchange is the key word. “Our community is thriving on the exchange of knowledge, experience and network”, Lonnie Pedersen explains. Lonnie is the community-manager at KPH. “For instance, our coffee place is run by thesis students, who get the use of our space for free in return.”
“When people come here, they are new entrepreneurs. The idea behind this community is to make sure they find their way, get help and get the opportunity to grow their businesses and organizations. The focus is on social, green and cultural innovation. Most of the residents are under the age of 30.”
“One of our goals is to support the entrepreneurs, and help them to become financially sustainable. On the 3rd floor you will find the new start-ups. It’s possible to have either a flexible or a fixed desk for a really reasonable price.”
“When the enterprises become more mature, they move to the 4th floor. Here we have a few closed offices, flexible spaces and fixed desks.“
“Just to name a few, we are very proud of our members and the impact they create. For the 3rd year in a row KPH resident Comeback won the Ben & Jerry’s ‘Join our Core’ competition. The CSR Fonden is quite famous because they grant a sustainability award every year to a company in Denmark. The electronic Festival STRØM is also a part of KPH.”
“At KPH co-work is important to create impact within the 4th sector and to support the start-ups in this field. KPH also facilitates various networks both nationally and internationally in support of our vision. The ecosystem has important cornerstones that supports the distribution of competencies and ensures that knowledge flows freely between the residents”, Anne Katrine Heje Larsen, the founder and CEO of KPH, explicates. In summary, KPH offers:
// Network and mentoring with experienced entrepreneurs from the 4rd floor.
// A pre-accelerator programme ‘Trial and Error’ to ensure economical sustainability for the participating organizations and start-ups.
// The event space KPH Volume that attracts a wide audience and supports the creative start-ups at KPH and Copenhagen.
This means that the new impact creators start their journey at the 3rd floor, can apply to attend the Trial and Error programme and move further to the 4rd floor when they are economically sustainable.
“At this moment we are working on an accelerator strategy for the 4rd floor residents, so in time they will escalate and move out of KPH. In this way we can make space for newcomers.“
