Speaking earlier this month at Team Academy, a business school for entrepreneurs, Dutch Socialist MEP Agnes Jongerius said, "National and EU politicians are not in sync with what is happening in the labour market. They need to bring in policies to deal with new forms of flexible and insecure jobs."
She continued, "Markets are changing rapidly because of digitalisation, globalisation and changes in supply chains. In the Netherlands one million people are now self-employed out of a working population of seven million. It is important for governments to make arrangements so that everyone can feel secure to raise a family or buy a house."
The conference, held in a building in Amsterdam's tech belt, brought together a panel of six experts from different sectors, including a student entrepreneur and a specialist in coaching start-ups.
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Aster van Laere, who studies at Team Academy, told the conference how she started her first business in her parents' back garden and now plans to open a bar.
"A lot of people in the young generation have to be a Jack of all trades," she explained. "We no longer want to be just a teacher. We want to be a teacher/writer/entrepreneur."
Anne-Wil Lucas, a former Dutch liberal MP, told the conference that she had produced a report in 2013 setting out 43 measures to improve the start-up ecosystem in the Netherlands, which led to the creation of the start-up incubator StartupDelta. "There is a lot of bipolar thought about corporations versus start-ups," she said.
"But 60 per cent of job growth in the Netherlands comes from companies younger than five years." Ellen Bark- Lindhout, a former global innovation manager at Heineken and co-founder of start-up accelerator Collider Amsterdam, argued that an important change was happening in corporate culture.
"Corporations are reinventing themselves because of digital disruption. They realise they have to encourage an enterprise culture and connect with new technologies, often by looking at what start-ups are doing."
The event was organised by Tata, the Indian global group that owns 100 companies worldwide, including Tata Steel, Jaguar Land Rover, Taj Hotels and Tetley Tea. With more than 60,000 European staff on its payroll in 19 different companies, Tata is one of Europe's biggest employers.
Explaining Tata's involvement in supporting start-ups, former UK diplomat David Landsman, who heads Tata's European operations, said, "Well, for one thing, Tata was a start-up once. Our founder began in 1868 with a textile mill in India. And still today we realise that the company depends on working with people who have strong entrepreneurial ideas and an innovative mind-set."
He added, "The world of work has changed enormously. We no longer expect to be able to stay with one employer or even one occupation for our entire working life. We have to become entrepreneurial in our own careers."
Landsman insisted that Tata's engagement with start-ups would bring benefits to both the company and the young entrepreneurs. "It really is a win-win situation."
In response, Jongerius said that while she welcomed Tata's commitment to supporting young entrepreneurs, it was important for its policies to extend to the 60 per cent of the population who do not have qualifications. "Tata could give these unqualified people a second chance, she said, "I believe it has to be for everyone, not just people with qualifications."
Anne-Wil Lucas said; "I would like us to focus on encouraging excellent people to succeed."
The event was organised in partnership with the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), a UK-based membership organisation for engaging students in enterprise.
Speaking to the Parliament Magazine, NACUE's CEO Holly Knower stressed the need for a European network to encourage student enterprise. "We need greater cooperation between all the organisations supporting student entrepreneurs across Europe. It takes a lot of time at present to find out what's happening in other EU countries."
Following the discussion, students from Team Academy were given a platform to pitch start-up ideas.
The students' proposals included a meeting rescheduling service, an initiative to allow companies to raise capital through crowdfunding and an app aimed at small companies who wanted to design their own business app.
The winning pitch was an initiative called Boxed, developed by first year student Rutger Stammis, 22. He proposed reusing shipping containers to create pop-up shopping malls in different cities. "This has been a great learning experience," said Rutger. "I now believe that I can make this happen."
Most of the conference participants were Dutch business students, but Aleksei Solokhin revealed he had driven all the way from Novgorod to take part in the event.
When asked if it had been worth the 4,600-kilometre round trip, the Russian business student said he had been energised by the experience.
"We don't have a very well developed start-up ecosystem in Novgorod, so it was inspiring to find out what's happening in Europe," he said. "I'll go back to Russia now to share my experience."