The idea behind “Open Coffee” is that entrepreneurs need a physical space to meet and share their ideas. The meetings exists in various places around the world, such as Barcelona, Amsterdam and London. Now Dutch student Joop Dorresteijn has brought the international phenomenon to Jönköping.

The goal is to create a situation where new ideas are created. It’s going to be an informal meeting where you can sit in a small group and talk about your idea and maybe show it on a lap top. It’s an opportunity for entrepreneurs to share their ideas and get to know new people. It’s going to be completely informal and unstructured, except for the meeting date.

Where did you get the idea?

I was an exchange student in Barcelona two years ago where they had coffee meetings, but then it was called “open offices”. It was later labelled “Open Coffee”, by the vice President of Skype. It’s been growing ever since and there are over 80 locations of Open Coffee today.

How did you get the idea to start it in Jönköping?

I was working on a project for my master program at JIBS. I found it surprisingly hard to collaborate on a professional level with the various students on campus. Great ideas could emerge if all different entrepreneurial enthusiasts in Jönköping would just meet for an hour on a weekly basis

Do you think it will work here?

Yes, I do. The idea of creating a weekly networking event for all students, alumni, teachers and local ventures seem to attract many people. When I approached Inger Melin and Annika Anderson from the library they were enthusiastic about hosting a weekly Open Coffee here in the heart of the Jönköping campus. I hope this event will initiate a steady growing club that instantly attracts entrepreneurial enthusiasts, journalists, venture capitalists and business angels.

The first Open Coffee will be held in the University Library on Thursday 28 February at 16.00.

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Tags: interview