Together with partners in culture, academia and the City of Amsterdam, ORAM launched Amsterdam Internationals Crossings (AIC). AIC will develop into a prominent platform for people and organisations involved with internationals across the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The launch took place during the 2010 edition of ORAM’s spring summit, hosted this time by ABN AMRO at Zuidas.

Many employees working with ORAM members are internationals; people from outside the Netherlands living and working in Amsterdam. Who are they, how many are they, where do they live and what do they think about their stay in Amsterdam? Together with the Expat Centre and the municipality of Amsterdam, ORAM conducted a survey on these questions. The survey, carried out by Ernst & Young, was one of the topics during the ORAM spring summit, which was attended by over 200 people, both locals and internationals.

The answers, presented by Marcel Karres of E&Y, are staggering. One in every 8 people living in the Amsterdam area is international and their number is increasing. And no, they are not only the classic expats, but a wide variety of people like knowledge workers and their families, creatives, students, and fast movers. And no, they do not only work in business, but are also vitally important to our cultural institutions, research centres and universities. Together, they spend over 4 billion euros in the Amsterdam area every year, and that figure is increasing. But far more important, the generate enormous added value by releasing their talent in Amsterdam.

Apparently, Amsterdam is a good place for internationals. Acting mayor Lodewijk Asscher pointed in his opening speech at the excellent hardware that Amsterdam has to offer: assets such as Schiphol Airport and our great cycling and data infrastructure. Hardware that links Amsterdam to the world and makes it very accessible. Initiatives such as the Expat Center prove to be very successful in helping internationals settling in Amsterdam with all kinds of formalities.

That all this is no reason to be happy and lean back, was clearly shown by a film produced and presented by Kees Colenbrander. In his film Great Expatations Amsterdam, internationals witness about their experiences with the city. In particular soft factors such as ‘getting around’ and making friends with the Dutch show room for improvement. The Dutch appear not so keen on inviting internationals to their homes. And if your invited, you risk ending up in a Dutch birthday party (I had more fun on an Australian funeral than on a Dutch birthday party!’’ says one of the internationals quoted in the film).

AIC aims at improving especially these soft factors. As highlighted by Jack Steijn (ORAM), Jacques van Veen (Amsterdam Cultural Institutes) and Hans de Sonnaville (Vrije Universiteit), AIC will make Amsterdam a more hospitable place for internationals, a place where internationals can more easily plug in in social networks. This becoming more and more important in a world where the power to attract and retain international talent is turning into a key success factor in international competition.

Click here to see photos of the Summit.