Rotterdam is a city that gets the job done and embraces innovation. Rotterdam has traditionally been a city that rolls up its sleeves and gets on with the job at hand. What you see in Rotterdam is what you get. And that makes for great efficiency when you’re doing business.

Courage and ambition
Rotterdam is a city imbued with courage, ambition, local pride – balanced by a strong work ethic and hard-nosed reality. These fighting qualities reflect the old working-class roots of Rotterdam.
However, recent times have seen a marriage between the traditional let’s-get-it-done no-nonsense mentality and a new wave of exceptional creativity and innovation. 

Flourishing creative industry
The city’s ambitions have been translated into a flourishing creative industry. Many designers, artists and architects have found their professional home in Rotterdam. Famous architects such as Rem Koolhaas, H.A. Maaskant, Francine Houben and Riek Bakker operate their offices in Rotterdam and have made huge contributions to the city skyline, as well as cityscapes around the world. It is no surprise that the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) is situated in Rotterdam, seen as the Netherlands’ fast-beating heart of architecture. Wide roads to facilitate growing traffic and large modern buildings have earned Rotterdam the nickname Manhattan on the Meuse.