Rinke Zonneveld (1971) is CEO of Invest-NL, the national promotional institute for The Netherlands. With currently app. €2 billion of investment capital under management Invest-NL’s strategic goal is to speed up transitions in the field of the carbon neutral economy, biobased & circular, deeptech, agrifood and life sciences. Not only by directly investing in innovative companies but also via financial product development and market development. Invest-NL is a state owned company with the Minister of Finance as its sole shareholder. Previously Rinke was the executive director and founder of InnovationQuarter, the regional development and investment agency for the greater Rotterdam – The Hague Area. InnovationQuarter had four investment funds with in total over €310 million under management. During his period as executive director at InnovationQuarter invested in over 120 startups and scale-ups making it one of the most active investors in The Netherlands. Next to investing in innovative companies InnovationQuarter was also responsible for attracting foreign companies to its region, for supporting SME’s with international trade development, for cluster and business development by setting up complex innovation programmes and projects and open innovation facilities, for building business consortia and for the management and support of the Economic Board Zuid-Holland. Earlier in his career Rinke Zonneveld was the director of the Entrepreneurship Department within the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Along with his team he was responsible for most topics related to improving the business climate in The Netherlands and stimulating successful entrepreneurship. In 2010 Rinke was also appointed by the Dutch government as National SME Envoy, with the goal to improve the coordination between the European Commission, European member states and The Netherlands on all SME relevant subjects. Within the Ministry Rinke also worked a.o. as the private secretary for three consecutive Ministers of Foreign Trade, as co-lead of the crisis response team during the 2008-2009 economic crisis and as the director of the Industry Department. In 2013 Rinke was awarded as the best civil servant of The Netherlands. Rinke graduated as a development economist at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, worked as an intern for the United Nations in Geneva (Switzerland), followed post doc education at Clingendael (The Netherlands Institute for Foreign Relations), Harvard University (John F Kennedy School of Government) and Erasmus University Rotterdam (non-executive board program). He has served on several boards. Amongst others he is currently member of the non-executive committee of Rabobank Rotterdam. And until his appointment at Invest-NL he was the chairman of the national association of regional development agencies ROM-NL, a board member at the national Smart Industry Board, Biotech Campus Delft, Rotterdam Port Fund, Economic Board Zuid-Holland and at TNO (the national organization for applied research).