Garage2020

What Garage2020 does

Garage2020 (Stichting Garage2020 Nederland) is a Dutch nonprofit foundation headquartered in Amsterdam that designs and develops social innovations to make youth care redundant and improve outcomes for children, young people, and their environment. Founded in 2015 and operating as a transdisciplinary innovation studio, the foundation works on commissioned projects, research assignments, design sessions, lectures, and webinars with municipalities, youth care organizations, educational institutions, and national ministries in the Netherlands.

The foundation's product surface is unusually broad for its size, spanning digital applications (the Feelee emotion-tracking mobile app, the Jongline visibility tool, the BUIT chatbot-driven lesson program, the 404: Future Not Found serious game), physical and game-based interventions (Gripper and Zeggus card games, Mes Less VR training, the Mentale Wasstraat festival-style resilience experience), physical-space innovations (Verbindingshuis, Tafelberg residential community), and educational/research programs (Co-creatie in de klas, Inclusieve instapkit, Snelle Stembus, Vleuten Versterkt, Zuid-Kennemerland Onder Druk, Opleiden Onder Schooltijd, Nationale Jeugdstrategie, Landelijk Kwaliteitskader). Its core methodology combines co-creation with youth, design thinking, and transdisciplinary teams spanning pedagogy, philosophy, design, and care expertise; AI features appear in only the Feelee app and are not central to the platform.

The business model is primarily project-commission based: municipal and ministry contracts (Amsterdam, Utrecht, Arbeidsmarktregio Zeeland, Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid, Noord-Holland Samen Veilig), supplemented by subsidies (ZonMW, Kansfonds) and small product sales (e.g., Gripper at €22.50 per unit). Revenue is not publicly disclosed. The organization relies on a small team of roughly ten named staff plus interns, supported by a wider community of partners including academic institutions (UvA, VU Amsterdam, Windesheim), youth care providers (Levvel, Enver, Cardea), corporate sponsors (Q-dance, ID&T, T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom, FC Utrecht), and the Nationale Jeugdraad, with national reach through the BOKS community platform and approximately 10,800 LinkedIn followers.

Name

Garage2020

Legal name

Stichting Garage2020 Nederland

Website

https://garage2020.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Garage2020 is a Dutch nonprofit foundation in Amsterdam that designs co-created social innovations — apps, games, VR, physical spaces, and programs — to make youth care redundant, serving Dutch municipalities, youth care organizations, schools, and national ministries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Project commissions: Working with municipalities, youth care organizations, and educational institutions on commissioned innovation projects and research assignments
2. Licensing and product sales: Selling developed products like the Gripper game (€22.50) to organizations and families

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Stichting Garage2020 designs and develops social innovations (digital apps, serious games, card and VR interventions, physical-space programs, lesson packages, and policy frameworks) intended to make formal Dutch youth care unnecessary. Its work is built through co-creation with youth and delivered as commissioned innovation, research, and design-session services to municipalities, youth care organizations, and educational institutions, alongside retail licensing of named products such as the Gripper card game.

Product overview

Stichting Garage2020 is a Dutch foundation that develops social innovations to make youth care and education more effective and ultimately reduce the need for formal youth care. Rather than a single product, Garage2020 operates as an innovation studio producing a portfolio of distinct projects, programs, and tools. Its offerings include digital products (Feelee app, Jongline tool, BUIT chatbot-based lesson program, 404: Future Not Found serious game), physical/games-based interventions (Gripper card game, Zeggus feedback game, Mes Less VR training, Mentale Wasstraat festival-style mental resilience event), physical space innovations (Verbindingshuis, Tafelberg living community), educational programs (Co-creatie in de klas, Inclusieve instapkit toolkit, Snelle Stembus, Opleiden Onder Schooltijd), and youth-participation platforms (JongerenGarage, Nationale Jeugdstrategie online game). Several projects focus on performance pressure research and intervention (Vleuten Versterkt, Zuid-Kennemerland Onder Druk) and complex case design methodology (Ontwerpende casuïstiek). A policy-oriented output (Landelijk Kwaliteitskader) rounds out the portfolio.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Feelee Mobile app giving young people insight into their emotions to strengthen mental resilience, using AI to provide relevant insights and tools for self-regulation.
• Jongline Tool for counselors to initiate conversations about young people's online world during individual counseling sessions, using physical props to make the young person's story visually tangible.
• Gripper Card game for children aged 7 and older meeting a new foster family, designed to facilitate a low-threshold, informal acquaintance between all players in a fun and lighthearted way.
• Zeggus Two-player card game that helps improve conversations between youth and adults by providing structured feedback through word cards and turn-based reflection on past and future conversations.
• Mes Less VR experience and training program that makes young people aged 10-14 aware of the risks and consequences of carrying and using knives, using an interactive story in a challenging, recognizable situation.
• Mentale Wasstraat Interactive experience-based event in a festival setting that helps young people aged 16-24 strengthen their mental resilience through breathwork, ice baths, motivational speakers, and group reflections.
• 404: Future Not Found Game co-created with and for young people with a distance to the labor market in Zeeland, collecting data about their needs regarding work and education in a playful way to inform new policy.
• BUIT Interactive lesson program that teaches young people to recognize signs of exploitation and provides tools to protect themselves and others, featuring a film followed by classroom conversations via a chatbot with characters.
• Verbindingshuis Homely environment where parents and (fostered) children can build bonds during supervised visits, designed to create privacy, warmth, and positive memories away from institutional office settings.
• Tafelberg Residential community housed in a former closed youth care building, where young people leaving youth care live together with students and working young people to support each other and create a thriving community.
• Co-creatie in de klas Lesson package enabling children in grades 6-8 of primary school to design their own ideas for an inclusive classroom, exploring the theme, brainstorming, building prototypes, and reflecting over 4 lessons.
• Inclusieve instapkit Toolkit for primary education professionals with techniques and methods to get started with inclusive education at the classroom, school, or neighborhood level.
• Snelle Stembus Voting tool for primary school teachers to quickly gauge the intrinsic motivation of their class, with one question and a series of answers, rotated weekly based on self-determination theory components.
• Nationale Jeugdstrategie Online game and survey platform developed with NJR that collects opinions and needs of Dutch youth aged 12-29 on important political topics through mini-games and chatbots.
• Opleiden Onder Schooltijd Education program that offers low-educated parents of children aged 2-12 an education program during school hours at their children's school, combining parent education with childcare to increase opportunities for both parent and child.
• Landelijk Kwaliteitskader National quality framework developed for the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security describing how the prevention of youth crime should be shaped by deploying effective youth interventions.
• JongerenGarage Youth participation program where young people aged 17-27 lead the design process for innovations that contribute to a utopian form of youth care, supported by Garage2020 coaches and field experts.
• Commissioned Innovation, Research, and Design Services Commissioned social-innovation services for municipalities, youth care organizations, and educational institutions, including innovation development, research, design sessions, lectures, and webinars.

Quantifiable outcome

• Mental resilience improvement: Youth reported feeling stronger and less alone after Mentale Wasstraat experience
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Stichting Garage2020-TwentecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional Twente organization merged into national stichting Garage2020 to improve collaboration and share knowledge, while maintaining local expertise.
• Ministerie van Justitie en VeiligheidcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned the development of a national quality framework for youth crime prevention, working with professors Jan Hendriks and Geert Jan Stams.
• LevvelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmsterdam youth care organization implementing Jongline and hosting Verbindingshuis. Multiple joint projects on youth mental health.
• Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner in Mentale Wasstraat pilots and Nationale Jeugdstrategie data analysis.
• Q-dancemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Mentale Wasstraat festival-style mental resilience experience and potential future integration at Defqon.1 festival.
• ID&TmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMusic and events company collaborating on Mentale Wasstraat project.
• FC UtrechtminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRan successful pilot of Feelee app with young high potentials at the football club.
• EnvercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth care organization using Zeggus and Gripper games in their services.
• IHubminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovation hub partner visible in Jongline project context.
• NJR (Nationale Jeugdraad)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Youth Council partnership for the largest youth participation project ever - collecting 12,000 youth opinions.
• VU AmsterdammajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner for Nationale Jeugdstrategie data analysis.
• Gemeente AmsterdamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipality commissioning Tafelberg residential community and multiple other projects.
• Gemeente UtrechtcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipality commissioning Vleuten Versterkt and related performance pressure research.
• De AlliantiemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHousing corporation partner in Tafelberg residential community development.
• POVOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational participation foundation involved in Zuid-Kennemerland Onder Druk project.
• T-mobileminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Feelee app campaign where 3,500 youth signed up to download the app.
• Deutsche TelekomminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of Deutsche Telekom ecosystem - partner in Feelee app campaign.
• MITminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisible in Feelee partnership context.
• Windesheim HogeschoolmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partner for Co-creatie in de klas lesson package, with subsidy from ZonMW.
• Noord-Holland Samen VeiligmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned the development of BUIT interactive lesson program on recognizing exploitation signals.
• LokalisminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Vleuten Versterkt project.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Kennisland: Dutch foundation focused on social innovation in education and labor market. Overlaps with Garage2020's mission of systemic innovation for societal challenges, though with less direct youth care specialization.
• Movisie: Dutch knowledge institute for social development, providing research and methodology support to municipalities and NGOs. Comparable in working with Dutch public sector on vulnerable populations and co-developing interventions, though broader than youth care.
• Waag Futurelab: Amsterdam research lab that designs technology for social innovation across health, inclusion, and public services. Comparable to Garage2020 in combining transdisciplinary teams, co-creation with end-users, and project-based delivery for public-sector clients.
• What Design Can Do: Amsterdam-based platform that connects designers with social challenges through programs, grants, and events. Shares Garage2020's design-led methodology and focus on social innovation, though operates more as a community/grant-maker than a project studio.

Emerging players

• Common Edge: Global nonprofit focused on the intersection of design, social equity, and community development. Overlaps with Garage2020's social design and community co-creation approach but operates through publishing and convening rather than direct project delivery.

Broad incumbents

• IDEO.org: US-based nonprofit design firm that applies design and human-centered innovation to poverty and social challenges. Shares Garage2020's co-creation, design-driven approach but operates at much larger scale and with international scope.
• Nederlands Jeugdinstituut (NJi): National Dutch knowledge institute dedicated to youth issues, providing research, policy advice, and tools. The established incumbent in Garage2020's category, with a wider scope and direct government mandate, though less innovation-experiment focused.
• Frog Design: Global design consultancy with a social impact practice applying design strategy to public sector and healthcare challenges. Comparable design methodology and innovation studio model, though primarily commercial client focus with social impact as a vertical.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/garage2020
• Instagraminstagram.com/garage_2020_nl
• Xx.com/Garage2020
• Facebookfacebook.com/Garage2020

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Garage2020