Interview with Luc Joosten, Fund Director of ASR Dutch Science Park Fund

What inspired you to launch the ASR Dutch Science Park Fund?

We have a strong commitment to future-proof investing. We create perpetual value for our investors and society by investing responsibly in high-quality real estate as we like to call it. Science parks fit in this strategy as they are unique places where frontrunners in the knowledge economy are working on new solutions and innovations for our society. We started in 2017 researching how the ecosystems work in the Dutch science parks and how we can add value to these ecosystems. Knowledge companies and workers have specific needs for working spaces ranging from modern office space, lab-space, and makerspace to meeting space. With our long-term real estate investment experience, we are convinced we can make a positive impact and launched the ASR Dutch Science Park Fund in March 2019.

Can you explain what you mean by a positive impact? Is the fund an impact fund?

We have positioned the fund as a positive impact investment as we want to create perpetual value for our investors and society by investing in sustainable high quality real estate. Our philosophy is to have a positive impact on science park ecosystems. We achieve that through sustainable buildings with limiting effect on the environment in line with the Paris Proof Roadmap. In our opinion impact is about facilitating and cooperating with the users in the ecosystem to achieve their goals in good health and satisfaction. We have formulated the impact policy of the fund (Impact Policy 2022-2024) and are reporting about it in a separate Annual Impact Report. Form an SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) perspective the fund is classified as an Article 8 Fund. This means that the fund promotes environmental and social characteristics and follows good governance practices.