AI in Groningen: what's happening and where your business starts

Groningen is growing into one of the most important AI regions in the Netherlands. With the AI Factory (a 200 million euro investment), the AI Hub Noord-Nederland and knowledge institutions such as the University of Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the region has the infrastructure and the network to bring AI from research to the workplace. This page gives you the overview: what is happening in Groningen, what it means for your organisation and where to go when you want AI built.

Groningen as an AI region

In October 2025, Groningen was designated as the location for the AI Factory, one of the European AI factories. The national government, the EU and the region (through Nij Begun) are investing 200 million euro together in an expertise centre in the former Niemeyer building on the Paterswoldseweg and a supercomputer. The expertise centre is expected to open in 2026; the supercomputer follows elsewhere in the years after. This gives smaller companies in the region access to computing power that until now was only within reach of large tech companies.

The municipality is taking part itself too: in early 2026 the municipality of Groningen adopted an AI vision on how the government wants to use AI responsibly. And on the Zernike Campus, where the university, the university of applied sciences and companies sit together, new AI start-ups are emerging around themes such as energy-efficient chips and healthcare.

The AI ecosystem: who does what

Anyone getting started with AI in Groningen keeps running into a handful of names:

AI Factory Groningen is becoming the centre for computing power and experiments. Relevant for companies once you want to train your own models or run demanding applications.
AI Hub Noord-Nederland connects hundreds of northern companies with knowledge institutions such as the University of Groningen, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, NHL Stenden, the UMCG and TNO. A good starting point for knowledge sharing and events.
Knowledge institutions (the University of Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the lead) provide research, students and interns who take on companies' AI questions.
Implementation partners like us translate all of this into working applications in your organisation: from consultancies that deliver strategy to specialists in process automation.

We work from Zernikepark 12 ourselves, on that same Zernike Campus, within walking distance of the university and Hanze University of Applied Sciences. And we are part of this network: we work with AI Hub Noord-Nederland and with Hanze University of Applied Sciences, among others.

What does this mean for your organisation?

The knowledge and the infrastructure are there. What is lagging in the region is the translation to practice: most organisations in the north experiment with ChatGPT at most, while the real gain is in AI that is built into your processes. Think of quotes that prepare themselves, incoming requests that are sorted automatically, or a knowledge base that answers employees' questions right away.

For the north there is a practical reason on top of that: the labour market is tight, certainly in engineering and healthcare. Automating work that no person needs to do is not a luxury here. It makes the people you have more productive and your organisation less dependent on vacancies that stay unfilled.

Getting AI built in Groningen: where do you start?

Our experience from the region: start small and start with a process that matters.

Pick one recurring process where time or quality leaks away. Not "something with AI", but for example: lead follow-up, document processing, customer questions.
Know where you stand. The free AI scan shows in a few minutes which stage of AI maturity your organisation is in, where the biggest opportunity lies and which next step fits. That keeps you from building a solution that does not fit your organisation.
When choosing a partner, look at implementation experience. Ask about running systems at other companies, not just advisory reports. And check whether someone stays involved after delivery, because an AI system needs maintenance and adjustment.
Arrange the basics for responsible use. From August 2026, most obligations of the EU AI Act also apply to companies that only use AI. Those who take this into account from the start have nothing to repair later.

What we build from Groningen

A few examples of what has been built from our office on Zernikepark:

Noor is an AI assistant that helps people seeking support in the Groningen region find their way to social shelter and care, day and night: from clarifying the question to the application and an appointment at the right organisation. We are building Noor for a consortium of five large care organisations; right now Noor is being tested with staff and experts by experience. Besides a better assistant, the test phase produces something unexpected: the questions Noor cannot answer show the organisations where the gaps and the overlap in their joint services are. Read more: Noor: five care organisations build one AI intake assistant together.
A Groningen company in home sustainability received more requests than the team could handle. We built a system that pulls the relevant property data from public registers for each lead itself. Processing time went from 10 minutes to 20 seconds per request. Read more: How a Groningen company processes requests 30 times faster with AI.
Hello Company, a Groningen telemarketing agency with around ninety employees, asked us to look into where AI can strengthen the work. From that analysis, the first applications are now in development.
We also build outside the region: for valuation firm Bolsenbroek & Partners we automated the document processing around vehicle valuations, worth more than 65,000 euro and over a thousand hours in the first year, actually measured.

Subsidies for AI in the northern Netherlands

For companies in Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe there is more support than most entrepreneurs know. The SNN (Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland) offers vouchers for feasibility studies, employers in the Groningen labour market region can have up to half of a learning programme reimbursed through the NPG training scheme, the national SLIM scheme covers the training plan, and those who develop software with AI themselves can often use the WBSO. Which scheme fits depends on what you want to do: research, train or build.

How we can help

If you want to know where you stand, take the free AI scan: in a few minutes you see which stage of AI maturity your organisation is in and what a logical next step is. If you want to bring your team along first, our workshops are a good place to start.

Feel free to get in touch for a no-obligation conversation; we first discuss what fits your situation before anything goes on paper. Or drop by the Zernike Campus. The coffee is ready.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI companies are there in Groningen?

The region has consultancies for AI strategy, specialists in process automation and implementation partners that build and manage AI applications. The AI Factory is also drawing new start-ups, among others in chips and health technology. Which type of partner fits depends on your question: strategy, automation or a working application.

What is the AI Factory Groningen?

One of the European AI factories: a 200 million euro investment by the national government, the EU and the region in a supercomputer and an expertise centre in Groningen. Companies gain access there to computing power and knowledge for AI applications.

Does And AI only work for companies in Groningen?

No. Our office is on the Zernike Campus in Groningen and many of our clients are in the north, but we work throughout the Netherlands.

Can a smaller company do something with AI, or is this only for large organisations?

Smaller organisations often get quick results, because one automated process is immediately noticeable in daily work. The examples above come from organisations with ten to ninety employees.

Are there subsidies for AI projects in the northern Netherlands?

Yes. The SNN has schemes for northern companies, the SLIM scheme supports training and development advice, and the WBSO lowers the labour costs of your own development work. What fits depends on your plan; we help you think it through.