Eastern Netherlands teams up to improve Dutch AI prowess

East Netherlands’ regional players are teaming up to help guide the national AI-innovation strategy. The collaboration, which consists of the Economic Board of Arnhem-Nijmegen, Wageningen, Twente Board and Oost NL, is looking to bolster the Dutch global position, as well as to strengthen the competitive position of the Eastern part of the country in terms of raising funds in Europe and improving the business community’s access to knowledge. Collaborators plan to achieve this by emphasizing two areas of focus: AI for manufacturing, designed to strengthen industrial competitiveness through digitalization, and AI for health, which aims to make health care future proof.

In the coming months, the knowledge institutes Economic Board of the Arnhem-Nijmegen Region with Wageningen and Twente Board will further develop a widely shared strategy with stakeholders, both public and private. An important building brick for this is Think East Netherlands, a collective of 24 regional partners that is giving AI a strong identity in a European context. With its powerful AI-ecosystem, East Netherlands is an important driver of AI-innovations in the Netherlands and Europe thanks to SME power, many spin-offs in addition to strong networks and field labs like Boost Smart Industry Network and Topfit, the ICAI-labs, and the close collaboration with Germany, among other examples.