Pitches: Economic

Three pitches on specific AI applications and challenges.

Local: Bredata goes AI: how does the city harness the economic opportunities of AI?

Kees Kerstens (city of Breda) & Patrick van ’t Loo (city of Breda)

Breda does not digitalise for digitalisation's sake. The Bredata programme aims to deploy digitalisation as an earning opportunity for Breda's innovative business community, as a research opportunity for educational institutions — and as a contribution to quality of life in the city. That requires courage: daring to experiment, fail and learn. Bredata brings partners together in a digital ecosystem and promotes innovation as a digital pioneer, with a focus on societal challenges. The next step is to translate those local learning experiences into structural economic opportunities in the field of AI: for companies that want to innovate in Breda, for startups using the city as a testing environment, and for a business climate that remains attractive in the future. Breda is doing this, for example, at ’t Zoet, the largest inner-city area development site in the Netherlands.

National: Build ultrafast models from 2027 in Groningen's AI Factory

Edwin Kuipers (Dutch AI Factory)

The most important AI innovations still come from the United States and China. This makes Europe — and therefore the Netherlands — too dependent on others. The AI factory in Groningen is the answer: an innovation hub where entrepreneurs, researchers and governments build the AI applications of tomorrow together. If everything goes according to plan, the expertise centre will start in mid-2026 and the supercomputer will be running at full capacity in 2027. Not as an abstract tech project, but as an economic engine for a region reinventing itself — and as a building block for a digitally sovereign Europe.

European: Build ultrafast models right now in Luxembourg's AI factory (and learn from their experiences)

Perla El Boueiz (Luxembourg AI factory)

The Luxembourg AI factory is already operational as a national platform launched in April 2025 as a one-stop shop for organisations that want to develop and implement AI projects — from initial idea and prototype to large-scale production. The factory is part of a network of 19 AI factories in the European Union, supported by the EuroHPC programme. Luxembourg is positioning itself as a frontrunner in a robust, ethical and sovereign European AI ecosystem — and as a bridge between the European AI agenda and concrete applications for businesses, startups and public organisations.