The province of Groningen, and the Northern region more broadly, has many of the ingredients needed to build a strong innovation ecosystem: knowledge institutions, growing startup activity, expertise in key domains such as AI or hydrogen, and increasing investment opportunities through programs such as Nij Begun. Yet, regional stakeholders still point to untapped potential to further leverage these strengths. How can large-scale regional impact be created? A recent exploratory study has compared the innovation ecosystems of Groningen and Brainport Eindhoven. Despite fundamental differences, the comparison with Brainport Eindhoven highlights critical considerations for an impactful regional strategy^[1].      

 The main lesson is simple: innovation alone is no longer sufficient; regional collaboration is key to achieving broader prosperity. What matters is how effectively public actors, private organizations, knowledge institutions, and civil society collaborate within a region to translate knowledge into economic and societal value. Brainport Eindhoven has become one of Europe’s strongest innovation ecosystems, not only because of technology or investment, but because an array of actors across sectors - universities, governments, startups, and large firms- are deeply connected and actively contribute to the ecosystem’s development. Knowledge moves quickly between actors, students work on real industry challenges, and collaborative innovation emerges from industry-university partnerships. Innovation is orchestrated collectively through multi-stakeholder efforts.

 While these collaborative initiatives are gaining relevance in Groningen, public-sector engagement and support remains a critical pillar within the ecosystem. Institutions such as the University of Groningen, the UMCG, municipalities, and regional development organisations play a prominent role in shaping innovation agendas. At the same time, industry and business partners, even when active in innovation, often play a less active role in these initiatives. For instance, some small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs may lack time and resources to participate in complex innovation programmes. The region still has significant opportunities to strengthen the translation of knowledge into application and commercialization. In other words, Groningen has built a strong foundation for knowledge generation and there is a critical opportunity for the regional strategy to turn such knowledge into scalable startups, social partnerships, and, ultimately, economic growth and broader regional prosperity.

 How can these opportunities be harnessed? Importantly, Groningen should not simply copy Brainport. The regions differ too much in structure and history for that. However, our exploratory study suggests some actions to strengthen Groningen’s ecosystem:

 ●Collaborative innovation.  The region will profit from stronger structural collaboration between industry players and knowledge institutions. While important efforts have been made and collaborative innovation is gaining momentum, many collaborations are still short-termed and project-based. Initiatives such as shared innovation spaces foster daily interaction between university and business actors, enhancing cross-fertilization to stimulate knowledge exploitation and long-term innovation partnerships.

 ●Challenge-based learning. This learning approach, where students work with industry on real-life business challenges during their education, may be more fully leveraged. This approach can strengthen both talent development and talent retention, as it enhances the likelihood that students remain connected to the region after graduation. In Groningen, including in the Faculty of Economics and Business, there are already promising examples of courses adopting this approach; the opportunity now is to further embed these initiatives in the regional strategy.

 ● Innovation visibility. Important innovation initiatives are taking place in the region but they may not always receive full visibility. Highlighting regional innovation matters, as regions increasingly compete for talent, investment, and entrepreneurial activity.

 In sum, Groningen has potential and a strong story to tell. But the future of the region will not depend solely on how much knowledge is generated. It will depend on how effectively the region orchestrates and leverages collaboration among public actors, business players, knowledge institutions, and civil society to achieve broader prosperity.     

Authors: Stan van Noorel, Evelien Croonen - e.p.m.croonen@rug.nl, Isabel Estrada - i.estrada.vaquero@rug.nl

^[1] The study was conducted by Stan van Noorel for his Master’s Thesis for the MSc Business Administration profile Small Business & Entrepreneurship (University of Groningen) under the supervision of Dr. Evelien Croonen and Prof. Dr. Isabel Estrada. The study is based on in-depth interviews with regional stakeholders. The data collection was partially supported by an Acceleration Grant of the Faculty of Economics and Business.