Economic Affairs Departments (of Local Government)

Each of the Cities, Municipalities and Provinces in the Northern Netherlands has its own ‘Economic Affairs’ (in Dutch: Economische Zaken) department. Naturally, these departments are concerned with maintaining and expanding business and economic development in their areas- and so are a valuable resource for business-people.

Within the cities of Groningen, Leeuwarden, Emmen, and Assen, as well as other smaller municipalities, the department for Economic Affairs tend to have account managers for each sector of business. They account managers know the local labour market and business climate exceptionally well, and can provide direction towards clusters, contacts and subsidies.

For more information, and contact details of account managers, please see the pages for each municipality, below (please note that most of these websites are in Dutch, though some have an English translation available):

• Groningen (City of)
• Leeuwarden
• Emmen
• Assen
• Midden Groningen
• Heerenveen
• Smallingerland
• Hoogeveen
• Súdwest-Fryslân
• Het Hogeland (formerly ‘Eemsmond’ and consisting of Eemsmond, Winsum, de Marne, and Bedum)
• Eemsdelta (formerly Delfzijl, Appingedam, and Loppersum
• Veendam
• Noordenveld

Further co-operation between (local) government and start-ups is facilitated through the ‘Start Up in Residence‘ scheme, which runs each year

Go back to the Advice and Networking Organizations page