FAQ

Back in October 2019, five big Dutch corporations - Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM, NS, and Philips - joined forces to accelerate AI adoption in the Netherlands. They wanted to do more than just talk about AI; they wanted to make it happen by growing talent, driving innovation, and getting AI out of the lab and into the real world. Philips later left the initiative and the four other founding partners continued up until today.

In 2022, KickstartAI became an independent non-profit foundation with one clear mission: to drive the application of AI in the Netherlands where it adds the most value. Real-world projects, close collaboration with industry partners, and a vibrant community of AI professionals, ready to make an impact.

KickstartAI helps organisations in the Netherlands apply AI in practice.

We work with companies, public organisations, and societal partners on concrete challenges where AI can create value – from reducing food waste and improving logistics to supporting healthcare. We also bring together a community of 7,500+ AI professionals to exchange knowledge, learn from real projects, and share what works.

Our role is to connect the right people, build practical AI solutions, and make sure the lessons do not stay within one organisation. By sharing what we learn, we help others move faster when applying AI.

In short: we help put AI to work where it can create real value for people, organisations, and society.

The Netherlands has many of the right foundations for AI: strong talent, good infrastructure, a solid business climate, and a high quality of life. But that does not automatically translate into practical AI output.

At the same time, the challenges are growing. From slowing productivity and rising healthcare costs to climate pressure and strained infrastructure, the Netherlands needs new ways to strengthen its economy and society. AI can help, but only if it is actually developed, used, and embedded in practice.

Internationally, the Netherlands scores low on scale and intensity: both the total amount of AI output, and how that output compares to the size of our population and economy. Public confidence is also limited, with only a minority of people in the Netherlands seeing more benefits than drawbacks in AI.

That is why practical adoption matters. KickstartAI helps the Netherlands move from AI potential to AI capability – applied to real challenges, tested in practice, and shared for wider societal impact.

KickstartAI is financed by the founding partners: Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM, and NS. Each partner makes an annual contribution to the foundation. All funds go towards our mission.

The KickstartAI Board consists of representatives of the founding partners of KickstartAI and an independent chairman. Each founding partner has one representative on our Board.

With 7,500+ AI professionals from 750+ organizations (including big names like IKEA, Booking, KPN, ASML, and Ahold Delhaize), KickstartAI is the go-to AI community in the Netherlands.

We bring experts together through meetups, hackathlons, and workshops, making AI collaboration fun, hands-on, and impactful. Prefer to connect online? Our community keeps the conversation going on our invite-only Slack channel.

If AI or data science is part of your daily work, you belong in our community! Just head to the "Home" page on our website and sign up. Let’s build the future of AI together!

A membership is and will always be free of charge. All data scientists, ML engineers, and AI experts that work in the Netherlands are welcome to join our community.

Being part of our AI community means getting front-row access to the best tech events, hands-on workshops, and expert-led sessions across the Netherlands. It’s where AI professionals connect, swap ideas, and spark collaborations that actually lead somewhere.

Want to dive deeper? Work on real-world case studies and chat with fellow AI minds on Slack. Looking for mentorship or job opportunities? We’ve got that too. Plus, there’s our monthly podcast and technical blog to keep you in the loop. In short: if you work with AI, this is where you want to be.

When we asked our members what they like about us, the answer was clear: they wanted to meet like-minded professionals, swap ideas, and dive into real-world AI applications.

Turns out, being part of a thriving AI community makes learning (and networking) way more fun! 

AI moves forward when we work together, that’s why we’re already collaborating with industry partners like KLM, Ahold Delhaize, NS, and ING. But also with organizations like LUMC, TNO, Voedselbank, and The Police.

But we’re just getting started. AI innovation should be a national effort, and the more partnerships, the better. Whether you’re looking to shape the Netherlands into a global AI leader or need help tackling a specific challenge with AI, we’re always up for a chat. 

At KickstartAI, we believe the best way to drive applied AI forward is by doing and co-creating. That’s why we love to roll up our sleeves and build real-world solutions.

Every KickstartAI project is a collaboration between our expert team, the sharpest minds from leading Dutch companies, and your team. We act as the project lead, bringing together AI specialists, data scientists, and engineers to tackle your challenge. Whether it’s optimizing logistics, reducing waste, predicting demand, or improving decision-making, we develop AI solutions that are practical, scalable, and ready to use.

In several sprints, we make the project fit seamlessly into your business operations. By working side by side with your team, we ensure a good knowledge transfer, making the solution an integral part of your process.

With KickstartAI projects we don’t just develop an idea. We implement, test, and see it through adoption. Bridging the gap between AI theory and practice and helping businesses unlock AI’s full potential. A KickstartAI project ends with a fully integrated AI solution that actually works in your day-to-day operations. By the time we’re done, the thing we’ve worked on runs smoother, smarter, and delivers better results.

At KickstartAI, our mission is simple: to drive the application of AI in the Netherlands where it adds the most value. We are already building and implementing AI solutions for some of the country’s biggest companies and we’re just getting started. Since our founding, we're run more than 15 projects with over 10 industry partners. Let’s go!