Groningenruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
University & higher education
University of Groningen, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Campus Groningen / Zernike
The RUG was founded in 1614 and is one of the oldest in the country; with the Hanze it puts something like a quarter of the city's population into education. Zernike Campus north-west of the centre is where the university, the Hanze and the spin-outs sit together.
Academic medicine & life sciences
UMCG, Martini Ziekenhuis, Healthy Ageing Campus, Sartorius, ERIBA
The UMCG is the largest employer in the northern Netherlands with over 12,000 staff and one of the biggest hospitals in the country. The Healthy Ageing research programme is the region's flagship, and it is what most life-science jobs here attach to.
Energy & the transition out of gas
Gasunie, GasTerra, TenneT northern operations, New Energy Coalition, Hydrogen Valley projects
Gasunie is headquartered here in a building locals call the Blue Whale. The province that supplied Dutch gas for sixty years is now the country's designated hydrogen and offshore-wind corridor, which is an uncomfortable and very well-funded transition to work in.
IT services & data centres
IBM Client Innovation Center, Google's Eemshaven data centre, TARGET/Astron data infrastructure, Voys
Groningen sells itself to IT employers on graduate supply and low cost relative to the Randstad, and it has landed real volume — the Eemshaven data centre is one of Google's largest European sites and sits on the province's landfall of transatlantic cable.
Agri-food & the northern hinterland
Avebe, FrieslandCampina sites, Suiker Unie, Agrifirm
The clay soils east of the city are among the most productive arable land in Europe, and Avebe's potato-starch business is a genuinely global specialist. Agri-food R&D links directly into the university's biotech groups.
Culture, festivals & the creative economy
Noorderzon, Eurosonic Noorderslag, Forum Groningen, Groninger Museum, Vera and Simplon
Eurosonic Noorderslag in January is the European music industry's showcase for new acts and fills the entire city; Noorderzon in August fills the park for eleven days. Vera has a claim to having booked Nirvana and U2 before anyone else in Europe did.
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