Overview
The aiGrunn Conference is the yearly flagship event of the aiGrunn ecosystem, the AI community of the North of the Netherlands. The community brings together developers, founders, researchers, teachers, civil servants, doctors, and managers to share what really works in AI and what has failed. The event is non-commercial and run by volunteers, so every talk has to offer real value rather than a sales pitch.
Date and location
The conference takes place on November 13, 2026, in Groningen city center, the Netherlands. It is a one-day event with more than 1,000 attendees expected.
Tracks
The conference has eight tracks, one for each domain of the ecosystem. Each track has its own programme of talks:
- Tech: deep dives from the people who build AI, including architecture, open-source tooling, MLOps, and model building.
- Business: real AI cases, real numbers, and lessons on automation and becoming an AI-native organization.
- Government: public services, policy-making, and responsible adoption of AI.
- Education: AI in the classroom, in curricula, and in research.
- Sensible AI: ethics, transparency, regulation, and AI that can be trusted.
- Science & Research: AI accelerating discovery, from lab automation to climate modelling.
- Healthcare & Life Sciences: diagnostics, clinical decision support, and patient outcomes.
- Hardware: chips, sensors, edge computing, and robotics.
Format
The programme includes live demos, honest war stories, and practical ideas for Monday morning. Talks are designed to be accessible to both engineers who want technical depth and managers, policymakers, teachers, and curious non-specialists who prefer plain language.
Related activities
- aiGrunn Hackathon: held on November 11 and 12 at the Niemeyer in Groningen, in two streams (Explore and Challenge). Winners present their results at the conference on November 13.
- aiLand: a free AI theme park at the Nieuwe Markt in the city centre during the conference. It features demonstrations, activities, talks, shows, and music from organizations in the ecosystem.
Tickets
Tickets are sold through the secure Paylogic ticket shop on the aiGrunn website. Sponsors help keep ticket prices as low as possible. Questions can be sent to info@aigrunn.org.
