Gelderland: Knowledge-Based Economy Between Rotterdam and Rhine 

Gelderland has built a strong economy that features productive cooperation between research-oriented universities and private enterprises. Leading sectors are food production and processing, life sciences, and new technologies. 

Clemens G.A. Cornielje, Queen's Commissioner

Clemens G.A. Cornielje, Queen’s Commissioner, points out, “We have clusters of research activities and enterprises in specific fields; we call these ‘health valley’, ‘food valley’ and ‘technology valley’. These are the three sectors in which we excel.” 

Gelderland is the largest province in the Netherlands and enjoys a particularly strategic location between the Rotterdam/Amsterdam area and Germany’s Rhine region. “We have exceptionally good East-West infrastructure here, including highways, special rail links from Rotterdam, and around 175 miles of navigable rivers,” Cornielje explains. 

The province is also part of western Europe’s largest forested natural areas, one reason for its successful tourism sector, and is home to a number of innovative companies, including Arcadis, which is involved in building dikes in New Orleans, and multinationals like Heinz and Unilever. Gelderland is also strong in manufacturing and has a number of knowledge-based institutions. 

To help attract investors, Gelderland has set up several business parks served by logistics hubs. The province offers a large pool of highly skilled workers and is especially eager to welcome innovative companies. The provincial government is currently involved in information and communications technology projects, efforts to provide employment opportunities in rural areas, energy sustainability, projects to create more parks in Gelderland’s cities, major infrastructure projects, and projects to provide financing for innovative companies. “We finance companies that can make a difference,” Cornielje concludes.