King’s Commissioner in Groningen Visits Klippa
Press Release | June, 2023
With this year’s edition of the Groningen Enterprise Award well underway, Frederik Johannes Paas paid a visit to 2022 winners, Klippa. The King’s commissioner attended a presentation of the company’s products and went on a tour of its new headquarters based in the capital of the north. What was a startup during Mr. Paas’ 2016 investiture as representative of the Dutch Crown in the region, he remarked, has now grown into a successful young company. According to the commissioner, success stories within the local tech enterprise sphere are more and more becoming the norm.
The local economic landscape is thriving
“A very interesting aspect of the region is that, due to the relatively large scale of the university, Groningen is the youngest city in the entire Netherlands, home to a remarkable number of companies founded by graduates. Some of them are doing really great, and we can take Klippa as an example here, within an IT sector that’s already very strong in the region”, Mr. Paas stated. Both he and Klippa’s CEO, Yeelen Knegtering, are graduates of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG).
Young companies also play a very important role when it comes to the wellbeing of the local economic landscape. “There’s three layers for every healthy economic environment: the older, well-known companies that are like a backbone for the socio-economic structure; the middle layer of enterprises which have already proven successful and are still growing; and last but definitely not least, the very young companies, the startups, the tryouts. We need them all in our economic ecosystem for the biotope to thrive”, the commissioner weighed in.
Mr. Paas considers that there’s enough regional support for companies to thrive during any of these stages, which certainly seems to benefit the IT sector. “I see more and more tech companies, and they seem to turn into a critical mass. I wouldn’t be surprised when, in the future, people who will analyze the regional economic system’s evolution will conclude that it was tech companies, together with their young, talented, educated people, that turned Groningen into the place. A city where everybody wants to be”, said the commissioner.
Everyone in the region benefits from a good local ecosystem of smart, healthy and happy people, which results in flourishing companies. So we all need to put in the effort to ensure a healthy ecosystem based on knowledge sharing and investment in employee happiness.
Klippa is represented in the 2023 jury
As representative of the current Groninger Ondernemingsprijs winners, Yeelen Knegtering will now be part of the jury that goes on to select this year’s best candidacy.
Ten businesses stemming from the region have already been announced as up and running contenders for what is set to be a celebratory 25th edition of the competition. “It will be a very interesting and big moment for all of us involved. There’s plenty of ambition coming from the organizing committee, but we’re also trying to keep it in line with what we know worked best during all these years. For example, to make sure that companies who go on to win the prize can also be genuine ambassadors of Groningen. We do not only select the most profitable, or largest, or fastest growing companies, but most of all companies that hold the best promise for the future”, Mr. Paas mentioned.
This year’s final of the Groninger Ondernemingsprijs is set to take place November 30th. The names of three finalist companies will be announced a month in advance.
About Klippa
The company was founded in 2015, in Groningen. Its mission is the digitalization and automation of tedious administrative workflows. To do so, Klippa uses modern technologies such as AI, machine learning and OCR. Since its creation, the company has opened offices in Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Brasov (Romania), while currently being recommended by over a thousand customers worldwide.
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