Creating an attractive cluster climate for datacenters in Eemshaven

The potential of Eemshaven as cluster area for datacenters compared with the successful example of The Node Pole.

Many different institutions in Groningen perceive the arrival of Google’s datacenter in Eemshaven in Groningen as a revival of regional economic development. Until the announcement, earthquakes, population decline and a stagnating economic development resulted in an unattractive image of Groningen. When Google communicated their establishment in Eemshaven, regional actors expected that other large datacenters would follow in the foreseeable future. Attracting and embedding these relative young and new establishments which are often transnational corporations (TNCs), requires other actions than embedding other businesses or SMEs.

This research investigates which actions local and regional actors should undertake to create an attractive climate for datacenters. In such a climate should the demands of datacenters match local or regional offers and vice versa. The basic idea behind this research is creating economic growth based on local or regional assets and opportunities. In order to gain insight into success factors, The Node Pole has been taken as an example. The arrival of Facebook in this area led to the rise of a strong datacenter cluster.