📋 Tender Overview
NS, Ahold Delhaize, ING and KLM are extending their collaboration with KickstartAI until 2029. KickstartAI and the founding partners thus mark a new multi-year phase. Their goal: to take AI from experiment to application faster. They also want to broaden the circle of partners to new sectors and organizations, so that the impact of AI applications in the Netherlands continues to grow.
KickstartAI was founded in 2019 by Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM and NS based on a shared belief: the Netherlands not only needs strong technology and talent, but especially organizations that know how to apply AI to issues that matter. That is why KickstartAI works on applications that have a direct effect on social challenges.
The biggest challenge surrounding AI at the moment is not the technology itself, but the step from ambition to application. Real progress comes when you build concrete solutions together, learn from them and share those lessons so that others can follow suit more quickly. In this new phase we want to expand our group of partners, so that successful applications and practical lessons can spread more quickly to other sectors and the positive impact of AI in the Netherlands is further increased.
Erick Webbe, CEO KickstartAI,,
For example, KickstartAI developed a method for NS to detect abandoned luggage at stations without infringing on privacy. At Bol, AI models optimized the prediction of parcel volumes, leading to more efficient transport. ING is working on a digital financial guide that offers consumers understandable information about financial matters. We are working with KLM to reduce food waste through more precise planning of meals on board. In addition, KickstartAI collaborates with organizations such as Erasmus MC and the National Police.
It is time to boldly bring together the social issues we face with the possibilities of artificial intelligence. In this way we make the work easier for our colleagues and work on solutions that benefit the whole of the Netherlands. That is what KickstartAI will do in the coming years.
Wouter Koolmees, CEO of NS,,
It is precisely that practical experience that is desperately needed. The Netherlands faces major social and economic challenges, from declining productivity growth and rising healthcare costs to climate pressure and stagnant infrastructure. AI can help make concrete progress on such issues, provided organizations make the step from experiment to application at scale.Click here for a more detailed message from KickstartAI (English)
