On September 4, we hosted the first Limburg Regional Development Roundtable in Heerlen. The goal: to turn the insights from our report State of Limburg's Digital Ecosystem into a forward-thinking discussion on how Limburg can strengthen its own digital ecosystem.

A digital ecosystem — composed of local digital infrastructure, service, and solution providers — forms the basis for economic growth, sustainability, and innovation in any region. However, it only reaches its full potential when developed with a systemic perspective and consistently integrated as a regional value chain.

The Guiding Principle: Regional, Sovereign, Sustainable

To build a resilient and thriving digital ecosystem, regions must locally anchor the entire value chain:

• Local digital services should be based on locally operated infrastructure.

• This infrastructure should be housed in regional data centers.

• Local solution providers should transform services into digital solutions for regional businesses, administrations, and communities.

Our vision: Every region should be able to design flourishing digital ecosystems according to its own values. Technological advancement alone is not enough — sustainability, transparency, and local autonomy require equal attention. For Limburg, this means the digital ecosystem must support the province's overarching goals — economic development, sustainability, and resilience.

Limburg: Ambitious Yet Dependent

Despite strong political ambitions, Limburg's digital ecosystem is fragmented and heavily reliant on international cloud and infrastructure providers. This results in several issues:

• The dependency on non-European actors diminishes Limburg's regional digital autonomy.

• A significant portion of economic value creation leaves the province instead of remaining local.

• Opportunities for knowledge creation through the development of local services and solutions are missed.

Limburg's digital policy is currently disconnected from the actual functioning of the digital ecosystem. Most strategies focus on the demand side — skills development, e-government services, and technology adoption — while the supply side remains overlooked. The ecosystem is a regional value chain: digital infrastructure, IT services, and solution providers that enable digitization together. Viewing these layers in isolation leads to distorted incentives, value outflow, and continued dependency.

Key Insights from the Report

• Fragmented Ecosystem: Limburg is highly dependent on imported technologies and external providers — local value potential remains largely untapped.

• Low Visibility: Regional providers are insufficiently visible and rarely communicate their contributions to Limburg's policy objectives.

• Alignment Gap: Climate, transparency, and impact objectives are not embedded in reporting or procurement standards. Weak policy signals keep providers invisible.

• Local Impact Under the Radar: Local companies contribute through employment, training, and local initiatives — these effects are not systematically captured.

Two Concrete Instruments

Digital Harbor — Limburg's Own Internet Node

A regional internet node in Limburg would function as a nonprofit connectivity platform. Currently, internet traffic between two parties in Limburg detours through centralized national internet nodes in Amsterdam (AMS-IX) or Frankfurt (DECIX). A provincial internet node — modeled on the Ruhr-CIX or Frys-IX — would connect Limburg's existing data centers and serve as a “digital harbor”: local data exchange, cheaper connectivity for regional providers, and links to international data highways to Germany, Belgium, and Amsterdam.

The potential is significant: faster and more reliable digital services for local businesses, incentives for international content delivery providers (Netflix, Cloudflare, Fastly) to settle in the region, and a stronger foundation for regional IT companies. Like ports and airports in logistics, a regional internet node strengthens Limburg's position as an attractive location for the digital economy.

Limburg's Digital Ecosystem Community

The second instrument is the establishment of a Limburg Digital Ecosystem Community — a directory and association of local digital providers that increases their visibility and makes it easier for regional organizations to choose local services over global competitors.

Our surveys show: The majority of regional providers struggle with a lack of visibility in their own region. Most IT providers in Limburg are small companies with a total asset base of under 2 million euros — they lack the resources to compete for attention with large global providers. A Digital Ecosystem Community could jointly invest in visibility: through a professional provider directory, collaborative marketing, and campaigns under a common brand.

Conclusion

Limburg's digital policy is disconnected from ecosystem practice, and low visibility keeps regional providers out — value flows away, incentives remain weak. The roundtable identified two concrete instruments:

• Digital Harbor: Limburg's own internet node — connects local data centers, reduces external dependencies, and strengthens the regional digital economy.

• Limburg Digital Ecosystem Community: A directory and association of local providers — increases visibility and facilitates regional procurement.

Act Now:

• Sign the Petition: Support the visibility of digital ecosystem providers in Limburg and local value creation by signing our petition.

• Stay Informed: Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the development of the digital ecosystem in Limburg.

Read the State of Limburg's Digital Ecosystem Report.

Note: The full report is only available in English.