The offshore wind industry is one of the main economic pillars of Eemshaven. With a lot of offshore wind experience and all (nautical) facilities available, the Eemshaven (in North Groningen) is ideally equipped as a construction and service port. Due to the fact that 15 Dutch and German off-shore wind farms have been built from Eemshaven, an excellent track record has been built in recent years. The port has been used for construction, storage and transportation of foundations, windmill poles, turbines, wicks and other parts. With the realisation of even more wind farms above the Wadden Islands, in the Netherlands and Germany, the Eemshaven is expected to continue to play an important role as a construction and service port. Once the parks are realised, this does not mean that the work on the parks stops. On the contrary, the operation and maintenance of the wind farms (Operations &Amp; Maintenance, for short O&M) will require particular attention in the coming decades. And that offers opportunities for the North of the Netherlands: here is the availability of infrastructure, companies, knowledge, skills and innovation to become a leading region for the offshore wind sector precisely in terms of O&M. However, this requires further development of the sector in the region. Increasing the innovative capacity in the region to be distinctive and of added value is ‘key’. Many large companies and SMEs are working to exploit the same market opportunities in the offshore wind sector and find that they cannot do so alone. There is a need and willingness to cooperate and innovate in the pre-competitive playing field. Experience also shows that this type of cooperation does not go by itself. Mutual trust is important, as well as making the approach and results concrete by actively guiding the process. At present, over 100 initiatives are known by the Northern Netherlands Offshore Wind (ideas, plans and feasibility studies) in the field of offshore wind energy. Examples include the development of a drone robot for detection and repair of rotor blades and a movement detector to prevent electricity cables from coming above the seabed. Many of these innovations require similar preparations, such as consortium formation, project development, planning and funding. In the North of the Netherlands, the cluster network Northern Netherlands Offshore Wind (NNOW) started in 2010 with over 150 companies active in offshore wind. The companies are working through the NNOW on concrete issues in the field of offshore wind. However, a new form of cooperation is necessary with the aim of exploiting further market opportunities in the offshore wind industry and a suctionary effect on other companies still outside the offshore wind industry. The offshore wind industry has the potential to be an important part of the energy supply of the whole of the Netherlands and Northwest Europe. Offshore wind energy therefore plays a major role in the Climate Agreement and all other energy agendas in these regions. In the North of the Netherlands, all elements for large-scale production of offshore wind are present. And this fits well with the ambition of the Northern Netherlands to make an important contribution to the climate objectives, including by focusing on large-scale production and deployment of green hydrogen in industry and transport. The planned investments in offshore wind farms above the Wadden Sea make the green electricity needed for this green hydrogen available in the region. The Offshore Wind Innovation Centre (OWIC) is an initiative of a consortium of Hanze Hogeschool Groningen, Noorderpoort, Hogeschool Saxion, University of Groningen, New Energy Coalition, Groningen Seaports, NNOW (including nine SME members), Stark Learning and TCNN. They invest in this and take the lead in creating a state-of-the-art and unique open innovation ecosystem that any industry, SME, government or knowledge and educational institution can participate in. Northern Netherlands and in particular the Eemshaven is the logical place to attract the role of innovation engine in the offshore wind industry. The Eemshaven has all the ingredients to fulfil this role: the port is already an important offshore hub and energy-intensive companies like Google have already established themselves precisely because there is a lot of sustainable offshore wind energy available.