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about us
Innovation and connection arise in a place where you love to be.
We believe innovation happens in a place where you enjoy being—a place that takes care of you and inspires you. Cleantech Park Arnhem – formerly Industriepark Kleefse Waard (IPKW) – offers an environment where job satisfaction is central, with a strong community, top facilities, and a green, historic setting.
The 90-hectare park is an inspiring place for everyone working on clean technologies. In a city deeply connected to energy and circularity, Cleantech Park Arnhem provides an ecosystem that helps companies innovate faster and more successfully. From startups to multinationals and from government to education: together, we create the green solutions of tomorrow.
Cleantech Park Arnhem is a project by Schipper Bosch.
Cleantech makes the dream tech
We are called Cleantech Park for a reason. This is where companies are located that work on clean technology—products, services, and processes that reduce environmental impact. In this way, we contribute to the energy transition and a circular economy. The companies in the park are active within four key themes: energy, materials, mobility, and human capital.
The Most Sustainable Business Park
Companies at Cleantech Park Arnhem work on solutions for generating, storing, distributing, and efficiently using energy. It’s all about technologies that contribute to the energy transition and reduce CO₂ emissions. Think of smart energy grids and storing energy in batteries or hydrogen.
Together with Veolia, we continuously work to make our own energy flows more sustainable. We generate local electricity from solar power (6.6 million kWh per year via 24,000 solar panels) and wind power (8.5 million kWh per year). The park also features a bioheat installation that runs on clean wood sourced within a 100 km radius from sustainable forest and park management (pruning waste and residual wood). We consider biomass a transitional fuel. Additionally, we are working on recovering heat from cooling installations and connecting to the district heating network.
We are also co-founders of Connectr: a collaboration between education, government, and industry to accelerate the energy transition. At Cleantech Park Arnhem, you’ll find the Connectr Shared Office, the Connectr Innovation Lab, and the Connectr Energy Demo Field.
Waste Does Not Exist
In the cleantech sector, recycling means more than just sorting waste. It’s about smartly reusing materials, energy, and heat so that nothing is lost and everything can become a raw material again. This aligns with the goal of a circular economy, where raw materials stay in the cycle as much as possible.
At Cleantech Park Arnhem, we collect ‘waste’ with our own recycling team. This group of waste ambassadors, in collaboration with Scalabor, consists of people who have difficulty accessing the labor market. They collect waste from the companies on the park and transport it with a sustainable vehicle to our raw materials bank, where we locally convert it into new raw materials and products. In this way, we combine circular ambitions with social inclusivity.
Sustainable Movement
Making transportation more sustainable—which accounts for a quarter of the CO₂ emissions in the Netherlands—offers great opportunities for innovation. At Cleantech Park Arnhem, companies work daily on cleaner mobility solutions such as electric drivetrains, hydrogen technology, and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
As a park, we are actively involved as well. We offer no fewer than 96 charging points for electric vehicles, and our technical service and park management teams drive fully electric. We are also closely involved in the hydrogen cluster, together with partners like HyGear, HAN Automotive, and the municipality of Arnhem. With a hydrogen refueling station and hydrogen vehicles in the region, we contribute to scaling up this promising technology. We are also co-founders of the Clean Mobility Center, which collaborates with education and industry on smart mobility solutions.
Additionally, Groene Rijders (Green Riders), a sustainable delivery service using electric cargo bikes, and Scalabor provide sustainable parcel delivery within the park, significantly reducing transport movements, emissions, and traffic congestion on the park.
Social entrepreneurship is sustainable entrepreneurship.
Human capital refers to the knowledge, skills, and motivation of people needed to make the energy transition possible. Without well-trained professionals, dedicated experts, and room for development, progress stalls.
At Cleantech Park Arnhem, we actively shape this theme. We create opportunities for people with a distance to the labor market, both within our own organization and in collaboration with tenants. We promote social interaction, well-being, and job satisfaction through events, sports, and a pleasant working environment. Additionally, we bring education and industry together in hybrid learning environments. We are co-founders of Connectr, aiming to connect education, research, government, and business to accelerate the energy transition.
Students from HAN@Connectr work on real business challenges at our park, including in the Powerlab, the Mobility Innovation Center, and the hydrogen lab. This way, we offer development space not only for technology but also for the people who make the difference.
Working together for Progress
At Cleantech Park Arnhem, collaboration is key. Together with companies, educational institutions, research organizations, and governments, we are building a strong cleantech ecosystem that promotes knowledge sharing, stimulates innovation, and accelerates sustainable technology. In this way, we jointly contribute to a sustainable future.
New ideas need old buildings
What started in 1941 as a straw cellulose and cellulose fiber factory for the clothing industry has grown into an award-winning park for cleantech innovation. Throughout all these years, one thing has remained constant: a focus on the quality of the buildings and the area as a whole.
In 1941, the Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU), formerly Enka, built a factory at Kleefse Waard in Arnhem. This factory was intended to produce straw cellulose and cellulose fibers for clothing. Ir. A.J. Engel was tasked with designing a modern factory that would strengthen the Dutch economy after the war. In the early years, about two thousand people worked there. During the war, production continued because Germany needed an alternative to cotton and wool.
In the autumn of 1944, the companies on the site stopped operating. Only the power plant remained operational to supply electricity to Arnhem and the surrounding area because the power supply from Nijmegen had failed.
In April 1945, the Enka factory played an important role in the liberation of Arnhem. Canadian and British troops used the site as a gateway to the city. Dutch SS volunteers fiercely defended the factory, leading to heavy fighting. Eventually, the Polar Bears, a British infantry division, captured the site. Arnhem lay in ruins after the battle. Shortly afterward, factory workers helped restore electricity in the city.
In 1946, stolen machines were recovered in Germany and brought back to the factory. This enabled a quick restart of production. The site was expanded with a pot spinning mill for tire rayon, as demand for car tires was rapidly increasing. Rayon was increasingly replacing cotton as a raw material.
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In the 1970s, Kleefse Waard became the most modern tire rayon plant in the world. An automated viscose factory saved 50 jobs and enabled more efficient production. Successful products included Colbond, Colback, and the Enka chamois.
In the 1990s, communication became a key focus, with open days and guided tours. From 1998 onward, the name Kleefse Waard Industrial Park was used. Due to restructuring and the closure of the rayon factory in 1996, the number of employees declined. Because of pollution issues, the owner decided to sell the site.
Together with the municipality of Arnhem, they developed the park into a modern business location. Historic buildings were renovated, and new companies, startups, and educational institutions were attracted. The site became a hub for innovation and sustainability, with a strong focus on the cleantech sector.
As the crowning achievement, Schipper Bosch was awarded the Golden Pyramid in 2015 for the (re)development of Kleefse Waard Industrial Park. This national biennial award honors inspiring commissioning in architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, infrastructure, and spatial development. “With IPKW, a new standard has been set for business parks,” said the jury.
The redevelopment of the park continues. At the end of 2023, the Connectr Innovation Lab opened — a space where entrepreneurs, educational institutions, and government work together on the energy transition. The park is becoming increasingly integrated into the city. This new phase comes with a fitting new name: Cleantech Park Arnhem. “The software is changing, but the hardware remains — with an eye on both the future and the past.”
At Cleantech Park Arnhem, innovations for a cleaner future come to life. This is the perfect place for startups, established companies, government bodies, and educational institutions collaborating on clean technologies for the energy transition and circular economy. Join our active community of forward-thinking businesses today.