Enschede, 13 October 2026. Enschede AI company Artific is the official AI partner of basketball club Donar (opens in a new tab) in Groningen. Donar Groningen is the first sports club outside the eastern Netherlands that the company has entered into a partnership with.
On Artific’s platform, Donar Groningen builds its own AI applications, trained on the club’s own documents and ways of working. Artific brings more than forty language models together in one secure AI environment, with automatic failover when a model goes down. That way the club is not tied to a single supplier. The data remains the property of Donar Groningen, is hosted in the EU, and the club sees exactly what the system does with it. Secure. Predictable. Transparent.
Ivo Rupert, CEO of Artific: “We are proud that Donar Groningen has chosen Artific’s AI platform. It is a great first step in the north of the Netherlands, and one we are taking together with a club that, like us, wants to lead the way. As an innovative and enterprising company, we want to contribute to the further development of an ambitious club like Donar Groningen.”
With this step, Donar Groningen wants to prepare its organisation for the future. The club is applying the technology in four areas it chose itself: administration, scheduling, communication and commercial work. This is recurring office work, such as answering questions from supporters and sponsors and preparing correspondence. Staff keep the final say.
Stefan Mladenovic, General Manager of Donar Groningen: “I think this partnership will give us an edge as a club over other basketball clubs. But the greatest pleasure for me will be if my staff are happy with this partnership because it helps them.”
At Donar Groningen, Artific works with an implementation partner: Artiliance (opens in a new tab), run by Erik Davids from Zuidlaren, which handles the roll-out and supports the staff, and is also an official AI partner of the club. Davids is also an Ambassador of Donar Groningen. The partnership has been running since July and has a term of three years.
About Artific
Artific, with Ivo Rupert as CEO, is the Dutch AI platform on which organisations work securely, efficiently and smarter with more than forty language models. The platform is GDPR-compliant, ISO 27001 certified and already used by more than 150 organisations. Artific was named AI Company of the Year 2025 at the Nationale AI Awards.
About Donar Groningen
With an average of more than three thousand spectators per game, Donar Groningen is the best-attended indoor sports club in the Netherlands. The club has more than 150 business club members and runs on around a hundred volunteers. Its General Manager is Stefan Mladenovic.
About Artiliance
Artiliance, run by Erik Davids, helps SMEs in the northern Netherlands adopt AI.
From left to right: Ivo Rupert (CEO Artific), Stefan Mladenovic (General Manager Donar Groningen) and Erik Davids (Artiliance). Photo: Anne Pietersen, Donar Groningen.