The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) will develop four Open Tech Labs over the coming years, bringing together students, researchers, lecturers, and entrepreneurs to work on technological solutions for current challenges in the city and the region. A grant of 1.3 million euros from the City of Amsterdam enables the HvA to expand existing labs within its Faculty of Technology into open innovation environments where education, practice-based research, and small and medium-sized enterprises reinforce one another.
The four labs being developed are the Maintenance Lab, the Robot Lab, the Energy Lab, and the Makers Lab. Within these Open Tech Labs, students, researchers, lecturers, and entrepreneurs collaborate on challenges related to digitalisation, robotisation, the energy transition, circular production, and sustainable mobility. The labs are intended to function as more than testing environments for new technology: they connect education, research, and the professional field so that new knowledge finds its way to practical applications more quickly.
A central principle of the Open Tech Labs is that students learn by working on real assignments from professional practice. Students from the HvA, ROC van Amsterdam-Flevoland, Talland, and the University of Amsterdam work alongside entrepreneurs on innovations that contribute to the future of the city. Professionals from small and medium-sized enterprises can also develop new knowledge and skills within the labs. Esther Ras, Dean of the Faculty of Technology at the HvA, highlights the value of cross-pollination between students at different educational levels, experts, and entrepreneurs, noting that this collaboration produces technological innovations directly applicable in practice as well as social innovation through a better mutual understanding of each other’s language and capabilities.
The Open Tech Labs form part of the broader impulse project Amsterdam Open Tech and Innovation Hub, for which the City of Amsterdam has made funding available. The HvA is working with partners including ROC van Amsterdam-Flevoland, Talland, the University of Amsterdam, Centrum Wiskunde en Informatica, TechValley, Techport, NZKG, Green Tech Campus, and Amsterdam AI. Regional companies such as AEB Amsterdam, Cordis Automation, Freezerdata, IJskoud, Sensing360, and Velotech are also involved. Alderman for Economic Affairs Melanie van der Horst states that the Open Tech Labs lower the barrier to innovation for entrepreneurs, as access to technology, research, and space for experimentation cannot be taken for granted for small and medium-sized businesses.
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