Under the heading 'AI technology for people', leading knowledge institutions in Amsterdam have committed themselves to investing 1 billion euros over the next ten years, to hire at least 800 researchers, and 5,000 undergraduate, graduate and PhD students to lead to 10,000 students follow an AI minor and develop (or assist with the development) of 100 spin-offs and 100 startups.

AI technology for people

Amsterdam has the largest science and innovation ecosystem in the Netherlands and has at least three decades of experience in research, education and innovation in the field of AI. We have a broad expertise here – technological knowledge and knowledge about the legal, social and ethical aspects of AI. Yet we too are starting to feel the shortage of AI talent, “says Geert ten Dam, president of the University of Amsterdam. “Extra investments are desperately needed,” adds Mirjam van Praag, president of the VU University Amsterdam (VU). “In this highly competitive world, we need to focus on attracting, developing and retaining talent to ensure that we keep the development of advanced technology under control while maintaining our national and European values.”

The Amsterdam knowledge institutions focus on related technological areas: machine learning, hybrid intelligence and accountable AI. The core of the plan is the need to develop better systems that are focused on people and offer guarantees for responsible application: AI technology for people. Anita Nijboer, board member of the VNO-NCW Metropool Amsterdam, will be the ambassador of the Amsterdam coalition. Central to the coalition's approach are three main themes, all with a major impact on people's daily lives and socio-economic development in the region: AI for health, AI for business innovation and AI for citizens.

International cooperation

The coalition has joined leading international initiatives such as ELLIS (European laboratory for learning and intelligent systems) and CLAIRE (Confederation of laboratories for artificial intelligence research in Europe). On Tuesday, December 10, ELLIS announced that the UvA had been selected as a center of excellence for its proven scientific quality. The ELLIS network, consisting of European cities with excellent AI institutes, will facilitate the exchange of researchers and students. As part of this initiative, the Excellence Unit, located at the Amsterdam Science Park, can appoint new researchers and new PhD students.

Cooperation in Amsterdam

The Amsterdam region combines technical infrastructure ( SURFsara , Amsterdam data exchange ), institutional infrastructure ( CWI, eSciencecenter, UvA, VU and HvA ) and data science networks ( AmsterdamDataScience, Amsterdam Medical Data Science ). The municipality of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Economic Board and the province of Noord-Holland invest in development by creating an attractive business climate, by providing tailor-made support programs for talent and by bringing parties together to encourage co-creation.

The knowledge institutes are already working closely with a growing number of companies in public-private research laboratories in ICAI (the national innovation center for AI at the Amsterdam Science Park). The Atlas Lab was launched with TomTom in November, and earlier launches included: AIRlab Amsterdam (a joint industrial laboratory with Ahold Delhaize), the National Police Lab (a joint venture between the UvA, Utrecht University and the National Police) ), Elsevier AI Lab (a joint venture between UvA, VU and Elsevier), AIM Lab (a joint venture between UvA and Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence Ltd.), Delta Lab (a collaboration between UvA and Bosch) and QUVA Lab ( a collaboration between UvA and Qualcomm). Also this year, the program Hybrid Intelligence (a collaboration between UvA and VU University Amsterdam, among others), was subsidized by Gravitation. The Hogeschool van Amsterdam will open its Expertise Center for Applied AI on January 1, 2020.

Partners in AI technology for people

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (of which the Netherlands Cancer Institute is a part), Amsterdam Economic Board, Amsterdam UMC, Center for Mathematics and Computer Science, municipality of Amsterdam, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Sanquin, University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam.

For more information: Marcel Worring , professor of Data Science at the University of Amsterdam.

Read here the interview in the NRC December 12, 2019

Source https://www.amsterdameconomicboard.com/en/nieuws/amsterdam-knowledge-institutions-invest-1-billion-in-ai?cookie=1