Stories & insights from inside LAB42

What happens inside LAB42 rarely fits into announcements or press releases. Most of it starts with people: founders, researchers and students working on ideas that are still taking shape.

This page brings together short stories from inside the building — about collaborations, experiments, projects and perspectives around AI and deep-tech. Some pieces highlight research directions, others focus on companies, students or networks based in LAB42.

If you’re building an AI or deep-tech company, these stories give you a feel for how the ecosystem actually works. They show the kind of questions people ask here, the level of technical depth, and how science and entrepreneurship interact day to day.

Not everything you’ll read is a finished result, and that’s intentional. LAB42 is about work in progress.

Browse the stories below to get a sense of the people, ideas and energy inside the building.

LAB42 Community Spotlight: The Code to Change & Civic AI Lab in a €3.1M Project

Bringing together AI research, social impact expertise, and community voices to tackle complex real-world issues: it's exactly the kind of collaboration we believe in. The Code To Change and the Civic AI Lab - both part of the LAB42 ecosystem - are contributing to a newly awarded €3.1M NWO (Dutch Research Council) project. The project is led by the University of Twente and focuses on building inclusive urban resilience.

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AI graduate becomes firefighter

What can you do after a Bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence? Starting a Master would be the obvious choice. AI graduate Merel Atia took a completely different path though: she joined the Amsterdam fire brigade! And the great thing is, after some years she found a way to use her AI skills. 

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The future of computer systems: fast and sustainable

The demand for faster, more powerful computer systems continues to increase, partly due to innovations in AI and data analysis. At the same time, sustainability is becoming increasingly important, and the energy consumption of the sector is a major burden on the environment. For example, a single search on ChatGPT costs significantly more energy than a search on Google. Training AI models also costs a huge amount of energy. ‘That's just not right, it’s not sustainable. We have to do something about this’, says Andy Pimentel, professor and chair of Parallel Computing Systems at LAB42. He aims to make computer systems not only faster, but also more sustainable.

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Advanced AI for surveillance robots

University of Amsterdam, TU Delft, TNO and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee are joining forces to develop AI for surveillance robots. The OpenBots consortium focuses on creating intelligent systems that can support security staff in their daily tasks.

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Responsible AI is created together

How can you develop AI in such a way that it does not discriminate or consume large amounts of energy, but actually benefits society? A large-scale national AI initiative, housed at the University of Amsterdam Informatics Institute at LAB42, is exploring this question. Not just by science, but rather in close cooperation with companies and (semi-)government institutions.

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LAB42 wins National Steel Award 2024!

LAB42 has won the National Steel Award in the Steel Reuse category out of 38 submissions. The jury praised the building for its high sustainability and future-proof ambitions.

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Learning about AI and ChatGPT

The SME DataLAB42 recently hosted two Masterclasses on Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT for the attendees of the Data Expo 2024 at the Jaarbeurs conventional hall in Utrecht. The expo provided background on AI and ChatGPT specifically, and how it could be implemented in business. The event was supported by Preneurz, an organization that forges partnerships between educational institutions, SMEs, startups, spin-offs, and corporations at local, national and international levels to support SMEs.

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How can AI deliver on its promises in healthcare?

In theory, AI has much to offer healthcare, but developing successful applications in recent years has proved more difficult than thought. Most AI solutions are still in the experimental pre-clinical stage. Three UvA researchers highlight how the gap between science and medical practice can be closed.

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New resident: Kaiko

Recently Data & AI company Kaiko joined the LAB42 community by hiring an office at LAB42. Kaiko bridges medical research and clinical application through the development and integration of multimodal foundation models in oncology. Welcome and good luck!

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longform.ai receives funding to extract insights from audio data

Online conversations such as podcasts and webinars are growing explosively, and are an increasingly important source of information for analysts, researchers and business decision-makers. This creates a new challenge: with thousands of hours of conversations relevant to your job, extracting those elements that are truly relevant.

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LAB42 and Cupola XS collaborate on AI projects for businesses

The University of Amsterdam and Cupola XS are proud to announce a collaboration to assist more entrepreneurs in the Haarlem, Haarlemmermeer and IJmond regions with AI and data-related challenges. This partnership aims to accelerate the digital transformation of local businesses with innovative AI solutions.

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Resident LifeWatch ERIC contributes to solutions to stop the decline in biodiversity

One of the members of our community is LifeWatch ERIC, renting a workspace at LAB42. We asked them some questions to understand what's driving their business.

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Using language sciences for social good

Language technologies, like ChatGPT, are developing quickly. But we don’t really know how they work. And they are not always designed to help society.

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Science Park start-up raises $30 million to tackle climate change

Start-up CuspAI has raised $30 million to develop AI-driven materials for efficient CO2 capture. The company aims to use AI to create materials that can effectively capture and store CO2 from the atmosphere or chimneys. CuspAI was founded by Max Welling and British chemist Chad Edwards. Max Welling is Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Amsterdam, based at LAB42.

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New Quantum programme at the Faculty of Science

A new Master's programme for the next generation of Quantum scientists will start in September 2024 at UvA’s Faculty of Science. The programme offers a research-based programme with a strong mathematical foundation. Quantum Computer Science (QuCS) leverages the unique expertise in Quantum computing and Quantum information theory present at the Faculty of Science.

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'This room makes me feel calm'

LAB42 is almost open for two years now. It was designed to be sustainable, energy neutral, smart and people friendly, but what are the actual experiences of people using this building? UvA PhD researcher Shruti Rao, who makes a strong plea for more user-centred research, aims to find out.

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Reducing bias in medical AI solutions

The use of AI in healthcare will grow in the coming years. However, medical AI solutions do not yet work optimally for every population. Due to bias, a systematic error in machine learning models. Researchers of the Informatics Institute at LAB42 have investigated how, for instance, the documentation of datasets can provide improvements for detecting and mitigating bias.

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Language & Music Cognition group organises musical experiments for children

As a university, we not only teach students or conduct research, we also want to share knowledge and insights. That is why PhD students Charlotte and Marcel from the Language & Music Cognition group recently traveled to Zutphen, to host activities at the Expedition NEXT science festival. The event is dedicated to enthusing children about science. This year more than 6000 children attended.

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'We really want to attract the best people, both international and national talent'

Paola Grosso has become the new scientific director of the Informatics Institute (IvI) since 1 March. Why did she take on this role and what goals does she have for the institute in the coming period?

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2050: the year that it will happen

Even before you step into the Intelligent Robotics Lab of LAB42, you're greeted by 8 pairs of eyes — not the employees of the lab, but the welcoming committee of LAB42 in the form of various robots. Upon entering the lab, you immediately encounter a soccer field, confirming you're in the right place. Walking further, you arrive at the destination: Wike Duivenvoorden, Bachelor's student in Artificial Intelligence and coordinator of promotion & events for the Dutch Nao Team.

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'We need renowned AI experts next door'

AI has implications outside the realm of computers: through a collaboration AI is applied to help chemists develop new, sustainable materials. ‘AI is an indispensable tool to achieve the material transition needed for a sustainable society’, says Bernd Ensing, associate professor of Computational Chemistry and leading the AI4SMM research group (Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Molecules and Materials) at the University of Amsterdam.

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Science and innovation on the literal roof of our building

Working on science and innovation doesn't only happen inside LAB42, also outside! On the roof for example. Daylight entry and energy generation converge on top of LAB42. Besides the solar panels on the roof, special glass ceilings are installed in the roof. There are 32 of these glass ceilings which each consists of 3 regular panels.

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New ASCII art in our Intelligent Robotics Lab!

Since last week we have a new piece of ASCII art in our Intelligent Robotics Lab. It’s a portrait of Hiroshi Ishiguro (石黒浩)! Prof. Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro is the founder of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University, Japan. He is well-known for his work in developing humanoid robots that closely resemble humans in appearance and behavior.

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Community member UbiOps wants meaningful AI to see the light of day

One of the members of our community is UbiOps, renting a workspace at LAB42. We asked them some questions to understand what's driving their business.

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How do you humanise talking machines (but without the bad parts)?

This year, AI systems that can write almost human-like texts have made a breakthrough worldwide. However, many academic questions on how exactly these systems work remain unanswered. Three UvA researchers are trying to make the underlying language models more transparent, reliable and human.

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LAB42 receives honourable mention at Architectenweb awards ceremony!

The Architectenweb awards were presented on 8 November. An exciting evening for LAB42, as the building was nominated in the Educational Building of the Year category. The ITC faculty of the University of Twente won, but LAB42 received an honourable mention!

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The Code to Change connects high-potential women and underrepresented groups with tech companies

One of the members of our community is The Code to Change, a diversity and inclusion organisation. They are working on connecting high-potential women and underrepresented groups with tech companies.

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World Deaf Day: Prof. Floris Roelofsen connects deaf community with science

Today is World Deaf Day 2023. At the UvA we have a designated cross-faculty lab, that researches and develops innovations concerning Dutch sign language: SignLab. This year, the first-ever SignLab Open House was held, where the deaf community and UvA researchers met and talked about the current innovations. Professor Floris Roelofsen from the Institute of Logic, Language and Computation at LAB42 was present to highlight the need for research on sign language.

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What impact do AI systems have on social inequality?

AI is everywhere and we can barely imagine how to live without it. One of the important questions though is: how do AI systems affect social inequality? Professor of Socially Intelligent AI, Sennay Ghebreab, focuses on identifying ways in which AI systems reflect or reinforce existing inequalities in society. He is also committed to using AI systems to help combat these inequalities. 

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Welcome to LAB42. Home of digital innovation and AI

Welcome at LAB42! We believe that people are key to solving the technological challenges of the future. Like predicting whether someone will get sick within the next 10 years and predicting how someone can stay healthy. That’s why we are for example working on AI innovations in healthcare.

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Unlocking Opportunities: The Thesis Fair Connects Organisations and Talented Students

The Thesis Fair has been held at Science Park since 2011. The event has resulted in many collaborations between students and companies. But what is the concept behind this event? We had the opportunity to interview Yasmin Santis, the Thesis Fair manager, to delve into the details.

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Multilingual language technology that goes beyond ChatGPT

In recent months, text generator ChatGPT has amazed the world with automatic writing of humanlike texts in all kinds of styles. The fundamental techniques of ChatGPT date from 2017, but it has scaled up computing power and training data to such an extent that this year’s results have astonished even experts in the field.

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'Make the Netherlands a leader in responsible AI'

Investing in talent, a joint agenda and strong infrastructure are the basis for the Netherlands to take a leading role in responsible AI. That was the message from the Amsterdam AI coalition to State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitalisation Alexandra van Huffelen and Wethouder Alexander Scholtes during the working visit to LAB42. Amsterdam AI is committed to promoting responsible AI development and application in the Netherlands.

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Solving the climate problem with machine learning

‘We are heading towards a wall at a tremendous speed, and we haven’t yet hit the brakes’, Max Welling says. He’s referring to climate change. ‘It is highly likely that the earth will be four degrees warmer by the end of this century.’ Max Welling is a professor of Machine Learning at the University of Amsterdam and head of Microsoft Research’s AI4Science programme. 

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UvA and NFI open forensic research lab 'AI4forensics'

Algorithms can support forensic experts. For example in speaker recognition, facial comparisons, and in tracing criminal money flows. In the AI4forensics lab that opened last week, four PhD students and a postdoc conduct research into artificial intelligence for forensics. The lab is a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) and is located in the ICAI - Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence at LAB42. Read the full article.

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Taking a robot to Mars: it all starts in LAB42

The robotics lab is located on the ground floor of Lab42. This is where Bachelor's and Master's students gain experimental skills. As a result, they learn that an algorithm that works in theory can turn out very differently in practice. ‘Companies are desperate for graduates with these skills.’

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'There is a lot of interest to collaborate with Computational Social Science students'

Last September, a new Bachelor program 'Computational social science' was launched. Jacobijn Sandberg, director of the College of Informatics, talks about the how and why, and also about a second new Bachelor program that is in preparation: 'Science, Technology and Innovation'.

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'Companies are having a lot of data, but they often lack the tools to put it to good use.'

Like her students, Director of the College of Informatics Jacobijn Sandberg recently relocated to LAB42. She hopes the new building will lead to many inspiring collaborations between researchers, students and businesses.

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Being part of the community gives companies a benefit

'Answer tomorrow's questions together'. With this message in large letters at the entrance to LAB42 every visitor and resident is being welcomed. By 'together' is meant not only cooperation between scientists and students within the institutes themselves, but also with companies. Especially for those companies, the third floor of the brand-new building has been reserved. Companies wishing to hold offices here can contact business developer Siddique Sheikh. 'We want students, researchers and companies who are here to really get to know each other,' he says as he gives a short tour of the building. 'That's also why the walls are mostly glass. Look, you can see inside everywhere like this.'

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'Our mission is to do three things: top education, top research and impactful valorisation.'

LAB42 is more than just another new building. It is meant to create a new ecosystem. 'Our mission is to do three things', says the director of the Informatics Institute Alfons Hoekstra, 'top education, top research and impactful valorisation. This is the first time we have all those three functions together in one building. The third floor houses the co-creation space. Above that, are three floors with academic research, and below are all the teaching spaces. We easily meet in this building. It feels like a unity, that we have never had before. Education and research is of course what we have traditionally been doing. The third function, valorisation is relatively new, so it is exciting to see how it will play out to have it under one roof.'

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Aybüke Özgün: the philosophy of AI

Have you ever wondered how often you use your imagination each day? It’s likely to be more often than you think. ‘Humans use their imagination all the time,’ claims Aybüke Özgün, logician and researcher at the UvA’s Institute for Logic, Language and Computation. She studies the logic behind imagination and knowledge and how the two are related. We’re not talking about the sort of imagination required for unicorns and castles in the air, but the kind we use for more practical matters.

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‘We wanted to create a fully circular building. Keeping that goal in mind was a huge challenge.’

The future LAB42 building will be zero-energy, easy to dismantle and reusable – so naturally, designing and building it was no easy feat. An interview with the building’s architect, Joost Vos.

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Jelle Zuidema: Finding out why AI makes certain choices

It's a well-known example: in 2015, it became painfully clear that the application of AI can sometimes go terribly wrong. A month previously, Google had introduced the option of automatically tagging photos and putting them in an album. Very convenient in itself, you might say. However, the system got it very wrong in the case of a photo of a dark-skinned man and his girlfriend. Their photo was tagged ‘gorilla’. The app received a lot of criticism, and Google promised to remedy the error. But guess what? Three years later, the error had not been corrected at all; it turned out that Google had simply blocked the ‘gorilla’ category.

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‘Partnerships are a very appealing option for businesses’

The UvA and Bosch have extended their partnership with the launch of Delta Lab 2. Herke van Hoof, former lab manager for Delta Lab 1, is now passing the baton to Eric Nalisnick. Below, the two Machine Learning Lab scientists discuss the partnership.

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Khalil Sima'an: a translation machine that really understands language

How do you translate the Dutch word gezellig into English? Cosy is probably the first thing that comes to mind but it doesn’t really convey the full meaning. And take the Italian word culaccino, for example, which refers to the mark that a cold glass leaves on a table. Or the Portuguese word saudade, which can best be described as a combination of melancholy and yearning.

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UvA and Bosch continue collaboration with new research lab

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and technology company Bosch will be launching a new research lab together, expanding their existing cooperation as a result.

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Raquel Fernández: talking to your computer as if it were human

You may have seen one while shopping online: you scroll a bit and a pop-up suddenly appears in the corner of your screen, asking, ‘Is there anything I can help you with?’ These ‘conversational agents’ or chatbots are like digital assistants meant to make our lives easier. The question is, do they? 

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Evangelos Kanoulas: saving lives with AI

Immunotherapy has the potential to cure cancer. But it is an expensive treatment that sometimes has unpleasant side effects and is only effective in 30 per cent of cases. Can AI help? Computer scientist Evangelos Kanoulas works as an associate professor at the Informatics Institute, as well as at the UvA Business School – and he recently founded the start-up Ellogon.AI in order to study this topic.

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Dean McHugh: computer models that ensure justice prevails

PhD candidate causal relations Dean McHugh is trying to find a model for causality. Where others might say ‘it's just a matter of how you define it’ to minimise the relevance of a given discussion, this statement actually sums up Dean's work rather nicely. To give a concrete example, his models might someday be a vital part of the justice system.

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