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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.

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.

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.

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!

Exploring AI and ChatGPT with LAB42

The SME DataLAB42 team recently hosted two Masterclasses on Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT, for business communities in Hilversum. The goal was to inspire participants to delve deeper into AI applications for their businesses.

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.

Can AI reduce animal testing – and what about bias?

AI is often put forward as a solution to many of today's problems. It can be applied to almost all fields of science. So here we ask the question: Can AI also help to reduce the need for animal testing?

Exclusive meetup for AI practitioners

Recently LAB42 hosted the AI Tinkerers event, in collaboration with Fireworks.AI. AI Tinkerers is an exclusive meetup for practitioners with technical, machine learning and entrepreneurial backgrounds who are actively working with foundation models, such as large language models (LLMs) and generative AI.

LAB42 opening hours summer recess

Due to the summer holidays, the opening hours of the Faculty of Science buildings and facilities will be adjusted.

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.

AI everywhere, but without sky-high energy usage

Making a large AI model available in devices that operate in isolated environments, such as agricultural areas, forests, or oceans. That is, in a nutshell, the mission of Dolly Sapra. She has been appointed assistant professor in the Parallel Computing Systems (PCS) department of the Informatics Institute at LAB42 since late March, focusing on Edge AI. To enable that, energy efficiency is key.

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.

'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.

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.

Invitation: Open day Institute for Logic, Language and Computation

On 7 June the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) will open its doors to everybody interested in the research that is carried out at the institute. The Open Day is aimed at colleagues from the University of Amsterdam, CWI, other academic institutions in the Netherlands and professionals working in the industry.

How to communicate with your deceased loved one

Research shows that during a period of grief, talking or writing about it can help. However, there are also fascinating new techniques for grief processing. For example, you can create a deepfake of a deceased loved one and communicate with it.

Grants for major research into blindness therapy and cyber security

The Informatics Institute has secured two Gravitation Grants (of €22 million each) to drive cutting-edge research initiatives: AI-help in designing blindness therapy and Challenges in cyber security.

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.

'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?

How to identify a deepfake using forensic science?

Deepfakes are increasingly found on the internet. At LAB42 researchers are working on how a deepfake can be identified. Prof. Zeno Geradts, Special Chair Forensic Data Science at the Informatics Institute and forensic researcher at the National Forensic Institute (NFI) tells in the video below about the different ways researchers find out whether something is deepfaked or not. A few examples include:

Find your way at LAB42

At LAB42 we developed wayfinding associated with the innovations being made in our building. You can embark on a journey through the corridors of LAB42, where every turn unveils a new realm of AI marvels. For example, the ‘Alan Turing room’ refers to the famous scientist behind the Turing machine, which is a central object of study in the theory of computation.

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.

How AI is changing chemical discovery

The aftermovie of ChemAI 2023 offers a nice recap of the successful first edition of the ChemAI event at LAB42. The topic was the huge potential of Artificial Intelligence for the chemistry domain.

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!

LAB42: one year!

It all started with a dream… About a unique place where students, researchers and companies all work together under one roof. To share knowledge and nurture innovation.

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.

Invitation: Open Day LAB42

On Saturday 7 October, the Open Day at the Amsterdam Science Park will take place as part of the Weekend of Science (Weekend van de Wetenschap). Companies and research institutes at the Science Park will open their doors to interested parties. LAB42 will also be participating.

Amsterdam AI Thesis Awards - Call for Nominations is open!

Amsterdam AI is seeking nominations for the Amsterdam AI Thesis Award 2023 for the academic year 2022-2023. Winners of the awards will receive a cash prize as well as present their thesis work at the Amsterdam AI Highlights Event in November 2023. The Amsterdam AI Thesis Awards aim to promote excellence in AI and Data Science from students at the Bachelor and Master level in Amsterdam-based Amsterdam-AI university partners (HvA, UvA, and VU).

ELLIS unit Amsterdam announces 3 new AI PhD positions

The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent System (ELLIS) unit Amsterdam is delighted to announce three new ELLIS unit Amsterdam PhD positions. These projects will conduct research on artificial intelligence by machine learning with an international collaboration scheme by leveraging the ELLIS Society network, which the unit is part of.  The ELLIS unit Amsterdam seeks to serve as a hub between the Amsterdam AI ecosystem spearheaded by the University of Amsterdam and other leading European AI ecosystems which expedites high-quality and collaborative research in machine learning or a related research area. Specifically, the ELLIS unit Amsterdam’s PhD programme aims to foster research collaboration through joint supervision: one supervisor from the University of Amsterdam, and the other one from a different university affiliated with the ELLIS Society.  The call for PhD proposals was opened internally for the second time in February 2023 which targeted Faculty Members of the ELLIS unit Amsterdam. The received proposals were ranked by taking into consideration, among others, research excellence, the added value of the collaboration, and contribution to diversity and inclusion.

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.

'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.

17 May Kick Off SME DATALAB 42

Are you interested in working together with students on digitisation projects, which are affordable, flexible and add value? With as result a data driven company with business impact? Then the SME DATALAB 42 is an interesting option for you. We'd like to welcome you at the Kick Off event at 17 May at LAB42.

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.

'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'.

Event: Students and companies come together at the Thesis Fair

The annual Thesis Fair will take place on Thursday 3 November. Here, students from The Graduate School of Informatics in the completion phase of their masters are paired with various organisations. This allows students to choose an interesting and suitable thesis project within a company, organisation or research group. For organisations, it is an opportunity to connect with students with specific expertise and knowledge.

LAB42 officially opened!

Even though students and employees study and work for a few weeks at LAB42 and there was already an open house for its residents, the building had not yet been officially opened. That changed on 22 September though.

Construction update

The construction of LAB42 is nearing its end! Within the walls of this newest building at Amsterdam Science Park, researchers, students and companies will soon be working together in the fields of digital innovation and AI. Here are some nice to know facts:

Geometric Deep Learning lecturer Erik Bekkers Lecturer of the Year

Dr Erik Bekkers teaches Geometric Deep Learning in the Machine Learning Lab. According to students, he is a talented lecturer who knows an awful lot about his field. No surprise that he has been elected Lecturer of the Year 2022 at the Science Faculty: 'By explaining something to a group of students I also gain new insights'.

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.

AI entrepreneurs and students meet in LAB42

Entrepreneurs, researchers and education will soon work together on tomorrow's important tech issues in the newest building at Amsterdam Science Park: LAB42. The sustainable and circular building in Amsterdam Science Park is to open in September, but companies and scale-ups can register now for an office space or flex desk in LAB42. Read more about the building and her residents

IT students already being approached by employers during their studies

According to Folia, IT students are often approached by employers before they have even finished their studies. The reason: there is a major shortage of employees with an ICT background. ‘They send a message along the lines of: “I can see that you're studying computer science. Do you already know what you want to do after you complete this programme?”’

Jump into the heart of the new digital innovation hub

LAB42 is the new international artificial intelligence and digital innovation hub at Amsterdam Science Park, opening September 2022. It will offer office space for companies right in the heart of research and education.

Wind and Watertight just in time

At the end of June, we celebrated LAB42 reaching its highest point. In the meantime, we have come a long way. Everyone who takes a lunch walk through the Science Park can see it with their own eyes: construction is well underway for our new futuristic building!