What sparks discovery? The most disruptive advances in modern technology – the internet, smartphones, artificial intelligence – may seem like giant leaps forward. But in fact, they are the culmination of countless tiny steps. The most powerful aha moments happen back in the labs of brilliant scientists long before a shiny new gadget hits the shelves. With its numerous research institutes specialising in advanced technology and designer matter, the Amsterdam Science Park is a major player in the field of high-tech systems and materials.
The battery in the car you drive, the nanoelectronics that surge data through your phone, the life-saving equipment used in healthcare: all are the product of advances in high-tech systems and materials (HTSM). Home to NWO-funded research institutes including Nikhef, AMOLF and ARCNL, as well as the University of Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science, Amsterdam Science Park brings together the region’s leading HTSM researchers. Right next door are centres of computational and AI expertise, including the CWI, the UvA’s Informatics Institute, the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI) and the eScience Center. The park’s collaborative environment encourages scientists and entrepreneurs from different disciplines to team up on innovative projects that lay the foundation for a tech-smarter future.
Prof. Jo van den Brand, Researcher at Nikhef “There are numerous opportunities for scientific innovations in business ”
Brilliant technology for brilliant minds, metamaterials that turn fantasy into reality, novel solutions with photonics and better, faster, greener computer chips. Researchers and businesses at the park are making pioneering discoveries in different aspects of HTSM innovation including:
Scientific curiosity operates in a realm without limits. If the instruments and apparatus needed to answer the questions raised by that curiosity don’t yet exist, they must be created. Researchers and innovative entrepreneurs at Amsterdam Science Park are pushing technological boundaries and harnessing AI and data science to develop the advanced technology of the future. Super-sensitive sensors, next-generation electro-microscopes, devices based on fundamental technology developed at CERN for ultrafast and ultrasensitive particle detectors. These are innovations that free researchers to focus on the science, not the technology. Find out more about developments in advanced technology
Creating entirely new materials – substances that don’t yet exist, that can change shape and respond to their environment without external guidance. It might seem like sci-fi fantasy, but researchers at Amsterdam Science Park are turning fiction into fact and blurring the boundaries between material and machine. Applications for these metamaterials are providing novel solutions to real-world problems in engineering, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, robotics, auto design, the creation of prosthetics and more. Find out more about designer matter and metamaterials
Focusing on generating, guiding, transporting and detecting light waves and light particles, photonics offers new solutions where conventional technologies are becoming too slow, too inaccurate or too limited. Its benefits are put to work in sectors including life sciences and health, tech, sustainability and environment, manufacturing, agrifood and security. At Amsterdam Science Park, research and industry are constantly working together on new solutions in the field. Find out more about photonics
Modern electronics would not have been possible without nanolithography – the creation of incredibly small patterns on items such as computer chips. Those tiny structures have enabled giant advances, in many areas. Amsterdam Science Park is home to the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL), a public-private partnership bringing together academic expertise and semi-conductor manufacturing giant ASML and nurturing a new generation of entrepreneurial researchers. Find out more about nanolithography
Researchers at Amsterdam Science park are involved in joint R&D projects with businesses including Philips, ASML, Nikon, Unilever, Shell, Fokker, Michelin and Medipix.
Our advanced research infrastructure has led to successful spin-offs, including:
They prove what we at the park have long known: the most exciting and successful commercial applications start with scientific curiosity.
Looking for partners to collaborate. Or looking for a certain expertise? Or would you like to locate your business in the Amsterdam Science Park? Drop us a line and we help you to find a perfect match.
Subscribe to our newsletter and we will keep you updated on all that our park has to offer. It will arrive to your inbox five times a year and you can unsubscribe easily at any time.
Subscribe