Business Developer with Focus on SME Collaborations in AI

The Informatics Institute  (IvI) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is looking for a business developer with the focus on the collaboration with SMEs in Amsterdam.

The IvI of the UvA has a strong ecosystem in AI and is very entrepreneurially minded. Within the institute, researchers collaborate with different types of organizations and several startups have emerged from research initiatives of the IvI. Together with existing partners at the Science Park  and in Amsterdam, we as an institution want to build a stronger relationship with SMEs and scale ups in the Amsterdam region.

What are you going to do

You will become part of the team of business developers where we will work together and build an ecosystem where AI-talent and knowledge will flourish. Within this team your role will be new and is to be formed by the goal we have in mind for this position and by the way you step into this role.

Your focus will be on the development of a local ecosystem to strengthen the connection with SMEs and scale ups in line with the projects currently being developed. By the end of 2022, the institute will be located in a new building, LAB42, with dedicated floorspace for SMEs and scale ups to rent offices and become part of the ecosystem. Next to the physical space, in this role of business developer, you will focus on building a community between the UvA and these companies and in addition develop new projects and initiatives for a national project with a clear role for SMEs and scale ups, which need to be externally funded.

The project will be part of a national research consortium which includes a specific element of collaborations with SMEs. For this SME part in the program, you will be taking the initiative to develop and coordinate a project to strengthen the interaction with SMEs together with external partners locally and nationally.  

LAB42 and the SME project are each expected to occupy half of the time for this position.

For this position, you will need sufficient knowledge of and affinity with the AI field. This can be either a technical background in the field of AI or working experience in the field in a similar role. You are expected to understand the basics of AI, but does not need to have the technical experience of implementations. You will be working with multiple colleagues who are active with business relations and project management at the UvA to build and strengthen the ecosystem. This role has the focus on SMEs, but the UvA has more collaborations in the AI field and a broad portfolio of corporates, governmental organizations, non-profit organizations and other knowledge institutes where you can play a role in working closely together.

Your tasks will be to:

• attract SMEs and build an ecosystem in LAB42;
• amplify and execute the community plan for LAB42 together with the team (communications, business etc.);
• expand the connections with other stakeholders on Science Park and beyond;
• be the contact point internally and externally for the LAB42 community;
• initiate and develop projects with specific focus on SMEs and scale ups;
• coordinate the national project for SME collaboration with the other business developers from knowledge institutes on national level;
• align the goals of projects for SMEs with external partners (e.g. ACE, Start-up Village, Municipality etc.).