What does AIMMS do?
‘AIMMS stands for Amsterdam Institute of Molecular and Life Sciences. We are an interfaculty research institute that collaborates with several departments. We focus on issues from society and apply molecular sciences to that end. We are also an important showcase and facilitate a network for our departments and researchers.’
Hackathon and events
‘We organise networking events and thematic workshops. We organised a festival last year and we will do it again next year on 27-28 January. It is a two-day festival where we bring scientists from the different groups within our institute together with external partners, such as private parties, but also governments and organisations like RIVM, to think about cooperation from the point of view of social impact and challenges.’
What does such collaboration look like?
‘We do it in different ways. To cite a concrete example: the transition from less animal proteins to more plant proteins in our food. The only problem is that consumer acceptance is low because plant proteins taste like plants.
‘The industry is working on solutions to this. One of them is fermenting proteins with micro-organisms. This process is currently just a black box and there is a need for more biochemical knowledge about the chemical reactions and enzymes involved. ‘
‘We know this by engaging with industry. As a result, we wrote an NWO Perspective project application. This grant requires 30% co-financing from industry. That way you can address the big issues that industry considers important.’
‘We organised a three-day hackathon to think deeply about this. The hackathon was sponsored by the companies that already showed interest. A comprehensive plan was made there, from which an NWO Perspective emerged. We will soon start this project, which now has 12 companies affiliated to it, who are collectively contributing more than EUR 1.5 million.’
Cross-pollination
Is such an event as the festival meant to be a cross-pollination of researchers and industry?
‘Certainly, it is indeed a matchmaking event, but also a showcase of the work we do and through which we want to generate awareness. It is also a way for PhD students and young UDs to network. They often don't know where to start if they want something with industry. This way, they can get in touch with people in a low-threshold way or network to eventually form public-private partnerships for new projects. For those companies, it is also interesting to look at talent, because they are naturally looking for new employees.’
How do you work on brand awareness among the industry? How do you ensure that externals can find you?
‘Name recognition comes through visibility, on the internet through the website and LinkedIn, presence at conferences, and at presentations and articles by using the affiliation and logo.’
How do you ensure a valuable and sustainable collaboration with an external party?
‘You have to look for win-win opportunities and build a personal relationship of trust, by meeting high but realistic expectations and communicating clearly about them.’
What are the requirements to ultimately make social and economic impact as well?
‘You have to be able to translate the external challenges into the expertise and interests within the university. Often there are deep fundamental questions underneath that a company does not have time and space for but would benefit from. Young scientists and group leaders have to learn to make that translation by engaging with external partners. That is an important objective for AIMMS.’
Get in touch
Want to know more about the work of AIMMS? Send an email to b.teusink@vu.nl or mt@aimms.vu.nl.
AIMMS Festival
On 27 and 28 January, the AIMMS Festival 2025 will take place at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam. Check the site for more info and tickets.