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REC Impact REC Impact

Urban Impact Lab

The Amsterdam Municipality and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) are deepening their collaboration through the Urban Impact Lab—a long-term research initiative designed to benefit both the city of Amsterdam and its residents.

The lab brings together three UvA faculties from the Roeterseilandcampus, the Municipality of Amsterdam’s Digitalisation & Innovation department, and the Civic AI Lab. This partnership is set to run for at least four years.

Focus areas

The Urban Impact Lab is shaped by the needs of its key stakeholders: Amsterdam’s residents, UvA’s academic expertise, and the city’s policy priorities. After extensive consultations, the lab has identified Data Science & Applied AI as its central theme, with three core focus areas:

  • Wellbeing & Health – Enhancing urban health and quality of life.
  • Democratisation & Interaction – Strengthening civic engagement and governance.

Urban Development – Driving sustainable and data-driven city planning.

Progress so far

To define the lab’s direction, we hosted multiple events engaging UvA staff and municipal representatives. This process culminated in the signing of a Letter of Intent during the opening of REC Impact on September 5th 2024. Signatories included:

  • Ger Baron – Director, Digitalisation & Innovation, Municipality of Amsterdam
  • Marc Salomon – Dean, Amsterdam Business School
  • Denny Borsboom – Lead, Social Behavioural Data Science Lab
  • Eelke Heemskerk – Director, Bachelor in Computational Social Sciences

What’s next?

The Urban Impact Lab is still taking shape, with a planned launch in Q2 of 2025. Stay tuned for further developments as we build a hub for impactful research and innovation in Amsterdam.