10 Jul Science Park place to be at CO₂-to solve problems

Students of the subject Placemaking have a meeting on the theme of CO₂ organized a meeting in which they brought together key players in the area surrounding the Science Park. The meeting contributes to greater understanding and collaboration between various parties that previously had little or no knowledge of each other's existence.

Placemaking is a new method to encourage local users to participate in the development of a habitat. Students of the course Placemaking: Relay for city makers This spring, they addressed an assignment from Science & Business (S&B) at Amsterdam Science Park. The ambition of the area surrounding the Science Park is to create an ecosystem that contributes to culture and open innovation. To achieve this, easy knowledge sharing, mutual communication, and valorization are essential. The four students have diverse educational backgrounds from both the science and social sciences. They were commissioned by S&B to organize a small-scale intervention in the field of sustainability through co-creation, bringing together the three O's (Education, Government, and Entrepreneurship) at the Science Park. As part of this intervention, they organized a lunch focused on CO₂Stakeholders at Science Park and beyond. These included researchers, students, local businesses, larger companies, and networking organizations. The idea is that this meeting can help Amsterdam Green Campus and Science & Business develop co-creation at Science Park, but also BLOCK with the development of a CO₂ business community.

Margo Keijzer, responsible for internal and external relations at S&B Science Park, is enthusiastic about the students' contribution:

What is the main added value for both participating companies and students of this project?

‘'The added value for the Amsterdam Science Park is that students, researchers and entrepreneurs have been brought together around an important social theme such as CO₂. The Amsterdam Science Park aims to stimulate innovation by bringing together research, education, and entrepreneurship.’

Will there be a follow-up to this meeting and if so, what will it look like?

‘Amsterdam Science Park, in collaboration with ACE Incubator and Matrix Innovation Center, has launched an initiative to develop a co-creation space in a new building at Science Park. Together with partners including the Amsterdam Green Campus, we aim to organize co-creation sessions between researchers, students, entrepreneurs, and government agencies, similar to the Placemaking students organized around CO₂. We learned a lot from the session organized by the students. The theme CO₂ fits very well with the ambition of the Amsterdam Science Park to contribute to major societal challenges such as sustainability and climate change.'’

What role did Amsterdam Green Campus play in this project?

‘Because Amsterdam Science Park wants to better demonstrate the extensive expertise available here on the topic of sustainability, I referred the students to the Amsterdam Green Campus to collaborate with AGC on developing a suitable theme that could bring together students, researchers, and entrepreneurs from both the park and beyond. Gerard Kooiman introduced them to the topic of CO₂ That was a good choice because both researchers and entrepreneurs are active in this park on this topic.’

What made you most happy about Placemaking?

‘I was thrilled with the energy the students generated in the room. They couldn't stop talking afterward. Many new contacts were made, and follow-up meetings were arranged among the attendees. For me, that's a sign that new encounters might lead to new collaborations or innovations.

Hopefully we can organize new events in the new co-creation space from November.'’