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The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Thales will join the ESI (TNO) open-innovation ecosystem. ESI, located in building HTC 25, develops methodologies and tooling that are in line with the vision and needs of the high-tech industry, making use of the latest insights from universities. In an industry-as-a-lab setting, system engineering methodologies are developed, tested and validated on site at and with partners. UvA and Thales underline the importance of systems thinking and the development of methodologies and tooling for the high-tech industry in the Netherlands.

The complexity of the systems produced by the high-tech industry is increasing. This is partly due to the expanding digitalisation of these systems. The high-tech industry is an important pillar for the competitive position of the Netherlands. In order to maintain this leading position, investment in excellent knowledge and practical application in the efficient engineering of systems is essential. ESI's ecosystem, based on open innovation, plays an important role in this.

Strengthening cooperation with industry for University of Amsterdam
For the past year, ESI senior researcher Benny Akesson has been a professor by special appointment within the Parallel Computing Systems (PCS) research group at UvA's Faculty of Science, where where he holds the chair “Design Methodologies for Cyber-Physical Systems”. Prof. Andy Pimentel, chairman of the PCS research group, is very pleased with the UvA's accession to ESI's Partner Board, and sees enormous added value in this collaboration.

For example, the PCS group brings in new expertise in the field of (modelling and simulation techniques for) the analysis and optimisation of extra-functional behaviour - such as performance, energy consumption, and reliability - of embedded and cyber-physical systems. Professor Pimentel: “I see many opportunities for cross-fertilisation and cross-learning both within the ESI ecosystem and between the ESI and UvA ecosystems. With this partnership we hope to further strengthen the industrial cooperation of the PCS group.” Wouter Leibbrandt, ESI Scientific Director, adds: “I welcome the accession of the UvA. This enriches the knowledge base on which ESI can build. It is also a recognition of the important role that ESI plays in enabling university knowledge to benefit the Dutch economy.”

Strengthening the innovation position for Thales Naval
Thales has been involved in ESI before. Participation in ESI is of added value particularly for the development of systems for the navy. Roel Aalbers, Technical Director Systems at Thales Naval: “From Naval we have had excellent collaboration with ESI in several research projects in recent years. With the renewed accession to the partner council, ESI's knowledge, experience and ecosystem will be used to further strengthen our innovative position. I am looking forward to working with the partners and expect a positive effect with regard to possible new research projects.”

Frans Beenker, Business Director ESI adds: “With the arrival of Thales, most of the leading Dutch players in the high-tech industry are participating in ESI. I am sincerely proud that this form of open innovation is possible in the Netherlands.”

ESI started in 2001, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, as a Public Private Partnership. Since 2013 ESI has been part of TNO. The Partner Board now consists of ASML, Canon Production Printing, Nexperia, Philips, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Thales, Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Radboud University, University of Twente, TNO and the University of Amsterdam.

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