From science-inspired start-ups and scale-ups run by young academics to spin-ins involving established companies – everything in the Matrix Innovation Center will focus on businesses working on pioneering applications at the cutting-edge of science, healthcare and technology. In the multi-tenanted building, scientists, doctors and researchers from Vrije Universiteit (VU Amsterdam) and the Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc (AUMC) are teaming up with the business community at the heart of the Kenniskwartier Innovation District. The building is expected to open its doors by the end of 2027.
Community
The building will be part of the VU Campus, which is home to VU Amsterdam and the AUMC, at the heart of the academic world. Ivo Sweep, director of the building’s owner Matrix Innovation Center NV, envisages a community of entrepreneurs in which the public is also welcome: ‘The entrance will be the social epicentre, where you can enjoy lunch, hold meetings and visit interesting events.’ There will be a community manager in charge of programming, ensuring there is always something to experience. But Sweep saves the most interesting thing until last: ‘Through the huge glass windows in the entrance, everyone outside will soon be able to see the young researchers from the Demonstrator Lab in action, experimenting and much more besides.’
Matrix Innovation Centers
The building will be based on the VU Campus and is being developed and operated by Matrix Innovation Centers, a joint-venture made up of VU Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam, the City of Amsterdam and Rabobank. The aim is to boost innovation by bringing businesses into contact with the academic world in order to enable scientific knowledge to be applied more rapidly in society. This will be the eighth Matrix Innovation Center – there are already seven of them at the Amsterdam Science Park in Watergraafsmeer.
From computer to lab
The entrance is intended to be a public space and a living lab for young, highly qualified entrepreneurs. In the tower above it, there will be start-ups, scale-ups and spin-ins at work who are already slightly further advanced. According to Sweep, they will have access to such facilities as fully equipped laboratories, including both ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ labs: ‘The companies will be able to use them to test their computer models in practice.’
Artificial intelligence
This combination of computer models and labs reveals a lot about how these companies intend to collaborate with scientists from VU Amsterdam and the AUMC on ‘the healthcare of tomorrow’. Marcel van Heemert, programme manager at VU Amsterdam: ‘As part of that, prevention, prediction, monitoring and diagnostics using artificial intelligence are set to play a major role. Examples could include algorithms able to compare millions of X-rays in order to identify an abnormality. Or models that predict diseases even before the symptoms emerge.’
Marcel Nollen (Vice-President of the VU Amsterdam Executive Board) has this explanation for it: ‘Our mission is to make a contribution in research and education to today’s complex issues. […] The new Matrix Innovation Center on the VU Campus offers a unique opportunity to further enhance and combine this impact.’
Schedule
On Wednesday, 24 September 2025, the pile-driving ceremony was initiated next to the VU Research Building by district chair Bart Vink (Zuid city district), Marcel Nollen (VU) and Ivo Sweep (Matrix). Work is currently underway on the foundations, with a basement area and bicycle parking facilities on top of that. Until the spring of 2026, the focus will be on the ground work, very little of which will be visible. After that, via the low-rise section where the entrance is, a further nine storeys will be built in the space of two years – with the first occupants expected to move in in late 2027. We will of course keep you updated on this.
Kenniskwartier
In alliance with VU Amsterdam and the Amsterdam UMC (location VUmc), we are transforming the Kenniskwartier Innovation District in Zuidas into an exciting mix combining state-of-the-art education and outstanding science with housing (approx. 2,700 homes), healthcare, culture, sport, shops and hospitality. The Matrix Innovation Center is the latest example of the VU Campus spreading its wings across De Boelelaan – following in the footsteps of the O|2 Lab Building and the VU Research Building. As a result, building by building, VU Amsterdam is increasingly becoming part of the city.
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