Improving city life with innovative concepts
AMS Institute is strongly committed to helping the next generation of ambitious urban and sustainable entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into reality. With the AMS Startup Booster program, we bring together innovation, education, and science, creating a new vibrant breeding ground for teams working on solutions for the city’s most pressing urban challenges.
“Cities are rapidly changing. To ensure the liveability of cities, solutions need to evolve in an equally rapid manner. Start-ups can quickly scale-up to make a difference.”
Stephan van Dijk
Director of Innovation
From a business idea to a startup in only 4 months
The AMS Startup Booster is an early-stage startup incubator created for students, researchers, and young entrepreneurs who are passionate about developing solutions for urban challenges. We focus on 8 main thematics, namely:
- Urban Mobility
- Waste & Circularity
- Smart City Solutions
- Smart Infrastructure Solutions
- Future-proof Infrastructure & Assets
- Construction & Real Estate
- Urban Agriculture
- Urban Energy
Lasting over 4 months, the next AMS Startup booster edition starts at the end of September and runs until December. The program will be hybrid, mainly digital, and where possible live at AMS Institute.
The program is offered for free. Ready to turn your idea into a business? The call for applications is open from August 1st till October 2nd. Apply here to join the next run of the program.
“For me, the AMS Institute network and ecosystem have provided a gateway into the Dutch engineering and mobility profession. The numerous networking opportunities provided by AMS enabled the assembly of our founding team as well as an initial understanding of the market and market players.”
Matthew Bearden | MSc MADE Alumni & CEO City Analytics
Building blocks of the AMS Startup Booster program
The program consists of key components that help prepare for a successful start-up:
- An entrepreneurship curriculum with more than 20 workshops & masterclasses
- Mentoring & coaching by industry experts
- Lifelong access to online entrepreneurship & pitching courses
- Office space & Makerspace
- 1K Credit for Miro
- Cost & equity free
AMS Startup Booster program overview
Workshops & Masterclasses by renowned professionals
Through a series of workshops and masterclasses offered by renowned professionals & business experts, we take your startup idea from a concept to a validated business model. During these workshops, the following topics will be addressed:
- Research Fundamentals & Problem Definition
- Market Segmentation & Customer Personas
- Customer Discovery
- Value Proposition & Business Model Design
- MVP Design & Prototyping
- Experiment Design
- Pitching
In addition, our complimentary masterclasses will cover topics such as Team Fit & Alignment, Marketing & Branding, IP Rights, Finance & Funding, and many more. Peer-to-peer sessions and 1-on-1 coaching will complete the free services we offer to the selected startups.
“One of our key lessons was to really determine a focus for our product and to consistently keep that focus. Also, it has taught us that you should always go out and check whether the assumptions you have made are valid. By doing so, we have also learned to explain our idea and product in a simple and effective way.”
Hugo Mohr | AMS Startup Booster Alumni | Founder of The Leaf
Demo Day: Pitch and win prizes during the 'finals'
We close off the program with a Demo Day during which the teams showcase their business ideas and prototypes to a broad audience of experts, investors and entrepreneurs and compete for a list of amazing prizes! Prizes include:
- Guidance on the design of your feasibility experiment in Marineterrein Living Lab
- Access to a 5000 euros feasibility grant
- Access to follow-up programs & funding opportunities
- Additional customer discovery sessions
- Continuous coaching & mentoring
- Office Space & Makerspace
- Promo material & access to a large network
“We expect that after our joint journey the teams will be prepped and ready to apply for an incubator, grant or loan or maybe just launch their business.”
Ioannis Ioannidis
Entrepreneurship Lead
“The AMS Startup Booster team made exceptional efforts to connect us with their network, gain business insights and find opportunities to help our ideas grow. Pointing us towards the EIT Urban Mobility Accelerator is a perfect example of that!”
Jodi Kooijman (left) | AMS Startup Booster Alumni | Co-founder swugo
Get inspired by our AMS Startup Booster alumni teams
In the last couple of years AMS Institute has been involved with helping a number of startups that originate from our research portfolio, MSc MADE students & alumni as well as entrepreneurs that are new to our community. Find a selection of startups below and get inspired by how they accelerated their business idea into a successful start-up.
“AMS Institute already guided over 20 startups in their journey to market success. We saw startups going through customer discovery and development, and we witnessed them pitch in front of large audiences and acquire their first customers. Some of the startups experienced funding rounds and hired their first employees. We are excited for the new teams to join us!”
Ioannis Ioannidis
Entrepreneurship Lead
Apply for the next AMS Startup Booster edition
Excited to be part of this journey? The call for applications is open from August 1st till October 2nd. Register to join the next AMS Startup Booster edition coming September - December.
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