The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Senseable City Lab and Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) today announced the extension of their strategic collaboration, continuing a relationship that has now spanned more than a decade. With this renewed agreement, the two organizations reaffirm their shared commitment until 2030 to addressing complex urban challenges through cutting-edge science, technology, and interdisciplinary research.
MIT Senseable City Amsterdam
Central to the extended agreement is the continuation of Senseable City Amsterdam, MIT’s longest-running Senseable Global Lab, an embedded MIT research team within AMS Institute. The Senseable Global Labs are international, city-embedded research hubs that connect MIT Senseable City Lab expertise with local partners, such as the AMS Institute, to address real-world urban challenges. Through long-term collaboration with municipalities, researchers, and industry, it translates advanced sensing, data, and design research into measurable impact for sustainable cities. Senseable City Amsterdam’s research team will further advance pioneering urban research, with a strong emphasis on developing and deploying novel sensing systems for urban biodiversity and environmental monitoring. This includes sensor technologies to observe ecological dynamics in cities, such as the decline of insect populations, as well as the use of remote sensing to map, monitor, and manage green and ecological assets in the City of Amsterdam.
Building on a Decade of Successful Collaboration
Over the past ten years, the collaboration between MIT’s Senseable City Lab and AMS Institute has resulted in more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications and a broad portfolio of applied research projects, demonstrating how fundamental research can be translated into tangible urban solutions. Notable examples include:
- Roboat: The world’s first prototype of a fully autonomous vessel for urban waterways, originating from a joint AMS Institute–MIT research program. Roboat has since evolved into a fast-growing autonomous maritime startup, developing sensor-driven autonomous boats and advanced maritime sensing technologies, now supporting GVB ferry captains in Amsterdam and delivering solutions globally.
- Sensing Garden: An AI-powered biodiversity sensing system designed to monitor insect populations in urban green spaces, enabling the City of Amsterdam to evaluate the impact of its green policies and identify new strategies to support urban biodiversity.
- Octopus: A low-cost, open environmental sensing device that empowers local communities to measure air quality and temperature extremes in their neighborhoods, supporting greater awareness and resilience at the local scale.
“We’re excited to extend our collaboration with MIT. Bringing Boston’s top scientists together with TU Delft and Wageningen University & Research, here in Amsterdam creates powerful opportunities to tackle urban challenges. A real win for Amsterdam and cities worldwide.”
Zwanet van Lubek
Managing Director
Resilient, Regenerative, and Just Cities
AMS Institute is a joint initiative of Wageningen University & Research, TU Delft, MIT and the City of Amsterdam, designed to bridge academic excellence with real-world urban challenges. The extended partnership strengthens the international position of all partners: TU Delft and Wageningen deepen their collaboration with leading scientific expertise from Boston; MIT gains access to Amsterdam as a living laboratory for applied urban research; and the City of Amsterdam benefits from direct engagement with world-class researchers addressing pressing societal challenges, while attracting international talent and fostering new collaborations.
Research insights, methodologies, and technologies developed through the MIT–AMS Institute partnership will also be shared across the Senseable City Lab’s global network. In addition to the main research lab in Cambridge, this network includes Senseable Global Labs in Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, and Seoul, enabling lessons learned in Amsterdam to inform urban innovation across diverse cultural, climatic, and governance contexts worldwide.
Through this long-term collaboration, MIT’ Senseable City Lab, AMS Institute, and their partners continue to develop knowledge, tools, and approaches that contribute to more resilient, regenerative, and just cities—advancing urban innovation in Amsterdam and far beyond.
“It’s fantastic to continue our collaboration in such a progressive city like Amsterdam, where we can learn together and test advanced and even imaginative technologies in real urban environments, turning bold ideas into practical solutions for the city of tomorrow.”
Carlo Ratti
Professor at MIT Senseable City Lab & AMS PI
About MIT Senseable City Lab
The MIT Senseable City Lab (SCL) is a multidisciplinary research group dedicated to understanding and shaping the future of cities through data, technology, and human experience. Bringing together architects, urban planners, engineers, computer scientists, and social scientists, SCL explores how digital tools, artificial intelligence, and urban data, are transforming urban life. Viewing cities as living, evolving systems, the Lab uses data, experimentation, and human creativity to design smarter, more resilient, and more inclusive urban futures.
“To stay a frontrunner in urban innovation, Amsterdam collaborates with top research partners, testing advanced technologies and learning on a global scale to create smarter, more sustainable cities. This is what we do in the unique partnership we have with Wageningen, Delft and Boston, here at AMS Institute.”
Ger Baron (Director of Innovation at City of Amsterdam)
