Create the Future 2026 has ended, we hope to welcome you back next year!
Create the future
April 2 | VU Amsterdam
Together, we accelerate transitions with technology.
Event
Create the Future: Emerging technologies shaping the future of work
Making an impact together
Program
– 13.45: Welcome and start
– 14.00 – 15.00: Expert sessions round 1
– 15.15 – 16.15: Expert sessions round 2
– 16.30 – 17.30: Plenary closing, main program
– 17.30: Networking drinks
Inspirational speakers
Meet visionary experts and pioneers sharing their insights and experiences to accelerate the transition with technology. Get inspired by innovative ideas and forward-thinking solutions.
Networking with changemakers
Expand your network and connect with like-minded innovators and decision makers. Together, we can shape the sustainable future.
Expert sessions
Delve deeper into crucial topics during interactive sessions led by leading experts. Discover opportunities and work together on concrete solutions.
Together, we accelerate transitions with technology
Actively contribute to tomorrow's solutions and make an impact in technological and societal transitions. Your contribution makes the difference.

Harald Tepper
Global Lead Circular Economy, EcoDesign, and ESG Strategy

Myrte Maréchal
People & Culture Director nlmtd

Sandjai Bhulai
Professor VU
Founder PersonalAlze

Marlies Schijven, MD
Full Professor of Surgery Amsterdam University Medical Center (AUMC), University of Amsterdam and Biosketch
Click on the session for more information
Choose the expert sessions that fit your challenge
Playing the Ecosystems Game
Gain insights into the forces that shape an innovation ecosystem and discover the dynamics that determine whether emerging technologies truly create impact. Learn from our cases of ecosystem development and experience The Ecosystem Game, a case-based, interactive game that helps you uncover key agents, domains and value streams in a fun and insightful way. This session will show how strong ecosystems accelerate emerging technologies, and what this means for collaboration, roles and value creation in the future of work.
nlmtd: Thijs Sprangers
The Future of Robotics - Impact of new technologies on Work & People
Speaker: Peter Boom (Haskoning)
In this expert session we discover how innovations such as inspection drones, track monitoring, automated maintenance -can support the Dutch rail industry ambitions on safety, reliability, efficiency and capacity.
Together with Haskoning we take a look at the eco system of implementing innovative technologies and explore the impact of scaling pilots: changing processes and policies, changing roles and skills, impact on company culture and what governance and change approach is needed.
Outcome: Ideas on how to scale innovation pilots in a complex ecosystem with increasing productivity demands.
nlmtd: Rob van Dijk
Man & Machine: from market scan to action plan
In this working session, we’ll share insights from Tech Discovery research and real-world cases across industries already deploying robotics, AI, and adjacent technologies. Rather than focusing on theory, we’ll explore how businesses are approaching the future of work today-what’s moving from pilot to operations, where value is being captured, and where challenges remain.
Together, we’ll examine key questions: What do organizations expect in the next year? And in the next five? Which changes need to start now? And where should the primary focus sit-on technology, or on the human side of transformation?
The Future Labor Market - Dealing with talent scarcity
Speaker: TBC
In this expert session we present a sharp trend analysis of the (future) labor market and what it means for organizations facing structural scarcity.
With ModellenWerk, we unpack the drivers-demographics, skills mismatch, technology, mobility and worker preferences-and turn them into five decision factors to act now.
Outcome: a practical playbook to increase capacity via productivity, talent ecosystems, reskilling and smarter workforce planning, plus indicators to track whether you’re winning the scarcity game.
nlmtd: Rob van Dijk
Experiencing the Future of Work - with State of Tomorrow
Speaker: Vanessa Flink
An interactive session showcasing how future scenarios help organizations visualize the impact of technology and changing work models. By using existing, carefully crafted scenarios, participants will experience what this means for their organization, people, and strategy, and the choices needed today to remain relevant.
Interactive discussion | Is Public Transport Ready for the Autonomy Revolution?
With rising costs, labor shortages, and driverless technology on the horizon, the status quo of public transport is being challenged. We are moving toward an autonomous future. But what does that actually look like?
Get inspired and join the conversation. In this interactive session, we won’t just predict the future; we will help design it. Together, we’ll explore how technology can empower the workforce and ensure that public transport stays ahead of the curve while continuing to serve our communities effectively.
nlmtd: Nijs Korevaar
University 4.0: Redefining Talent for an Exponential World
In an era where technological breakthroughs and societal megatrends converge exponentially rather than linearly, our traditional frameworks are no longer sufficient. As a specialist in future transitions, Axel Jansen (Lead AI competence network @ VU Amsterdam) shares the future skills leaders need to navigate a world of constant, systemic disruption. He demonstrates why ‘University 4.0′ – a fundamentally new ecosystem for talent development – is a critical link in this transformation.’
AI-Supported Maintenance: Improving Efficiency at KLM Engineering & Maintenance
In many maintenance environments, valuable time is still lost searching for documentation, procedures and technical information. In this session, experts from KLM Engineering & Maintenance show how AI is helping engineers access the right information faster and work more efficiently. We demonstrate how LLM-based AI supports maintenance operations today, and explore the next step: spatial computing that connects digital knowledge directly to the physical maintenance environment. Through a real KLM use case, we discuss how these technologies are already improving maintenance and what the future may look like.
Build Your Industry Collaboration Network
Speaker: Melvin Streefkerk
nlmtd: Melvin Streefkerk
Public Infra in Transition
Speaker: Mike Hoogveld
In the Nyenrode Course “Public Infrastructure in Transition” – we equip the future leaders of the mayor infrastructural transitions with new skills like systems thinking, ecosystem development, personal leadership etc.
Come learn how this program can be relevant for you or for your organization.
nlmtd: Mike Hoogveld
VU StartHub Tour - three pitches by startups that will shake your world
Speaker(s): Hans Drenth
Tour around the VU StartHub Pavilion including pitches of 3 startups. Discover how autonomous robotics startup Storks is transforming industries and the public sector, how Radius is rewriting the rules of recruitment, and how Ingy’s smart building tech is turning vast premises into intelligent, asset-tracking powerhouses. This isn’t just innovation – it’s a glimpse into the next decade of business. Be inspired by the entrepreneurs who are building it today!
Is your industry ready for a collaborative BOOST?
Most innovation efforts happen in isolation — or never get started. What happens when competing airports start innovating together?
In this 60-minute session, discover how the BOOST program at Schiphol brought international airports together to tackle shared workforce and operational challenges. Instead of innovating separately, airports now test, learn and co-develop automation and baggage robotics together. We’ll show how this collaboration was built — from trust between competitors to live robotics pilots and industry partnerships — and what it takes to move from talking about innovation to actually doing it. You’ll leave with practical insights to build industry collaborations and accelerate innovation around challenges no organization can solve alone.
Our tip: Join the session Build Your Industry Collaboration Network to get hands-on with these ideas.
How AI is reshaping public decision making: from policy documents to living infrastructure
This session explores how AI-supported scenarios and public data are applied specifically in the development of municipal Heat Transition Programs. We show how municipalities can plan ahead, compare policy options, and substantiate decisions using simulations of possible futures, rather than relying solely on historical data.
Participants experience how work on Heat Transition Programmes changes when fragmented analyses and periodic reports are replaced by a continuous, shared and scenario-driven process. We demonstrate how this way of working supports the full creation of Heat Transition Program documents, and what it means for roles, collaboration and skills within municipal teams.
This session is intended for professionals working on Heat Transition Programs who want to understand how AI strengthens public decision making and how these programs can evolve into a living infrastructure for the energy transition.
How AI captures human expertise before it disappears (Wicked problem: Ageing workforce & structural labor shortages)
In many organisations, expertise disappears more quietly than we realise. Experienced employees retire or leave, while their knowledge lives in routines, exceptions and stories that are rarely captured explicitly. At the same time, AI is increasingly seen as a potential accelerator or solution. The real question is: where does AI actually intervene in the work, and what genuinely changes?
This session therefore does not start from technology itself, but from the underlying problem that AI makes visible and amplifies: organisations can no longer rely on the informal knowledge transfer that used to happen naturally over the years. To determine what role AI can play, we first need to understand what is fundamentally shifting in the organisation.
What changes for people, work processes and technology when organisations can no longer rely on informal knowledge transfer, but must actively capture and transfer expertise to new generations?
Participants actively reflect on this question using a concrete practical case, and use People, Process and Technology as axes to surface the impact of AI-driven change. The focus is not on tools, but on making conscious choices about roles, work processes and the way organisations structure their collective expertise.
Using a case from the NVWA, we show how this problem is being addressed in practice. At the NVWA, an AI-driven voice interface is used to interview inspectors who are retiring. Their experience and professional knowledge are systematically captured, deepened and structured, so that it remains available as organisational memory for new employees. The case makes visible how different forms of AI can contribute to coherence, continuity and the transferability of expertise, without taking the work or responsibility out of people’s hands.
The session offers no blueprint, but a framework for thinking: first getting sharp on what is fundamentally changing in work and organisation, and then using our AI Orchestration framework to determine which routes and solutions are appropriate, coherent and scalable.
CHRO Roundtable
In this session we invite CHROs to the table, to share and discuss how emerging technologies can address human capital challenges, the obstacles hindering their adoption and potential solutions.
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