SURF Open Innovation Lab
Innovation is of crucial importance to SURF and our members in order to face major challenges in research, education and society. The SURF Open Innovation Lab brings together all activities and experiments in the field of early innovation and open collaboration. We do this together with institutions and industry.

Developing knowledge, expertise and facilities
All projects within the SURF Open Innovation Lab are in the 'early phase' of innovation, i.e. leading up to and including the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) phase. The overall objective is to gain more knowledge about technologies and applications. This could lead to services for SURF institutions in the medium to long term (2 to 5 years). The projects can be driven by our wish to investigate a promising technology or application, or by a scientific, social or educational demand.
The knowledge, expertise and facilities developed within the SURF Open Innovation Lab can be used by SURF, SURF institutions and partners for technology, product and service innovation. In addition, the SURF Open Innovation Lab contributes to the development of future generations of e-infrastructures and applications that enable innovation and new applications in various educational and research areas.
Open principles
The SURF Open Innovation Lab has a number of important principles. Where possible and relevant, we seek collaboration with SURF institutions to jointly experiment and innovate.
Open participation
Anyone can contribute to an open exchange of ideas and experiments. Institutions can, for example, participate through a contribution within a 'joint research project', participate in joint experiments or give PhD researchers and graduates the opportunity to carry out research.
Open sharing of information and technology
The knowledge gained through the SURF Open Innovation Lab is actively shared through papers, blogs, and conferences. The open exchange of ideas and knowledge stimulates discussion, and exchanges and reinterprets ideas. This can lead to unexpected and innovative results.
Open Lab
The Lab is synonymous with experimentation. Innovation happens where open interaction between people and ideas takes place, where new ideas and concepts can be tried out, where short assessments are made, and where failure may exist alongside success.
Which projects are included in this program?
Projects in the following areas are carried out within the SURF Open Innovation Lab:
- eXploRing VR, AR and MR
- 3D printing for scientific visualisation (finished)
- Machine learning enhanced HPC applications
- Scalable deep learning
- Quantum computing
- Digital data exchange
- Scalable IoT platform (finished)
- Serverless computing
- Energy efficient computing
- Technology assessments processors & components