Kickstart AI

What a joy to have been part of the Women in AI Benelux Gala & Awards Ceremony 2025, where we had the honor of presenting the AI Entrepreneur Award. This award recognizes a bold founder leading an AI-driven startup, and who better to receive it than 💡 AI practitioner Sara Okhuijsen. Sara is the co-leader of OASYS NOW, through which she is revolutionizing ethical AI in healthcare, ensuring privacy-preserving and patient-centered AI solutions. It was incredible to celebrate the outstanding entrepreneurship of all the women working in AI and to share some unforgettable moments with each other! Tjarda Voorneman Sophia Claire Zitman Aneela Mujahid Sabine Oskamp - Dubbeldeman Lesley-Ann de Wit Keely Richardson #womeninai #entrepreneurship

One of our machine learning engineers, Cascha V., recently gave a workshop at Techfest about making AI work smarter for businesses 🤖💼 In his talk he explored how to give Large Language Models (LLMs) access to company databases, allowing them to answer specific questions tailored to your organization's needs. The goal? Making your information more accessible to a wider audience. One example he discussed was how to use a chatbot to simplify tax information for people with non-Dutch backgrounds. Exactly what we are all about at Kickstart AI: practical AI! Cascha V. will soon also be taking the stage at DEVWorld Conference to talk about teaching Small LLMs to Reason, so if you are interested to hear more make sure to attend! PS Also, a shout out to Natasha Govender-Ropert, PhD, on of our experts in residence, who participated in a panel at Techfest. #AI #InformationAccess #BusinessInnovation #LLM #PracticalAI

👉News Flash: Kickstart AI Podcast Very happy to introduce the Kickstart AI podcast; candid conversations about AI with engineers from the Kickstart AI team. No corporate jargon but insightful discussions with the real experts driving innovation in the Netherlands! In our latest episode we discuss - what else can you expect- DeepSeek AI R1 & The Reasoning Revolution 🎙️ Our co founder Sander Stomph and machine learning engineer Cascha V. break down DeepSeek AI R1 ➡️ the reasoning model everyone’s been talking about. No stock market chatter, just a deeply technical look at how it works and why it’s different. Give it a listen and share your thoughts in the comments! 🎧https://lnkd.in/dQUPDt_v #podcast #AI #deepseek #reasoningmodel

🏥AI is transforming healthcare in NL For our latest expert blog we spoke with five leading experts about AI's impact—here's what they told us: ➡️ Half of university hospitals now have dedicated AI teams ➡️ One hospital AI team developed a system to predict which ER patients need admission ➡️ AI-assisted radiology can deliver more accurate diagnoses within hours (not days) ➡️ Dutch hospitals are collaborating rather than competing on AI What's really holding back AI in healthcare (hint: it's not the tech) → Read our full deep-dive article: https://lnkd.in/dZ9m9pjY Big thanks to Nicky Hekster Ilse Kant Margrietha H. (Greet) Vink Pascal Wolkotte Marieke van Buchem for their valuable insights! #ai #healthcare #medicine #er

𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 💡 Big thanks to everyone who joined us for the "𝗧𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝘆 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹" workshop in Maastricht last week! 🙌 Led by Norbert Schmidt, we dived into how 𝗔𝗜 𝗥𝗔𝗚 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 could transform healthcare in the Netherlands. The room was buzzing with ideas as experts from the tech, law, policy, and healthcare sector brainstormed how to tackle challenges and move forward safely. The discussions that arose were on fire and full of inspiration. Thanks to everyone who joined and made it such a success! Until next time, Maastricht! 🤗  🔜 February will revolve around AI and Gaming, keep an eye on our  events calendar for upcoming events near you!

Excited that we as Kickstart AI contributed to the latest DenkWerk report by analysing labor market transitions using a mathematical optimization model. Our experts Dr. Carmen Adriana Martínez Barbosa and Cascha V. explored how to effectively reskill workers from declining sectors into high-demand roles projected for 2035 - like healthcare and construction - by analyzing skill overlaps between different jobs. We developed both the optimization framework and a dashboard to visualize how different scenarios impact these transitions. One interesting insight was how the model revealed unexpected connections - jobs that seem quite different often share similar underlying skill profiles when mapped in vector space. Try the model out yourself here: https://lnkd.in/esidjYcs This approach offers a new and innovative perspective on labor market transitions and can assist policymakers and employers to more effectively plan re-skilling initiatives and match talent with future workforce needs. #denkwerk #labormarket #reskilling

As AI dominates headlines, healthcare leaders aren't asking if it will transform medicine in the future... They're focused on how to implement it effectively today. We spoke with five leading experts at different intersections of healthcare & AI in the Netherlands - from hospital AI teams pioneering new implementations to startups pushing technical boundaries to industry veterans shaping policy. Their insights reveal three key principles for successful AI implementation in healthcare: Start with Real Needs: Marieke van Buchem, Innovation Manager AI at Leiden University Medical Center: "One big point that we've learned is that it's important to start from a need that is actually felt by healthcare professionals." "It needs to have real value. And for that, you don't always need complex AI." says Nicky Hekster, Delegate Health & Care of Nederlandse AI Coalitie | NL AIC Focus on Collaboration: "When AI-solutions are developed in co-creation with neurologists, neuroscientists and radiologists, you get a toolbox which people are actually going to use." Margrietha H. (Greet) Vink from Erasmus MC "You need their domain knowledge. They know exactly what features matter in medical images or patient data. " - Nicky Hekster advises Looking forward to sharing more insights from our conversations with healthcare AI leaders later this week! #aiandhealthcare #ai #healthcare #innovation

Driven by our mission, strengthened by shared experiences! Last week, the full Kickstart AI team gathered for a different kind of Meetup. Instead of diving into our ambitious 2025 plans, we took a step back to focus on what makes our team tick – each other! Over two days, we indulged in great food, stretched out with some yoga, got creative in fun workshops, and even busted a move or two. We laughed, swapped stories, and recharged our batteries for the year ahead. While we of course remain focused on our mission to accelerate AI adoption in the Netherlands, we firmly believe that enjoying the journey is just as crucial. We're buzzing with excitement for what 2025 has in store and can't wait to partner with you on some amazing projects! #AI #innovation #teambuilding Sander Stomph Tjarda Voorneman Sophia Claire Zitman Paulette van Bossum Aneela Mujahid Rogier Klimbie Evertjan P. Lesley-Ann de Wit Dr. Carmen Adriana Martínez Barbosa Jeroen Nelen Cascha V. Iris Visser Anoek Eckhardt

We've just published a new technical blog on making object detection more efficient through ML-assisted labeling! Object detection is being applied in more and more industries from healthcare to agriculture, but manual data labeling remains a major bottleneck. Our engineering team examined Meta's Detic algorithm, which can detect 21,000 different object classes - a significant advance for the field. We compared Detic with established approaches like YOLO, sharing practical examples and honest insights about its strengths and limitations. If you're working with computer vision or looking to reduce annotation costs, this analysis will help inform your decisions! Read the full technical breakdown in the blogpost! #AI #Detic #ML

Last week we kicked off 2025 with our first meetup around AI in Healthcare at The Flow in Amsterdam 🏥 The evening started with a presentation by Wouter Kroese and Geert Klop of Pacmed in which they explained everything about their vision for AI driven hospital care and their journey developing and implementing AI together with the medical field. 🩺 Next up were Paul Schoondermark and Lotte Klomp, both from Eraneos Netherlands, talking about how they are optimizing healthcare delivery chains with digital twin simulations, followed by an inspiring demo.💊 An audience consisting of not only data scientists and engineers, but also VCs and ecosystem partners resulted in interesting Q&As and valuable conversations during the drinks after the presentations. Thanks all for your valuable contribution to this successful start of the year! 🚀 #artificialintelligence #healthcare #AIxHealthcare