Innovation ecosystem developer and researcher for a sustainable data centre project
Are you passionate about creating impactful change at the intersection of sustainability and technology development? Do you thrive on connecting people and ideas to build innovative solutions? If so, the University of Twente invites you to join the exciting, Modular and Integrated Sustainable Datacenter (MISD) project!
The MISD project
The MISD project aims to address the increasing climate impact of digitalization, enable energy flexibility, and the need for data sovereignty. In this project, the University of Twente and six private partners collaborate to design and develop a sustainable and secure-by-design edge datacenter in places close to end users. The innovative solutions developed in the project are tested in a fieldlab and scaled up into a viable innovation ecosystem promoting sustainable digitalization in Europe.
Your role
As our innovation ecosystem developer, you will support the creation and realization of innovation ecosystems around sustainable, modular datacenters in the MISD project. This entails facilitating collaboration and coordination across diverse stakeholders, such as private companies, universities and research institutions, government institutions, NGOs, and financial institutions, to co-design and develop innovative solutions and technologies that create value for specific end users and contribute to society. Within the MISD project, some ecosystem partners already participate in the MISD consortium, whereas other stakeholders still have to be identified, engaged, and enrolled in ecosystem development.
Your primary focus is to support the ecosystem partners in designing, developing, and realizing viable innovation ecosystems for sustainable digitalization. You facilitate interconnection and networking between ecosystem partners and stakeholders to support knowledge and resource exchange. In addition, you support the realization of innovation ecosystems that can create sustainability-oriented value by co-creating viable business models with ecosystem partners, within and outside the MISD consortium.
What you will be doing:
- Support ecosystem design and development for sustainable edge datacenter solutions
- Support networking and interconnection with stakeholders to identify, engage, and enroll new ecosystem participants from industry, academia, government, and society
- Enable knowledge and resource exchange across ecosystem partners to drive innovation and joint value creation
- Facilitate active dialogue with users and industry, and strategic feedback to the ecosystem to ensure external alignment of the ecosystem
- Support co-creation between interdisciplinary partners to develop innovative solutions that address shared sustainability goals
- Co-develop viable, sustainability-oriented business models for the ecosystem together with ecosystem partners, within and beyond the MISD consortium
- Bring knowledge and insights generated in the project together in an expertise centre and develop a corresponding dissemination program for the MISD project
- Represent the project at various events and coordinate representation activities with other project members
Information and application
Are you interested in this position? Please send your application via the ‘Apply now’ button below before 10-08-2025 and include:
- a cover letter (in English or Dutch) which explains your interest in the position and your qualifications for it;
- a curriculum vitae.
The position is expected to start on 1 October 2025.
For more information regarding this position, you are welcome to contact Britt Smulders (b.smulders@utwente.nl).
More information about the department of Professional Learning & Technology can be found on the following website.
About the department
Researchers in our section study formal and informal learning of (future) employees, including the use of technology to measure and support professional learning. More broadly, we also study professional learning in relation to the collaboration and innovation processes of professionals, particularly so in multidisciplinary settings and new forms of organizing (such as learning communities or living labs). Our studies often take place in the high-tech, health, and educational sectors with the intention to understand, evaluate, and optimize (inter)professional and (inter)organizational learning, collaboration, and innovation in these various contexts. Increasingly, the settings we study revolve around grand challenges and wicked problems, such as the transitions to green energy and circularity or matters of digital transformation. To contribute to these challenges, we also design and evaluate (technology-based) interventions to optimize professional learning, innovation, and collaboration. In our research group, we combine expertise from a range of disciplines (e.g., educational sciences, psychology, business administration, organization studies, communication science).
About the organisation
At the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS), we unite the worlds of people and technology to address today’s complex societal challenges. We are passionate about understanding human behaviour, fostering responsible innovation, and designing solutions that create societal value. Our educational programmes span disciplines such as Psychology, Business Administration, Public Administration, Communication Sciences, Philosophy, Educational Sciences, and Health Sciences. Through our bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Professional Learning & Development programmes, and interdisciplinary research themes – including Emerging Technologies & Societal Transformations, Resilience, Smart Industry, Learning, and Health – we empower students and researchers to make a positive societal impact.
At BMS, we combine critical thinking with practical action. From advancing sustainable mobility with innovations like the world’s most efficient hydrogen car to shaping policies that promote digital inclusion, our work contributes to a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable future. Whether it’s exploring how technology influences human behaviour or leveraging data and innovation to transform industries and communities, we ensure that technology serves people – and not the other way around.
As an employer, BMS offers a vibrant, inclusive, and entrepreneurial environment where you can thrive personally and professionally. Join us and become part of a forward-thinking community that equips you to shape the future – for yourself and society. With us, you will become part of a leading technical university with increasing, positive social impact.
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