Jury 2023

A professionally diverse and inspiring jury will be present during the festive Finale of the Amsterdam Science and Innovation Award 2023. We are happy to announce this year’s chair:

Ruben Brave (chair of the jury)

Ruben Brave (1974) is a Dutch internet pioneer, media professional and serial tech entrepreneur in media and telecommunication (TMT).

Ruben is also an investor and holds various board positions, such as the Social-Economic Council (SER, Diversity in Business), Open State Foundation, the Cultural Participation Fund of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,  the Dutch Review of Books Foundation and the joint master Entrepreneurship of the VU Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam.

Since 2004, Ruben has been the founder of the academic business incubator Entelligence for pre-seed financing, (valorisation) mentoring and coaching, in which start-ups of professors are kickstarted (spin-offs) in the sectors of media, ICT, health and education. At the SciLink Foundation, Ruben coaches academics in start-up initiation, upscaling, and networking.

Recently Ruben co-founded the Dutch New Narrative Lab Foundation (DNNL) with the mission to improve access to innovative entrepreneurship for all underrepresented groups in the Dutch startup scene. DNNL was created after Ruben conducted an extensive Exploration, on behalf of the Directorate of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, on how to increase diversity and inclusion in the Dutch Startup ecosystem; in doing so, he personally interviewed more than 350 stakeholders.

As part of the IXA-next valorisation programme for the City of Amsterdam, Ruben’s own entrepreneurial journey was covered under the title Ruben Brave ‘You are more than the color of your skin’. In 2021 he was elected by 500+ members as the first black President of the Dutch Chapter of Internet Society (ISOC NL).

Photo by Pieter Bas Bouwman