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One of the driving forces behind the Dutch AI Coalition and the AI Hub for the Eastern Netherlands is Demcon, the Twente-based tech giant that was founded in 1993 in a small university dorm room. The company now has over 750 employees, spread across locations in Enschede, Best, and Münster, among others, and with sales offices in Singapore and Tokyo. Artificial Intelligence is playing an increasingly important role within the company.<img src="https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/D_Wv_H_Lm_Z_Pd8_Nf_Zdquic_X_Fkm_X7px_O3_T_Hu_V1a_QCX_Pv_V_1b80ec5d96.png" alt="DWvHLmZPd8NfZdquicXFkmX7pxO3THuV1aQCXPvV.png" srcset="https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/thumbnail_D_Wv_H_Lm_Z_Pd8_Nf_Zdquic_X_Fkm_X7px_O3_T_Hu_V1a_QCX_Pv_V_1b80ec5d96.png 236w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/small_D_Wv_H_Lm_Z_Pd8_Nf_Zdquic_X_Fkm_X7px_O3_T_Hu_V1a_QCX_Pv_V_1b80ec5d96.png 500w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/medium_D_Wv_H_Lm_Z_Pd8_Nf_Zdquic_X_Fkm_X7px_O3_T_Hu_V1a_QCX_Pv_V_1b80ec5d96.png 750w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/large_D_Wv_H_Lm_Z_Pd8_Nf_Zdquic_X_Fkm_X7px_O3_T_Hu_V1a_QCX_Pv_V_1b80ec5d96.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1382" height="912">Founder and CEO Dennis Schipper: “We’ve actually been working on the smart use of technology, materials, and data from the very beginning. At first, this mainly took place through individual projects. Now we’re working on a program to integrate AI across all our locations and markets. Wherever there’s data, AI adds value.” <blockquote>Wherever there is data, AI is valuable—Dennis Schipper, founder and CEO of Demcon</blockquote>David Rijlaarsdam, Business Unit Manager for Artificial Intelligence, is responsible for that program. “On the one hand, the program helps us clearly communicate to the outside world how we’re approaching this, so that parties with applications requiring AI know where to find us. On the other hand, it’s intended to help us take a real step forward as an organization: where do we want to be in terms of projects in five years, what kind of people do we need to hire, and what tools do we want to develop? It’s truly an integral program within Demcon.”<img src="https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/t_L_Ibtqq_Kzn7x_SG_Hf_Op_TD_7oixp07s_LL_5_Q8bc_E_Ueh6_cc14ed046c.jpeg" alt="tLIbtqqKzn7xSGHfOpTD7oixp07sLL5Q8bcEUeh6.jpeg" srcset="https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/thumbnail_t_L_Ibtqq_Kzn7x_SG_Hf_Op_TD_7oixp07s_LL_5_Q8bc_E_Ueh6_cc14ed046c.jpeg 241w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/small_t_L_Ibtqq_Kzn7x_SG_Hf_Op_TD_7oixp07s_LL_5_Q8bc_E_Ueh6_cc14ed046c.jpeg 500w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/medium_t_L_Ibtqq_Kzn7x_SG_Hf_Op_TD_7oixp07s_LL_5_Q8bc_E_Ueh6_cc14ed046c.jpeg 750w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/large_t_L_Ibtqq_Kzn7x_SG_Hf_Op_TD_7oixp07s_LL_5_Q8bc_E_Ueh6_cc14ed046c.jpeg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1630" height="1053"><h2>Robotic Arm</h2>Rijlaarsdam cites the robot arm that navigates its way through water pipes on its own to assess the quality of the pipes as a great example of a project. “Image recognition for path planning is currently handled by a deep neural network. Based on that, the robot recognizes what type of pipe element is coming up: a bend, a T-junction, or something else. The robotic arm is completely disconnected from the outside world, so it has to be able to decide for itself where to go.”To teach it to do this, it is fed synthetic data. “By inputting a large number of synthetic images, we’ve taught the robot what a pipe looks like. That’s cheaper and faster than building an entire pipe system for training. And much more effective than learning in an existing system, where it can take a long time for the robot to encounter all possible situations.”Data synthesis is also being used in the agri-food sector. For example, AI can be used to create unmanned systems for picking strawberries. These systems can recognize strawberries, determine their exact position, and assess whether they’re ripe for picking—all of which they learn based on synthetic data. With Nymus3D, Demcon has its own in-house animation studio, specializing, among other things, in replicating the complexity of nature.

Demcon and AI are intertwined

<h2>Eggs and Coins</h2>Another example is the classification of eggs. An automated process assesses 40,000 eggs per hour to determine whether they fall into category A or B. Rijlaarsdam: “The great thing about this system is that the customer can easily expand it, even if they have no knowledge of machine learning themselves. We provide software that allows you, for example, to easily add a new category of eggs, after which the machine learns to apply that classification on its own.”Finally, Rijlaarsdam wants to mention the example of the coin sorting machine. The request Demcon received was this: determine within one month whether 40,000,000 coins (no, that’s not a typo) are damaged or not—without any data on exactly when a coin is considered damaged. With a reliability of 99.9999% (again: not a typo). Rijlaarsdam: “We only had a model of what the perfect coin looked like, so we built a sorting machine with a deep learning network that compared the coins to that model. We managed to assess and sort all the coins in a month; that works out to about 15 coins per second.”<h2>Bringing Knowledge to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses</h2>Dennis Schipper is also enthusiastic about the examples. However, he realizes that such AI applications are not yet within everyone’s reach. “There are all kinds of promising technologies that make these kinds of projects successful. Those technologies are quite accessible to a company like Demcon, but for smaller companies, it’s difficult to grasp all the possibilities.” In his view, the AI Hub East Netherlands plays an important role in this regard. “It works well to have a collaborative network through which you can leverage and disseminate knowledge—and where you can also reach out with a question or project.”<img src="https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/p_NM_5d1_Uck_Hj_GCMPY_1_Hf3z_Kxc_Q7_SL_Tt_Y_Fhr1_I4_PZM_ec0a938d5c.png" alt="pNM5d1UckHjGCMPY1Hf3zKxcQ7SLTtYFhr1I4PZM.png" srcset="https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/thumbnail_p_NM_5d1_Uck_Hj_GCMPY_1_Hf3z_Kxc_Q7_SL_Tt_Y_Fhr1_I4_PZM_ec0a938d5c.png 139w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/small_p_NM_5d1_Uck_Hj_GCMPY_1_Hf3z_Kxc_Q7_SL_Tt_Y_Fhr1_I4_PZM_ec0a938d5c.png 444w,https://cms.aihub-oost.nl/uploads/medium_p_NM_5d1_Uck_Hj_GCMPY_1_Hf3z_Kxc_Q7_SL_Tt_Y_Fhr1_I4_PZM_ec0a938d5c.png 666w," sizes="100vw" width="718" height="808"><blockquote>By connecting parties involved in AI, you can take the step toward practical application—Dennis Schipper</blockquote>It’s important to strike the right balance: “We need to continue expanding our knowledge, and we need to ensure that this knowledge reaches businesses more effectively, especially SMEs. That’s the most important target group—one that often has regional ties and a great need for connections to, for example, educational and research institutions. By connecting these parties, you can take the step toward practical application.”<h2>The Ideal Scenario</h2>Schipper sees a role for the hub in three areas: projects, networking, and funding. “The people at the hub must be able to define a project together with the SME; a knowledge institution must be involved—such as an educational institution, but it could also be Demcon—and some funding must be made available. That’s the ideal scenario. But it’s then up to the companies themselves to ensure it’s implemented effectively.”<blockquote>The hub ensures that companies and research institutions listen to each other more closely—Dennis Schipper</blockquote>“In any case, it’s good that the ecosystem is developing,” he continues. “More attention to the topic generates more interest; more interest attracts more students, which in turn leads to a greater number of well-trained employees. The hub can also ensure that the business community and research institutions listen to each other more closely.”Want to learn more about the AI Hub East Netherlands or Demcon? Please contact us.

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One of the driving forces behind the Dutch AI Coalition and the AI Hub for the Eastern Netherlands is Demcon, the Twente-based tech giant that was founded in 1993 in a small university dorm room. The company now has over 750 employees, spread across locations in Enschede, Best, and Münster, among others, and with sales offices in Singapore and Tokyo. Artificial Intelligence is playing an increasingly important role within the company.