The Amsterdam Inventor Dinner 2009 will take place on Thursday 18 June 2009 in the presence of Mayor Cohen. SIG and the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (Centrum voor Wiskunde and Informatica - CWI) will be competing against other companies and institutions for the Amsterdam Inventor Award at the Inventor Dinner.

These are organisations which have come up with inventions on the basis of which new products, processes and/or services can be developed.

The CWI’s invention (Generic Language Technology) forms the basis for gaining insight into large quantities of source code regardless of the language in which it is written (Java, .Net etc.). SIG has developed various services on this basis, all in the area of creating insight into software quality on the basis of source code analysis. By gaining an insight into the software quality IT managers can guide their software suppliers more effectively. In 2009 this invention is the driving force behind a new global certificate for software quality awarded by TÜViT.

The event is aimed at the industrial sector and knowledge institutions which distinguish themselves with their innovation and entrepreneurship.

Recommending committee

• Mr. M.J. Cohen
• Prof. R.H. Dijkgraaf
• Prof. P.J.D. Drenth
• Drs. J. van Antwerpen

Assessment criteria
The inventions are assessed by a professional jury and this jury also chooses the ultimate winner. The criteria on which they are judged are:

• innovation
• quality of the invention
• commercial value
• social value
• entrepreneurship

The Inventor Award
Amsterdam is home to a large number of R&D companies and knowledge institutions. These businesses are supported by a strong team of researchers who are constantly working on innovations in the area of industrial research. In order to put the spotlight on these researchers, Amsterdam City Council organises the annual Inventor Dinner in collaboration with Avantium and Amsterdam Innovation Motor.

The Inventor Dinner is about the researchers and their inventions and not directly about commerce. By creating an occasion where the researchers are put in the spotlight, we as a city show what we have to offer in this area. This fits with the city council’s ambition to position Amsterdam internationally as a knowledge city.

For the participating companies it is a unique way of thanking their R&D personnel in a special way. The selected participants also get the chance to present their innovations to a wide audience and get to know other high-tech businesses in Amsterdam.