JADS 10 years - Timeline
On December 1, 2016, her Majesty Queen Maxima officially opened the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science by pushing the red button that started a spectacular open-air light show highlighting the Marienburg building and marking the sparkling future of this new initiative.
Unique innovation experiment
At the time of its launch JADS was a unique innovation experiment that was rooted in the vision that society would have a growing need for skilled professionals in the rapidly developing field of data Science. This visions still holds true. Since its beginning JADS has been living up to its promise: to deliver highly educated professionals and build bridges between technology and business.
Explore highlights of 10 years JADS
The coming 6 months, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of JADS. On this page, you can explore the highlights of the past 10 years at JADS!
2026: Supercomputing Brabant officially launched at JADS
On September 23, Supercomputing Brabant was officially launched during an event at JADS in ’s-Hertogenbosch. The new initiative by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Tilburg University, Brabant Development Agency (BOM) and the Province of Noord-Brabant aims to give companies, researchers and public organisations in Brabant access to advanced AI computing power, expertise and support.
2026: 5 Years of great results in the National Student Survey
In the 2026 National Student Survey (NSE) the Master Data Science in Business and Entrepreneurship (DSBE) once again receives high ratings from its students. With an overall score of 4.03 out of 5, the program continues a strong track record, scoring above the national average for the fifth consecutive year. A particularly notable result is the score for connection to professional practice and careers. DSBE scores 4.25, the highest of all data science master’s programs in the Netherlands and well above the national average of 3.36.
2025 : Strengthening Research on Crime & Safety
JADS appointed Ana Barros as endowed professor of the Chair in Subversive Crime, reinforcing its commitment to using data science and AI to address complex societal challenges. Her appointment strengthens JADS’ growing role in the fight against organized and undermining crime, bringing together technology, policy and public-sector collaboration.
2025 : Preparing Professionals for the Age of AI Agents
As AI evolves from chatbots to autonomous AI agents, JADS helps professionals make sense of what these developments mean in practice. Through community events and education for professionals, JADS brought together its community to explore the opportunities, challenges and impact of emerging AI technologies.
2024: 100 EngD Graduates
JADS celebrated a major milestone with the graduation of its 100th Engineering Doctorate (EngD) trainee. Since its launch, the program has helped talented professionals tackle real-world challenges at the intersection of data science and industry, preparing talent for a career in data science and making impact in organizations.
2024: Running for Data at the Vestingloop
On May 26, 2024, the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch came alive with the Vestingloop. JADS took part not just as runners and walkers, but also as researchers, gathering valuable data to study the impact of exercise on health conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and osteoarthritis.
2023: Major Investment in Trustworthy AI
The national ROBUST AI programme received an additional €25 million in NWO funding, bringing its total budget to over €87 million. As part of this major investment in trustworthy AI, three new ROBUST research labs landed at JADS, strengthening its role in the Dutch AI ecosystem.
2023: Five Years of MKB Datalab
What started as an ambitious idea grew into a bridge between education, research and entrepreneurship. In its first five years, the JADS MKB Datalab helped hundreds of SMEs explore the possibilities of data and AI, while giving students hands-on experience solving real-world challenges. A true win-win for innovation in the North Brabant region.
2022: JADS Master gets a new name
Starting September 1st, 2022, the JADS Joint Master’s program has a new name. Instead of Master Data Science and Entrepreneurship, the program is now called: Master Data Science in Business and Entrepreneurship (DSBE). The main reason for this change is that “business and entrepreneurship” is a better match with the curriculum and appeals to a broader audience than just “entrepreneurship”.
2022: JADS first Lustrum celebration
JADS celebrated its first five years with a community event that brought together more than 250 members of its growing network. The occasion marked an important milestone, reflecting on five years of education, research, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, and the foundations laid for the years ahead.
2021: JADS MKB Datalab celebrates 100th partner!
Set up in 2018, MKB Datalab’s mission is to bridge the gap between developments in data science and the needs and wishes of the MKB, by connecting data science students to businesses
During the three years of its existence, MKB Datalab has assisted a huge range of businesses, for whom it has performed a wide variety of projects, from simple to complex. While the number of partners now stands at 100, the actual number of projects performed is almost twice that number, given that many past partners have come back for more. For the master’s students at MKB Datalab, this is proof that every business can get more mileage out of data science.
2021: Pandemic proof online selection week for EngD
An EngD (formerly PDEng) program is a more industry-oriented alternative to a PhD trajectory. The EngD program Data Science at JADS qualifies its students to become top-level professionals, who are able to help industry and business with their innovative data science solutions.
The Data Challenge Week (DCW), the selection week for EngD Data Science Trainees, is usually a pressure cooker week full of hard work, intensive projects and new friendships. During this week, participants work and live together 24/7. How do you move an event like this online due to a global pandemic?
2021: Graduation event in COVID times
On 11 September 2021, 109 JADS graduates finally were able to celebrate their graduation with their fellow students and loved ones. Due to covid, the graduation ceremonies were postponed multiple times, but now, the young talent finally received the celebration they deserved.
2020: First edition Ladies of Data
Ladies of Data is an annual JADS event that aims to bring diversity into the Data Science and AI community by providing female role models and discuss cool topics relevant for the broader data science community. It launched successfully in February 2020 and continued with an online edition in 2021.
“We aim to paint a complete and diverse picture, in terms of relevance but also in terms of presenters. The JADS philosophy is to do research that matters to business and society. We hope that researchers and companies can learn from and inspire each other,” says Ksenia Podoynitsyna, associate Professor of Data-Driven Entrepreneurship at JADS and one of the initiators of the event.
2020: Bluetick raises pre-seed funding
The JADS Playground is the data science startup incubator at JADS, supporting startups from idea to launch and everything in between.
Bluetick, one of the 25+ Playground startup alumni, makes it faster and more intuitive to find and search through legal documents. The company was founded by four master students from JADS and then supported and nurtured in the Playground. In 2020 Bluetick raised a pre-seed funding round from henQ Capital and ASIF Ventures, making it one of the most successful Playground startups to date.
2018: First Den Bosch Data Week
As part of the grand design around JADS, the municipality of Den Bosch together with the province of North Brabant have been exploring possibilities to stimulate the creation of a regional business eco-system. The aim was to stimulate the uptake of data science as a driving force behind business innovation in the area. The annual Data Week, which was first launched on October 29, 2018, was one of the many successful initiatives that the data science partners in and around Den Bosch launched to stimulate and facilitate the build-up of such an innovation eco-system. Together with many different stakeholders, JADS organized and hosted a broad range of activities that were aimed at creating awareness for the potential of data science as a novel driver behind business innovation.
2018: First academic ceremony
JADS has been often referred to as the university of Den Bosch. One of the traditional happenings that take place at a university are the so-called academic ceremonies at which the academic leadership, i.e., the professors get together to celebrate an important event. They typically form a row called the cortège wearing their gowns and caps. On January 12, 2018 it was for the first time that an official cortège sat foot in the chapel of Mariënburg to celebrate to inaugural speech of prof. Maurits Kaptein. With this speech, prof. Kaptein marked the start of his chair as a professor of Data Science and Health.
2018: Congregation sisters JMJ back in Mariënburg
JADS is housed in Mariënburg , a premises with a rich history. The current building, which served as a monastery until 2016, was built on the foundations of the Huys van Boxtel whose roots date back for more than eight centuries.
Early 2015, the last 24 nuns of the Jezus, Maria en Jozef (JMJ) congregation, moved to their new homes in Heeswijk-Dinther and Boxtel after a long period of inhabitation that started in 1899. The reconstruction of Mariënburg started in 2015 and was carried out by the real-estate developing company Kadans under the skilled leadership of the CEO Wim Boers. IN 2018, the nuns revisited Mariënburg to see the result and to celebrate the 195 anniversary of their congregation. At that occasion mother superior Leatitia Aarning expressed her gratitude with the new future direction JADS had given to the building as it continued the long lasting tradition of educating young gifted persons to prepare them for a prosperous future career.
In 2019, a scholarship fund for JADS students was established thanks to a generous gift of the Sisters of JMJ.
2018: Graduation first Master’s students Data Science and Entrepreneurship
In 2018, we celebrated the first graduates of the Master Data Science and Entrepreneurship. Omroep Brabant made an item about on of these first students, Diederik Pondman, and found out demand for our students is very high. “My LinkedIn is flooded with job offers. Data Science is booming!” according to Diederik.
2017: First Career Perspective Day
Already back in 2012, Harvard Business Review coined in one of its leading feature articles that “Data Science would become the Sexiest Job of the 21 Century”. JADS has always been a strong believer of this career forecast, which is reflected by its educational programs at all levels, including the master, post-doctoral engineering, and professional education training. To provide information about the various options data science professionals have in their bright future, JADS has been organizing its so-called Career Perspective Days. The first edition was successfully launched on May 19, 2017 and ever since several thousands of talented aspiring data scientists have visited these information days to collect the information needed to shape their professional future in data science.
2016: Grand opening of JADS
On December 1, 2016, her Majesty Queen Maxima officially opened the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, accompanied by then mayor of the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Ton Rombouts. In his own words. “Met de vestiging van de Academy of Data Science hoopte ik dat dit de stad van Jheronimus jonger en Internationaler zou maken.” (“By establishing the Academy of Data Science, Ton Rombouts hoped that this would make the city of Jheronimus Bosch younger and more international.”).
