Three prestigious US universities have joined consortia bidding to set up a new institute of technology in Amsterdam, Nos television reports on Wednesday.

The city council invited applications to set up the new institute at the beginning of April and has now whittled the 13 entries down to a shortlist of five. The aim is to develop technology to cope with urban issues such as health, waste disposal and transport.

The city hopes the new institute will boost the economy and lead to significant job creation.

The five projects are now being further developed and in September city officials will decide which group it will work with first, Nos television said.

Five projects

1. The University of Amsterdam, Free University, Amsterdam’s hbo college and Colombia University from the US want to set up an institute for urban technology, offering education and research.

2. Delft University of Technology, Wageningen University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a plan to set up an institute for urban studies together with Shell and Cisco.

3. The Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and Duke University from the US plan to set up an Amsterdam School of Health and Technology. The consortium is supported by Heineken, Vodafone and Achmea.

4. Amsterdam’s creative industry institute THNK wants to develop a Center for Urban Tech Acceleration to support entrepreneurs and researchers working in urban technology.

5. Nexuslabs wants to develop a network of multinationals, entrepreneurs, researchers, financiers and government to develop sustainable urban solutions.