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Venture Centre
Validationlab-mdt
Test your ideas at a festival
Join a team, tackle real challenges, and test your prototype with festival visitors. Watch the video to see how students made it happen!
What is ValidationLab MDT?
About the Program
ValidationLab MDT is an innovation challenge spread over the spring, where you and your team tackle real-life challenges linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
You’ll collaborate with experts, coaches, and organizations to develop and test impactful solutions — and bring them to life at a real festival.
The program is organized by Venture Centre HvA in collaboration with Innofest, a leading organization that helps innovators test their ideas in real-world festival settings.
Who Can Join & Cost
ValidationLab MDT is open to all HvA students, and students from higher education institutions in Amsterdam
The program is free to participate — thanks to support from MDT.
Next edition: Spring 2026, with live testing at a festival in June 2026.
What You’ll Do
- Hands-on workshops: Design Thinking, Validation & Testing, Business Models, Prototyping
- Team collaboration: Work in interdisciplinary groups on real challenges
- Real-world testing: Try your solution at a festival and get direct feedback
- Expert guidance: Coaches will help you refine your idea
- Testing budget: Get a budget to test your concept at the festival
Hear from students who tested their ideas with real people
Tirza Sturing
The SoapLoop
“Seeing how people reacted on the spot showed us what we needed to change right away.” — Tirza, The Soaploop
Patricia Blom
Wellvest
“We had three versions of our message — the festival crowd showed us which one actually clicked.” — Patricia, Wellvest
