Ir. Smit, I.R.

Iskander Smit is visiting researcher and lab co-director at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.

Academic Background

Iskander Smit graduated from the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology in 1993. He has been working as a creative and strategist in digital services on both the client and agency side. For a long time now, Iskander is active in the design and thinking on Internet of Things from research and practice. 

Iskander Smit is now innovation director at agency Info.nl in Amsterdam, that crafts connected digital products and services. Iskander is responsible for research and development and leading LABS. This R&D department is dedicated to new developments and emerging connected technologies. LABS conducts research in and experiments on the internet and how we interact beyond the screen. We work closely together with research institutes and universities.

Since 2010 Iskander is a member of the Council Internet of Things and co-founded the Behavior Design AMS meetup in 2013. In 2014 he initiated and co-organised the Amsterdam edition of the Berlin conference ThingsCon, a leading conference on the design of the Internet of Things that has the mission to foster the creation of a responsible and human-centric Internet of Things. Since 2017 Iskander is chairman of the foundation ThingsCon Amsterdam.

In 2017, Iskander was appointed as a visiting professor at TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering, at the Connected Everyday Lab, where he is coordinating a new research program PACT (Partnerships in Cities of Things) and is co-director of the Cities of Things Delft Design Lab.

Since April 2018 Iskander started as a PhD candidate on designing the mechanics of open and resilient city structures, looking into the design practices for things with agency in intelligent cities.

Education

• 1987 – 1993
  Delft University of Technology, faculty of Industrial Design Engineering

Experience

• 2018 – 2019
  PhD Candidate, faculty of IDE, TU Delft
• 2017– present
  Visiting Professor, Connected Everyday Lab, faculty of IDE, TU Delft  
• 2014 – present
  Initiator, Organiser, Chairman at ThingsCon Amsterdam
• 2013 – present
  Co-founder and organiser at Behavior Design AMS
• 2011 – present
  Innovation Director at Info.nl
• 2005 – present
  Strategy Director at Info.nl
• 2001 – 2005
  Sr. Information Designer at Info.nl
• 1994 – 2001
  Project Manager Innovation, Consumentenbond

Specialisation / field of research

• Digital strategy
• Internet of Things
• Smart cities
• Interaction design

Secondary employment

Innovation Director at Info.nl