This master’s thesis examines the challenges posed by the aging population in the Netherlands, focusing on the preservation and transfer of domain knowledge from retiring seniors. You will evaluate current knowledge retention methods, explore ways to effectively communicate explicit and tacit knowledge, and analyze the ethical and societal implications of AI-driven knowledge systems. The goal is to develop AI techniques to ensure seamless knowledge transfer to the next generation of professionals.

💡Areas of Interest: Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Knowledge Preservation

On January 1, 2023, the Netherlands will have 3,627,484 inhabitants over the age of 65. This is approximately 20% of the total population. The aging of the Netherlands brings several problems with it. For example, we must produce the same economic product with fewer people, and a large part of the knowledge of retiring seniors will be lost if their knowledge is not adequately transferred to the next generation.

More and more businesses struggle with these issues. The process of preserving domain knowledge by writing down and documenting is a tedious and not particularly exciting task. Moreover, how this documentation of domain knowledge is effectively conveyed to the next generation is of great importance since people tend not to read long texts when they need knowledge about a specific topic.

Therefore, it is important to make the knowledge transfer and preservation process as smooth as possible. Using state-of-the-art AI techniques, we want to make it possible for businesses to easily store and retrieve domain knowledge so that the knowledge of retiring senior experts is preserved and conveyed to the next generation of professionals.

The Assignment

You will be exploring and evaluating the current landscape of knowledge retention methods and identifying their limitations in ensuring domain knowledge preservation. Additionally, you will investigate how we can effectively preserve and share expert knowledge, including methods for communicating and visualizing both explicit and tacit knowledge. Finally, you will research the ethical and societal implications of using an AI-driven knowledge system.

About Info Support Research Center

We anticipate on upcoming and future challenges and ensures our engineers develop cutting-edge solutions based on the latest scientific insights. Our research community proactively tackles emerging technologies. We do this in cooperation with renowned scientists, making sure that research teams are positioned and embedded throughout our organisation and our community, so that their insights are directly applied to our business. We truly believe in sharing knowledge, so we want to do this without any restrictions.

Read more about Info Support Research here.

About Info Support

Info Support specializes in custom software, data/AI solutions, management, and training and is active in the Finance, Industry, Agriculture, Food & Retail, Mobility & Public, and Healthcare sectors. We provide solid and innovative solutions for complex and critical software issues. Our headquarters are located in Veenendaal (NL) and Mechelen (BE). At present, approximately 500 employees are employed by Info Support.

Info Support's working method is characterized by a number of core values: solidity, integrity, craftsmanship, and passion. These core values are intertwined in our work and the way we interact with each other.

To ensure that all employees are always up to date with the latest developments, Info Support has an in-house knowledge center that eagerly satisfies the hunger for more or different knowledge and skills.

B2 language proficiency in Dutch is required.