Become a research partner

Dundir is anchored at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. Construction SMEs can join that research track. It costs you nothing and it buys you influence over what gets built.

The open question

Nobody has ever defined optimal.

The optimisation theory is not new. What is missing is the objective function: what exactly the optimal supplier means, weighed across price, delivery time, certification compliance, structural material properties and sustainability, inside Dutch construction procurement.

That question cannot be answered with theory. It needs buyers who describe how the trade-off actually goes, which requirements are hard and which are negotiable, and where instinct beats arithmetic. That is what a research partner brings.

The second open question is just as practical: at what data volume does this approach beat an experienced buyer. That too can only be answered with real procurement files.

Öksüz et al. 2025 states explicitly that research and tooling for construction procurement operations remains limited. Van Duuren 2025, TU Delft, names a standardised review tool as an open research direction.

What we ask

Your experience, not your budget.

A thirty minute conversation

About what your procurement actually looks like. Which systems, which suppliers, which decision criteria, and who ultimately signs.

A look at one closed procurement file

Preferably one already settled, anonymised where needed. We sign a non-disclosure agreement before anything is shared.

Your name on the application, if you want it

Dutch research funding requires SME partners in the consortium. That is a listing and a letter of support, not a commitment to purchase and no financial contribution.

What you get back

Influence, knowledge and first refusal.

Influence

The objective function is calibrated on the practice of the partners who take part. Whoever is in the room at this stage decides what the system gets good at.

Knowledge

You receive the research results, including a comparison of your own procurement process against the other partners. That benchmark alone is not for sale anywhere.

First refusal

Research partners get first access to a pilot, on the terms set out on the pilot page.

Honest about what this is This is a research track, not a sales track in academic dress. There is no finished product waiting. If you need procurement software today that runs tomorrow, we are the wrong party right now, and we would rather say that before three meetings than after.

Apply

Let us know you are interested.

Tell us briefly what kind of construction firm you are, how many people do procurement, and whether you are open to a thirty minute conversation. We will get in touch and explain which track is open at that moment.

Four ways in

Where you come in depends on what you need.

Open now

Become a research partner

Nobody has ever defined optimal.

Your experience, not your budget.

A thirty minute conversation

A look at one closed procurement file

Your name on the application, if you want it

Influence, knowledge and first refusal.

Let us know you are interested.

Where you come in depends on what you need.

Become a research partner

Pilot as a design partner

Procurement scan

A 30 minute conversation