Masters in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship

Dr. Jaap de Vries is a Staff Vice President and Principal Innovation Specialist at FM Global—a large commercial property risk insurer. In this role, he discovers and develops new opportunities to guide the strategic planning efforts of FM Global and its mutual members. Among other things, Jaap leads the commercialization of fire-protection robotic technologies and drives the development of new confined-space-entry robotic solutions. While partnering with startups, he creates structural, digital-twins for large-asset monitoring, and develops AI-based fire protection technologies. Jaap is the recipient of two patents related to smart fire-protection.

Prior to his current role, Jaap served as Lead Research Scientist at FM Global’s offices in Norwood, Massachusetts. In this capacity, Jaap led large-scale fire testing programs. His research focused primarily on fire and combustion science, multi-spectral infrared thermography, and computer vision. Jaap’s work has been published in several fire and combustion related journals.

Jaap is Passionate about supporting the infrastructure for Rhode Island’s business community. Since 2020, he mentors startups through RIHub’s Venture Mentoring Services.

Jaap holds a B.S. degree in aeronautical engineering from the College of Amsterdam; a M.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Central Florida; and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University