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DUTCH-BELGIAN TEAM WINS HUAWEI’S SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE EUROPE
Sometimes the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This is evidenced by the brilliant achievement of the Dutch-Belgian team BioBuddy. Five students from different universities and disciplines and with different backgrounds won the European Seeds for the Future Programme by Chinese ICT and telecoms giant Huawei on 5 July 2024 in Rome. The only Belgian in the team and in the entire European programme was Tiësto ‘T Jolle, master’s student in Electronics & ICT Engineering Technology from Group T Campus. He tells his story.
During the first week of July, Huawei brought together 145 top students from universities in 23 European countries in Rome. There, they participated in workshops and panel discussions provided by industry experts and academia representatives. Students had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of innovation, digitalisation and sustainability, improve their entrepreneurial skills and familiarise themselves with intercultural communication.
“This whole offering actually served to support the Tech4Good Competition,” explains Tiësto. “The assignment was to address a real problem related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals using technology. Specifically, we were expected to pitch a concept of a new company with an explicit Tech4Good focus at the end of the week.”
Mixed team
Tiësto describes his participation in the programme as the result of a “spontaneous response” to a brief announcement on the campus intranet in the month of May. “At the time I sent in my motivation letter, I did not have too high expectations. That changed when I received notification of being selected on 7 June and was expected in Rome at the end of the month. In preparation, I did have to take a number of online classes on 5G and cloud computing, among others, each followed by a test.”
Shortly before leaving for Rome, Tiësto learns that he is the only Belgian to be added to a four-member Dutch team. As it turns out, his new teammates have very little in common apart from the fact that they are studying at a Dutch university. “It’s hard to think of anything more heterogeneous,” confirms Tiësto. “Joris is studying Creative Technology at the University of Twente and is from Germany. Friso already has a degree in International Business and will complete his second bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the University of Groningen next year. Aryan is a Computer Science student at VU Amsterdam from India. And Sascha studied Law at Tilburg University and Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis & Management at TU Delft. She just returned from an Erasmus year in Lisbon and next year she is taking an executive year. Nevertheless, it soon became clear that we shared more than expected such as the passion to expand our horizons and have an impact on the world.”
Power of diversity
After a few brainstorming sessions, team members find each other around the problem of methane emissions in agriculture and livestock. They also agree on a name and a theme. BioBuddy wants to investigate how AI can be used to optimise biogas production. After two days, however, doubt strikes. Does this topic have enough impact? Can we not raise the bar? Isn’t the emphasis too much on improving what already exists? The critical self-reflection that follows bears fruit. The team changed track and decided to develop its own biogas power plant for regions with a high concentration of dairy farms. “In doing so, India soon came into the picture,” continues Tiësto. “Especially since we wanted to come up with a solution that would be useful not only for the farms but also for the surrounding population. Our new concept involves collecting cow dung in India, which is then converted into energy and fertiliser. Or - in short - from Poop to Power.”
This switch threatens to put the team under time pressure but the new dynamic more than makes up for it. The diversity within BioBuddy is a decisive factor in this. “From their discipline and background, each team member brought their own ideas and skills and they soon proved to be very complementary,” says Tiësto. “Our pitch was a good example of this. I myself made the powerpoint. Joris, Aryan and Friso each rehearsed the presentation, from which we then chose the most convincing one for the first round of the trial.”
Final in China
Of the 22 teams, 10 were admitted to the second round. “That took place on the same day, but in front of an extended jury of experts and with a longer question round,” says Tiësto. “Fortunately, our powerpoint still held up and we could really focus on the presentation.”
After a brief sightseeing tour of the city, the party headed to a swanky venue for the closing dinner followed by the awards ceremony. “That one was quite exciting,” notes Tiësto. “In the end, three teams were declared winners. Nordic Shine from Finland won the people’s choice award, Anaphero from Ireland and BioBuddy from the Netherlands/Belgium were crowned regional champions.” The two winners in the European competition will compete against the winners from the other continents in January 2025. This ultimate competition will take place at Huawei’s headquarters in southern China’s Shenzhen.
Until then, several more online meetings are planned with the team members and the mentor,” Tiësto says. “Sustainable agriculture is evolving globally so we need to make sure our concept endures. After the baptism of fire in Rome, we learned to appreciate our differences and make our diversity an asset. Now let’s hope we can do the same in China.”
Yves Persoons
