The theme of digitalisation always makes me think of a black box; as a layman, it can seem almost daunting to me how little many of us understand of such powerful, important developments. That formed the base of this image. Of course a contrary message is central in this issue: GovTech can solve many of our current problems if different disciplines join forces. I wanted to create an image in which the black box is transformed in a pleasant place where citizens want to go to interact with the government. When creating images, I always tend to highlight the whimsical of it all, emphasising the absurd, funny sides of themes in order to lighten them a bit.
‘We see opportunities for reefs on the foundations of wind turbines’
Colophon
Production TU Delft | Innovation & Impact Centre
Jurjen Slump (Editor-in-Chief)
Annemarie Abma (Marketing & distribution)
Jochen Meischke, Leonie Versteeg (Online)
Contributing writers Bennie Mols, Irene Salverda, Bruno van Wayenburg
Infographics & illustrations Hanneke Rozemuller, Anne-Roos van Ommen
Photography Erno Wientjes, Guus Schoonewille
Design Ontwerpwerk
Concept De Nieuwe Lijn
Print Drukkerij van Deventer
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Copyright TU Delft | Innovation & Impact Centre
November 2024
Hanneke Rozemuller
Innovating together
Now that the government is rapidly digitising, it’s important to keep in mind that public services call for a very different approach than commercial services. After all, it revolves around values such as integrity, equality and transparency, rather than maximising profits. That is why we talk about GOVtech instead of BIGtech. Within Digicampus, we have been working on this field with the government, businesses and citizens for five years now. Marijn Jansen and Nitesh Bharosa, the first professor of GovTech in the Netherlands, discuss the opportunities and obstacles for ICT innovation in the public sector.
The benefits of successful government technology are clear: greater efficiency, more people-friendly solutions and less red tape. But what about defense technology? Innovation is key to keep our country and the EU safe and resilient. Yet it remains a contentious issue, that we must continue to discuss with each other. In this edition, we are having that conversation with Chief of Defence Onno Eichelsheim, who visited TU Delft Campus in August.
Of course, we should always remain mindful of the downsides of technology. For instance, offshore wind energy can have profound ecological ramifications despite the major role it will play in helping us achieve our climate goals. When tech experts and ecologists join forces, we can learn to better understand the effects of technological developments on ecosystems and come up with designs that help protect or even enhance nature.
Read all about this and more in the new issue of Pioneering Tech. Finished reading? Then be sure to visit the Pioneering Tech Platform for the latest articles and podcasts or stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter.
Tim van der Hagen, Rector Magnificus and Chairman of the Executive Board
GovTech over BigTech
A NEW MODEL FOR GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
By Bennie Mols
GovTech is the co-development of government technology by public and private parties. And it’s on the rise. GovTech can better safeguard public values and make the government less dependent on tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. The Digicampus collaboration, co-founded by TU Delft, is developing prototypes of GovTech technology, including a successor to DigiD.
Whether in healthcare, public services or energy transition, many organisations face the same problems, such as staff shortages, bureaucracy and complexity. All of these issues involve similar digitalisation puzzles: how can automation combat staff shortages? How can data exchange between different sectors reduce bureaucracy? How can digitalisation help reduce complexity?
“One related problem in this matter is that the companies developing this technology for use by consumers or other companies and not primarily for the government”, says Marijn Janssen, professor of ICT and Governance at TU Delft. “The government must also include public values such as fairness and equality, while these are of much less importance to a company striving to maximise profits. Some companies test the efficacy of their product on consumers. The government can’t do that.”
Digicampus
For years, when the government wanted to deploy technology for service delivery, it issued a tender on which companies could bid. The winner of the tender went on to develop the technology but the government was then stuck with that one vendor.
Digicampus was established in 2019 to encourage a more collaborative, public value-oriented approach to developing technology for government. Located in The Hague Tech building in The Hague, Digicampus is an innovation collaboration between government, business and science, and has several partners, including Logius (see box on page 10), TU Delft, ICTU government advisory organisation, the Association of Dutch Municipalities, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Province of South Holland, and NLdigital, representing the business community. The ecosystem around Digicampus consists of more than 20 partners nationally and in the EU designing future GovTech solutions.
Nitesh Bharosa is the academic director of Digicampus and professor of GovTech & Innovation at TU Delft. He explains that the Dutch government faces three major missions in terms of digitalisation and that Digicampus is betting on all three: “The government wants to (1) give citizens more control over their data and digital identity, (2) simplify public services, which are often too complex and (3) make it easier to responsibly exchange data between different organisations and sectors.”
Bharosa sees Digicampus as a collective tool to shape the government’s digital transformation without making the government dependent on one market party, one ministry or
‘Some companies test the efficacy of their product on consumers’
one implementing agency. “Digicampus brings the Dutch ‘poldercultuur’ - consulting with each other, testing and learning - to the digital domain”, says Bharosa. “Within Digicampus, we not only build prototypes of new technology but also an agreement system around it, such as agreements on the standards that technology must meet and what supervision should look like. So it’s about socio-technical solutions –technical solutions embedded in the social domain.”
GovTech
Bharosa is the world’s first professor of GovTech, a relatively new term first mentioned in EU policy and legislation this year. It arose out of Europe’s realisation that it has become too dependent on BigTech companies for digital technology such as cloud services, social media platforms and the new generative AI applications. These are often American companies, such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, but sometimes Chinese, think Huawei, Tencent and ByteDance (owner of TikTok). The EU uses laws and regulations such as the Digital Services Act and the AI Act in an attempt to curb the power of BigTech but the horse has already bolted. The technology has been around for some time now and is widely developed and used.
Nitesh Bharosa, Academic director of Digicampus and professor GovTech at TU Delft (above) and Marijn Janssen, professor ICT and Governance at TU Delft
The Binnenhof complex in The Hague has been the centre of Dutch political life for centuries.
Doing digital business in a reliable way with TIP
The digital government service Logius, part of the Ministry of the Interior, was instrumental in establishing Digicampus in 2019. It has about 1,100 employees. Most citizens know Logius mainly from the management of DigiD. Marc Winsemius is a business consultant at Logius and is stationed at Digicampus, where he is the manager of the ‘autonomy online’ and ‘proactive services’ programmes. “One of the things Logius is working on is the further development of DigiD”, Winsemius says. “We try to look about 5 to 10 years ahead, and Digicampus is the environment in which we can experiment with the successor to DigiD. Logius also has its own user experience lab where citizens are involved in designing new solutions from the beginning.”
DigiD is intended only for identification purposes during contact between citizens and government or governmentaffiliated organisations such as health insurers, educational institutions and healthcare institutions. The security and peace of mind offered by DigiD could also be offered to citizens in the private domain to securely log in and transact business such as digitally signing purchase contracts, mortgages or employment contracts.
“This is why we are working on a concept called Trusted Information Partners, or TIP for short”, says Sander Boer, an advisor in Logius’ ‘Stelselregie’ department. “TIP enables citizens, organisations, governments and companies to do digital business with each other in a simple, reliable way. We do this by creating standards for reliably sharing data in multiple domains, such as public services, banking and health. Not only will it be possible to digitally sign all kinds of documents, but soon you will also be able to add a declaration of authorisation along with that signature. This could include things such as declaring that you are over 18 or that you are authorised to act on behalf of an organisation.”
The development of TIP is supervised from Digicampus. TIP is a good example of a GovTech collaboration where the government works together with science and the business community, including startups and somewhat larger companies. “Meanwhile, we have also already implemented the first pilots”, Boer says. “Ultimately, we hope to create a kind of ecosystem of solutions where citizens, consumers, organisations and companies have choices, but where those choices are based on the same standards. This is in contrast to the closed BigTech systems in which you cannot easily switch from one provider to another.”
Under the term GovTech, Europe is now trying to create its own alternatives to BigTech solutions so that it can operate strategically and autonomously in the future. “You want to design and develop technology much more proactively with government”, Bharosa says. “At its core, GovTech is about the public and private sectors collaborating on technology to support the digital transformation of government. The idea is for private parties to develop socio-technical solutions for the public sector that can also be used in the private domain, such as banks, insurers and healthcare providers.”
Professor of ICT and Governance Marijn Janssen gives an example of a GovTech application that works in practice: “Citizens have to knock on the government’s door themselves if they think they’re entitled to benefits such as care allowance or rent allowance. However, some citizens with financial problems don’t know that they are entitled to such allowances. To address this, several GovTech solutions are being worked on within Digicampus that allow public service providers to proactively let citizens know when they are entitled to a particular allowance. As part of this, Delft students have contributed to research, prototype development and testing.”
Proactive service provision is possible because the government already possesses a lot of data on citizens. The only issue that had to be resolved was the facilitation of data exchange between different data sources. Digicampus put the development of proactive services on the map, after which it was adopted by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.
Another example lies in the area of digital identity and conducting business online. To this end, a new GovTech solution is currently being built (see box on page 7) that should eventually replace DigiD, which allows the government to digitally verify a person’s identity.
Citizen-centric
Over the past two decades, contact between citizens and the government has become increasingly digital. How are citizens actually included in the development of GovTech? Janssen and Bharosa both stress the great importance of this but also acknowledge that it presents a difficult challenge. Janssen: “Citizens often mainly want a solution for themselves and don’t always see the bigger picture. They don’t usually have insight into the specific challenges of developing GovTech, such as ensuring digital
Over the past two decades, contact between citizens and the government has become increasingly digital
The municipality of The Hague is one of the partners in Digicampus. Over the past five years, it has made strong efforts to bring the GovTech theme to the attention of the central government and has acted as a neutral partner in bringing together start-ups and other companies, universities and ministries in the development of GovTech. For example, the municipality organised conferences around GovTech, ensured that Digicampus was given a European stage, and helped build an EU consortium around GovTech.
The importance of GovTech for the municipality of The Hague is vast, says Branko van Loon, senior program manager in the municipality’s economics department. “First of all, government is one of the largest sectors in our municipality. We want to help the government digitise and we also want to exploit the economic opportunities of GovTech in The Hague. We estimate that the GovTech market in the Netherlands represents about four billion euros and we would like start-ups in particular to seize their opportunities within it.”
The Royal Library of the Netherlands (KB) is just one example of an organisation in The Hague making full use of GovTech. Van Loon: “The library collects everything published in and about the Netherlands and is now one of the most technologically advanced government departments. They are extremely advanced in the use of AI and have the largest server in The Hague. The KB has largely become a tech organisation. The same goes for a company like the national postal agency PostNL, which has its headquarters in The Hague.”
As the International City of Peace and Justice, The Hague also wants to be at the forefront of the ethical application of technology. Van Loon: “When we try to bring companies to The Hague to develop GovTech, we always emphasise that ethical preconditions such as civil rights must be included in tech development from the very start. The great thing is that we turn out to have an interesting export product with that. For example, some time ago we heard from India that ‘if it is developed in the Netherlands, then it will also work for us because we can be assured that privacy is properly safeguarded’.”
The Royal Library has largely become a tech organisation
Digicampus
Collaboration between public agencies, knowledge institutes, companies and citizens (the ‘multi-helix’ approach) is difficult to organise, but speeds up GovTech innovation.
Voice user needs, concerns & public values
User groups
Government agencies
Provide policy challenges
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH, PROTOTYPING, EXPERIMENTATION AND LEARNING
Provide solution components
GovTech providers
Universities
Provide researchers, students, theories, methods, data
Corporates & start-ups
Digicampus
security and data privacy. Digicampus can play a role in this by bringing parties together and making those challenges visible.” Bharosa gives some examples of citizens’ involvement in GovTech development: “We are in close contact with citizen advocacy groups and with the government’s User Central programme, which involves citizens in improving services. Sometimes we even ask citizens themselves to help shape a prototype. A great example of this was an app that allows elderly people to arrange online authorisations for their children. We gathered people from a local retirement home in The Hague to hear their opinions about that app. The gist of the feedback was that they still found it too difficult to arrange an authorisation digitally and preferred to do it in person with an official or a notary. We then passed that conclusion on to the Ministry of Health, as policy maker in this area.”
Resisting technology push
AI technology has rapidly broken through in recent years, including the latest generative AI systems that create new text, audio and video. It’s only logical that the government is also feeling the pressure to figure out whether and how to use AI. Issues such as the benefits scandal and court bans on the System Risk Indication (SyRI) anti-fraud tool have also made the government extra wary of embracing new digital technology too quickly.
The Hague City Hall facade. Over the past five years, the municipality of The Hague has made a strong effort to bring the GovTech theme to the attention of the national government.
‘The first tip is not to shy away from doing nothing’
Does Professor of ICT and Governance Marijn Janssen have any tips for the government on how to responsibly respond to the lightning-fast AI developments? “The first tip”, Janssen says, “is not to shy away from doing nothing, which counteracts the technology push from industry. The government is there for stability. So first go play quietly and calmly in the sandbox instead of wildly experimenting. The government should also not be afraid to honestly say, ‘It’s better not to deploy this piece of technology at this time.’”
“The second tip”. says Janssen, “is that the government should have sufficient technology and organisational knowledge in-house and thus not outsource everything to companies and consultants. The third tip is to use collaboration to counteract the fragmentation of knowledge. There is the danger of different departments within the government all trying to reinvent the wheel. That doesn’t work. TU Delft and Digicampus can play an important role in bringing knowledge together. I see TU Delft as a bit like the chef who brings together the right ingredients in the right proportions - from ethics to technology.” ■
In 2006, Crijn Bouman founded the fast charger startup Epyon, which was acquired by the multinational ABB in 2011. But there’s no stopping a born entrepreneur, so Bouman subsequently started Rocsys in 2019 to develop a robot that automatically plugs in electric vehicles using computer vision and AI. Below are eight words of wisdom from a serial entrepreneur.
Above (left and right)
The Rocsys charging plug
Centre left Crijn Bouman at a test setup
Right (below) The Rocsys innovation uses computer vision and AI
By Bruno van Wayenburg Photos Erno Wientjes
Solving mysteries
How to innovate in a new market?
1
Start simple, it will get complicated later
“In my final year at university, I decided to develop a hydrogen moped. The first issue I encountered was safety: nobody wants hydrogen gas cylinders in their home. Hydrogen is also particularly prone to leaking, so storage and transport would also be a problem. Finally, fuel cells are incapable of delivering high peak power and would therefore have to be paired with a battery. At some point, I realised that projects tend to get more complex as they progress, and this has been the case in all my other development projects. So start simple.”
Find the falling cost curve
2
“We use computer vision, AI and soft robotics. These three technologies are getting progressively cheaper, so we’ll be able to upgrade charging infrastructure cheaply and easily by the time autonomous driving has become widespread 10 years from now.”
Blathering sceptics are a good sign
3
“I know I’m in the right zone when I run into sceptics wherever I go. When we launched Epyon, we heard a lot of people say: ’Electric cars? I’ve never seen one in my life.’ Talking about fast chargers, a man working for a major grid operator told me that they would cause province-wide blackouts, which is utter nonsense. Everyone was telling tall tales and the same now applies to for autonomous mobility. So I feel like I’m back in the zone all over again.”
The best experience is no experience
4
“Our customers either operate a fleet or spend their days transporting goods or people. Charging vehicles is the last thing they have on their minds, which is why we want to make it an invisible link in the chain, a fully automated process in which vehicles drive to the charging station, get plugged in and are charged without anyone having to worry about it.”
5
Find people who aren’t like you
“When you first launch a start-up, you need innovators. People like me who are itching to do something new. As the technology evolves, however, you’ll need people with other skill sets, such as perfecting the technology you’ve developed. A team of five innovators will come up with a brilliant new idea every day but they’ll get nothing done. You have to surround yourself with people who are different from yourself.”
Corporates are heaven and hell
6
“Multinationals like ABB, which acquired Epyon, excel at incremental innovation. Taking a crystallised concept with a clear-cut market and tweaking it bit by bit is their bread and butter. But they’re much less skilled at concocting new solutions for novel markets, so my advice to corporates looking to innovate is to set up a separate unit and forget about it turning a profit for the first five years. It’s very difficult but we got it right with ABB. However, having a corporate behind you really pays off when it comes to scaling up, rolling out a global service network or running promotional campaigns abroad.”
Solve a mystery
7
“One of Epyon’s San Francisco-based customers had bought a raft of chargers but was rather secretive about how they were going to use them, so I just decided to drop by during a trip to San Francisco. I found them in a large warehouse, a test track for autonomous vehicles, and sitting in the corner was a man whose sole task was to plug in cars returning from their trip. I jokingly told them they should automate this job too, and that ended up being one of the insights that sparked the idea for Rocsys.”
We’re missing the boat. Again.
8
“I was in San Francisco last September and took around six self-driving taxis during my time there. It’s like stepping into the future. You download the app and order a car, and it takes you to your destination without a single incident. The market is full of US, Korean and Chinese companies but there are zero European players at this level. Once again, we’re falling behind.” ■
Every new green hydrogen plant is a ‘world’s first’
By Jurjen Slump Photos RWE
Green hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition by largely fuelling non-electrifiable sectors such as heavy industry. Energy company RWE is involved in several innovative hydrogen projects and, although the hydrogen transition is facing delays, RWE’s Director of Hydrogen Netherlands Lijs Groenendaal remains unwaveringly optimistic. “A lot is going well.”
There’s certainly no lack of ambition. The goal for the Netherlands is to become a major European hydrogen hub, covering both generation and transport. Building and connecting various hydrogen networks - known as the backbone in the industryshould give the regional hydrogen market a major shot in the arm. Gasunie started building a nationwide hydrogen network only last year and promising agreements on the so-called Delta Rhine Corridor have been reached with Germany.
Gateway to Northwestern Europe
This corridor forms the backbone part between the port of Rotterdam and North Rhine-Westphalia, running through southern Limburg to provide renewable hydrogen to several industrial clusters along the way (Chemelot, Ruhr area). Industry’s need for green hydrogen is so great that a significant proportion will be imported via the port of Rotterdam from where it will be transported to the German hinterland via the Delta Rhine Corridor. In Gasunie’s words, the Netherlands will become a “gateway for hydrogen to Northwestern Europe.”
But legislation and other practical hurdles stand between the concept and reality. Former Energy Minister Rob Jetten wrote to the House of Representatives this summer stating that construction of the Delta Rhine Corridor is four years behind schedule and the project is not set to be completed before 2032. The nationwide network will also be ready later than planned: not in 2027 but in 2030 at the earliest.
Eemshaven hydrogen plant
What are RWE’s views on the matter? “I’ve seen a lot of good things happen in recent years but I cannot deny that some delay has crept in”, Groenendaal explains. There are two main reasons for this. The first is infrastructure. “We are developing a large hydrogen plant in Eemshaven but how do you get hydrogen to big customers in Rotterdam if you don’t have the infrastructure?”
The second reason is policy. By 2030, producers will be required to blend green hydrogen with their regular hydrogen but the specifics are yet to be crystallised. The same producers, however, will need some degree of clarity about expected demand soon.
“As this would enable us to start building and making investments”, says Groenendaal, urging the government to speed up. The key ingredient for accelerating infrastructure - and therefore the hydrogen transition as a whole - is large-scale purchasing.
“Without demand, no supplier will build pipelines and plants.”
Rising network costs are also slowing down investment, with the expansion and reinforcement of the electrical grid pushing costs to a ‘multiple’ of the costs in neighbouring countries. “Costs are one of the reasons why green hydrogen investment has been slow”, Groenendaal concludes.
Battery and electrolyser combined: the first demonstration system of the TU Delft spin-off Battolyser Systems is located at the RWE Magnum power plant in Eemshaven.
Lijs Groenendaal
Lijs Groenendaal studied Petroleum Engineering in Delft between 1989 and 1996 before starting to work at Fugro, Total and Shell. Her work at Shell included developing Holland Hydrogen I, Europe’s largest green hydrogen plant, which is being built on the Maasvlakte. In 2023, Groenendaal joined RWE as director of hydrogen development Netherlands.
Scaling up electrolysis technology
Nevertheless, RWE is not sitting idly by. Until the national hydrogen network is ready, the company is working on ‘energy islands’ around industrial clusters such as in Groningen around Eemshaven. “There are always buyers to be found in these clusters, so we’re now trying to match supply and demand locally.”
The company is also extensively experimenting with new techniques to produce renewable hydrogen. This summer, the company opened an energy hub in Lingen just across the German border, with two different electrolysers that are tested in an industrial environment. The first electrolyser harnesses the principle of alkaline electrolysis (10 megawatts, consisting of four modules of 15 tonnes each), while the other uses a polymer electrolyte membrane (4 megawatts).
Battolyser Systems
The pilot plant in Lingen provides the company with a lot of expertise, required to scale up. As a ballpark figure, today’s hydrogen plants generate an aggregate of 300-400 megawatts but all the projects in motion today will end up totalling dozens of gigawatts, Groenendaal says. “However, everything still has to be built. There are no large electrolysis plants anywhere in the world yet. Every plant we build is a world first.”
Hardware innovations have been developed at breakneck pace in recent years. Among others, RWE is collaborating with the Delft spin-off Battolyser Systems, which has integrated a battery and electrolyser into a single device. The first demo system was installed at the RWE Magnum power plant in Eemshaven, and Groenendaal believes that this superinnovative technology will help solve grid congestion.
The RWE energy hub in Lingen where two different electrolysers are being tested
Link with offshore wind
RWE’s biggest customers will likely be companies that can electrify operations only to a limited degree, such as businesses in the chemical industry and major refiners like Shell, Total and Exxon. In the Netherlands, industry accounts for about 25 percent of the country’s carbon emissions. The renewable hydrogen needed for the transition will largely be produced from renewable electricity generated by offshore wind farms, provided that some major technological hurdles can be overcome.
“If you link electrolysers to a wind farm, you have to make sure that they can track wind turbine production. The problem is that wind farm output varies but customers often want a stable volume”, Groenendaal explains. “How do you make up for the difference between wind turbine production and customer demand? How much storage do you need? We’ll have to come up with very clever ways to make that link. You can simulate everything with software but actually getting it done is very complex.”
Smart innovations
Groenendaal also expects AI to play an increasing role in predicting supply and demand. However, there’s a lot of scientific research yet to be done, some of which is now being conducted as part of the OranjeWind project. Situated 53 kilometres off the Dutch coast, this wind farm is a joint project between RWE and TotalEnergies and is set to become a blueprint for the integration of offshore wind farms into the Dutch energy system.
The company is testing numerous new smart innovations in collaboration with Dutch knowledge institutions such as TU Delft. After all, hydrogen will also play an important role in solving grid congestion. “Hydrogen converts electrons into molecules that can then be transported and stored, so it effectively relieves the grid”, says Groenendaal. “Electrolysis is an important part of good system integration.”
Two gigawatts of hydrogen by 2030
RWE is investing €55 billion in the energy transition worldwide until 2030. In doing so, the company that grew big on lignite will end up going green itself. RWE has already stopped investing in coal and is in the process of converting existing plants to biomass plants. “RWE’s strength is that we offer all types of energy side by side: gas, biomass, coal until 2030 and increasingly wind, solar, hydro, batteries, e-boilers and hydrogen.” Its ambition is to be able to supply two gigawatts of hydrogen by 2030, a significant part of which will be produced in the Netherlands.
However, it will need to rely on others to help make that happen. “I don’t think anyone can do this alone.” All key players in the sector, policymakers and scientists should continue to seek each other out and work together on innovation. “So my message is a positive one: lots of things are going well and we have reason to put our shoulders to the wheel together, starting regionally and scaling up once a national network has been pieced together. We just have to go out and do it.” ■
Hydrogen network
Potential (offshore)
hydrogen network
Industrial cluster
Import
Hydrogen storage (salt cavern)
Import terminal
TU Delft – RWE partnership
TU Delft collaborates with RWE in various projects in the field of energy transition. In addition to OranjeWind, there is also a research programme led by TNO in the field of system integration and modeling of the Dutch energy system. In addition to RWE and TU Delft, Utrecht University, the University of Groningen and TU Eindhoven are also involved.
The hydrogen network is being built in phases. The goal is for the network to be completely operational in 2030. Source: Hynetwork
Den Helder
Northern Netherlands
Zuidwending
Belgium
Germany
Ruhr area
Limburg
Antwerp
Rotterdam
Zeeland
North Sea Canal area
Ghent
Mizusense is a startup working on biodegradable chips that are printed on paper. As an initial application, the company focuses on agriculture, where inexpensive sensors can significantly reduce water consumption.
Chips on paper
Right Bugra Kuloglu Below Chips printed on paper
By Jurjen Slump Photos Mizusense
Bugra Kuloglu calls in from his hometown of Zongudak (Turkey) from where the still young company is run. He’s working on a first round of investment and, once that is closed, he wants to open an office in the Netherlands. He’s no stranger to the country and Delft in particular. Before founding Mizusense, Kuloglu led Appsilon Enterprise, which is located in NEXT Delft. The company produces diamonds that are grown in a laboratory and can be used in applications for quantum computers and sensors.
Bugra, going from growing diamonds to biodegradable chips is quite a step. How did you get to this point?
“That is thanks to Ryoichi Ishihara, the co-founder of Mizusense. He’s an associate professor at TU Delft and is also involved in QuTech, where he works on the application of synthetic diamonds in quantum computers. That’s how I got to know him at Appsilon. However, he also has a groundbreaking invention to his name when it comes to printing chips on paper. My journey at Appsilon came to an end last year and I then decided to work with Ishihara to commercialize his invention. He as Scientific Advisor, me as CEO.”
What does Ishihara’s invention consist of?
“Ishihara was the first to successfully print a silicon chip on biodegradable paper. This brings a series of new applications within reach. Think of displays on a milk carton that show the shelf life. Printed electronics on paper are much cheaper and much better for the environment. The scientific challenge was to print the chips on the paper without it catching fire, which Ishihara and his team have succeeded in doing using a groundbreaking new technique.
Printed electronics have been around for a while, think of sensors to measure tyre pressure. What added value will Mizusense offer, apart from sustainability and lower costs?
“Existing printed electronics do indeed have numerous applications. However, those are semiconductors printed with organic materials or metal oxide and lack the
‘With our sensor, farmers can save up to 3,000 cubic metres per hectare’
performance of silicon in terms of reliability, energy consumption and electronics. That’s why it has been difficult to develop products for agriculture, for example.”
Mizusense focuses on agriculture. Why?
“Water scarcity is a major problem globally. It leads to high irrigation costs in areas with little water and where farmers depend on desalinated seawater. We want to develop the first biodegradable moisture sensor for agriculture, which forms the basis for an irrigation schedule. This allows arable farmers to save 40 per cent on water. There are a total of 90,000 hectares of greenhouses in Agadir (Morocco) and Almería (Spain), which together use nearly 1 billion cubic metres of water. With our sensor, farmers can save up to 3,000 cubic metres per hectare.”
Is it really that important that the sensors are made of paper and therefore biodegradable?
“Yes, paper is inexpensive and will greatly reduce costs. It will be the cheapest chip in the world. The biodegradability also ensures that maintenance costs are reduced, because you can simply leave them in the ground and they’ll be gone after three years. Moreover, these sensors do not affect the soil.”
Why do you want to establish Mizusense in the Netherlands?
“The Netherlands is a pioneer in both semiconductor and agricultural technologies and we are in the ideal innovation ecosystem here to develop and implement this technology. TU Delft offers the right ecosystem to develop new semiconductor technologies and, at Wageningen University, we participated in the acceleration programme for agriculture. This enables us to benefit from the networks and expertise of both universities.”
What else can you do with printed biodegradable chips? What does the future hold?
“This technology paves the way for many innovations. Think of clothing equipped with sensors or the production of low-cost, flexible solar panels and a supercapacitor that can be used instead of a battery. Biodegradable chips are also suitable for use in healthcare, such as detecting diseases in the human body. And all that at extremely low costs. ■
As you depart from Schiphol and look out over the North Sea, you’ll see ‘islands’ of slender, white wind turbines looming below. It’s a serene, futuristic landscape that stands in stark contrast to the deep blue sea. Although the North Sea wind farms already have a capacity of 4.5 gigawatts, the Netherlands continues to plot substantial growth, aiming for 21 gigawatts by 2030 and 70 gigawatts by 2050. Wind technologists eagerly sink their teeth into the challenge of designing bigger, more powerful turbines, while others focus on those tried and tested drivers of progress: cost reduction and optimisation.
Although every effort is being made to achieve the ambitious Dutch climate goals, there are also signs that the rapid expansion of wind farms in the North Sea could cause unintended ecological damage. The last thing we want is for our energy ambitions to cause irreversible harm to marine life or, as with the nitrogen crisis, run into major ecological obstacles that bring the construction sector to a grinding halt. In other words, how do we guarantee that our energy ambitions do not harm the fragile North Sea ecosystem?
Tim Raaijmakers
TU Delft Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Migratory birds have to avoid the turbines, and other species suffer from or even succumb to the noise produced by offshore installation projects. The rapid expansion of wind farms off the Dutch coast is causing increasing concern about their ecological impact. Tim Raaijmakers, programme manager of TU Delft’s Wind Energy Institute, stresses the importance of taking the ecological risks seriously. “Here in Delft, we look beyond technological developments alone and also examine the ecological corollaries of rapid growth”, he explains.
The direct impact on birds and sea mammals, for instance, is highly visible but wind farms also have less immediately visible effects. “In fact, they have the potential to affect entire ecosystems”, warns Raaijmakers. “The tidal currents and waves around the foundations cause eddies and turbidity that could harm the food chain by mixing sea layers.”
Ecological conundrums
The power cables between the wind turbines may also have an impact, the exact consequences of which are still unknown. “Ecologists suspect that the electromagnetic fields created by these cables disrupt the navigation and foraging behaviour of sharks and rays”, Raaijmakers explains. His team has now joined forces with ecologists from Wageningen University & Research, the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University to investigate these issues. “We should take the nitrogen crisis as an object lesson, so that the building process doesn’t grind to a halt 10 years from now due to ecological issues that could have been prevented with more diligent research.”
EcoWind Toolbox
That collaboration has already produced surprising insights, revealing risks as well as opportunities. Raaijmakers holds up a cartoon of a contented flatfish lounging in a luxurious ‘fish hotel’ built into a foundation. “It’s not actually that cushy”, he admits, “but we are working with ecologists to figure out ways for the foundations and accompanying seabed protection works to double as breeding grounds and reefs.” However, the
foundations will have to be redesigned without jeopardising cost efficiency and robustness.
The EcoWind Toolbox programme proposal was recently submitted to NWO Perspective and promises a technological toolbox packed with solutions to ecological challenges. “We’re looking to examine ecological impact from all sides and to harness the insights for developing a flexible decision-making model that can adapt to new insights gleaned from ecological monitoring.”
Wind farm testing
Raaijmakers relishes the prospect of setting up more lines of research in concert with ecologists and is a firm proponent of installing offshore test rigs in wind farms to learn how to build truly ecologically-aware structures. “It won’t be cheap but it will help the Netherlands maintain its position at the bleeding edge of research and technology.”
Reindert Nijland Wageningen University & Research
According to Reindert Nijland, associate professor of molecular marine ecology at Wageningen University & Research, the fact that wind farms affect the North Sea ecosystem is beyond dispute. “We all agree that the Netherlands has no other option but to achieve its ambitious climate targets and that offshore wind energy is a crucial part of the accompanying energy transition. That being said, we must avoid causing irreparable ecological damage by rushing headfirst into countless construction projects.” Nijland’s face lights up when he talks about the rich North Sea ecosystem: “Just before the summer, I spent a week diving. The underwater world is one of unimaginable wealth: cod, rocks covered with anemones and
However, although the installation itself is brief, it causes significant disturbance and produces underwater noise and vibrations that can drive away or even kill animals.
The long-term effects of offshore wind farms are still largely unknown. Nijland stresses the importance of oversight: “It’s crucial that we embed proper monitoring into offshore construction processes. At the same time, we have to keep building while developing technologies to reduce ecological impact. We need ecological stepping stones to keep moving forward.”
Nature-based solutions
soft coral, enormous crabs and lobsters. Despite large-scale fishing and shipping, our North Sea is home to a veritable treasure trove of life.”
Disturbance, rest and recovery
For several years, Nijland and his colleagues have been closely involved in research into ecological changes around offshore wind farms and have observed both negative and positive effects. “The ban on fishing around wind farms means that the seabed is given time to rest and recover after the installation process. New species settle around the foundations and spawning grounds and reef-like structures emerge that may have a beneficial effect on the food chain”, he explains.
Partnerships with TU Delft’s technologists have already sparked many new ideas and projects. “There are great opportunities for reefs forming on the foundations, which would be an excellent nature-based solution”, Nijland begins. “While we have lofty aspirations, the technological know-how of our colleagues from Delft keeps us grounded by pointing out that not all species can survive the enormous forces produced by waves during storms.”
Nijland’s main concern is the rapid pace at which new wind farms are springing up. “We need to make sure there’s enough time and space for thorough ecological research and embedding sound monitoring instruments to understand how the aggregate ecological impact will affect the North Sea and how we can prevent irreversible damage.”
Below left Great spider crab on a shipwreck. Above Wind turbines in the North Sea.
PHOTO
Stas
Verichev Vibrotwist
Imagine a gigantic pile disappearing effortlessly into the ground without so much as a peep or even a single vibration. The new method aptly known as Gentle Driving of Piles (GDP) gently ‘sinks’ wind turbine foundations into the seabed and the vibrations produced in the process are barely perceptible. This innovative technology is being developed by Vibrotwist, a spin-off from TU Delft helmed by creative minds Stas Verichev and Professor Andrei Metrikine.
“GDP has the potential to drastically reduce the environmental impact of wind farm installation by reducing underwater noise and harmful vibrations in the seabed”, Verichev explains. Traditionally, piles are driven into the seabed with great force, with bubble curtains used as sound dampeners. The continued demand for more powerful turbines with foundations becoming bigger and heavier means that this technology alone is no longer enough. According to Verichev, “Vibrotwist is a sustainable alternative to bubble curtains, which cause all sorts of delays and require countless extra vessels. You only need a single vessel for GDP, which makes it more efficient and better for the environment.”
Leader in offshore technology
In addition to Vibrotwist, other quiet technologies are also being developed to reduce the impact of installing foundations, including Vibrojet technology by GBM Works, which uses water injection to dampen vibrations. IQ piling from IHC IQIP is a pulse hammer that combines vibratory piling with a controlled impact system. “The Netherlands is a leader in offshore construction and the development of new technologies”, says Verichev, “but we have to keep investing in innovative research like GDP. We can’t afford to rest on our laurels.”
100% reuse
Verichev’s team and offshore company Ampelmann are developing prototypes that are being tested on increasingly large piles and can withstand impact and heavy loads. Tests have already been carried out at the Maasvlakte but the company plans to test at sea soon. “GDP can be used for the pile installation and removal process, enabling 100% reuse of materials while ensuring that sites can be reused for new wind turbines”, Verichev concludes.
Vibrotwist test setup at the Maasvlakte.
Florentine van der Wind Ministry of Climate and Green Growth
“The North Sea is already under great pressure”, says Florentine van der Wind, Offshore Wind & Nature coordinator. “Shipping, fishing and pollution have tremendously negative effects, not to mention climate change. The ecological challenges posed by offshore wind energy are just another brick in the wall.”
The North Sea countries have different rules regarding the protection of the natural environment, which further complicates the process of protecting the fragile ecosystem.
“We urgently need to work together and come up with a joint strategy to protect biodiversity while realising our sustainable energy ambitions. By joining forces, we can keep the North Sea healthy for the foreseeable future.” The North Sea Agreement, with its provisions on the rollout of wind farms in the North Sea, is a promising stepping stone.
Doing a good job
“While there’s still a lot we don’t know about the effects on the ecosystem, the Netherlands is doing a good job”, says Van der Wind, citing as an example the Ecological Programme for Dutch Offshore Wind (Nederlandse Wind op Zee Ecologisch Programma WOZEP), which has studied the effects of offshore wind farms on protected species since 2016. “We also factor in natural values as much as possible when designating areas for offshore wind energy. Whatever happens, there will be no wind farms in Natura2000 areas.” The contracts for large-scale wind farms will be awarded as part of a tender process administered by the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, which will
reward innovation and nature protection. Mandatory mitigation measures, such as standards for underwater noise, are included in the corresponding plot decisions. “Under the Framework for Assessing Ecological and Cumulative Effects, WOZEP is continuously refining ways to assess the impact of offshore wind farms and thus promoting innovation to further reduce the impact of wind turbines.”
Keep pushing forward
“We desperately need to accelerate the energy transition if we are to reach our climate targets”, says Van der Wind, “but that doesn’t mean we can simply neglect its ecological impact. Still, we need to keep pushing forward with deliberate innovation.” Measures should be effective, feasible and affordable. “That’s what makes triple helix collaboration so important.” ■
Vulnerable ecosystems in the North Sea: schooling pout and a European lobster.
Learning for Life Empowering Professionals
UNMANNED VALLEY
At the forefront
Managing director Theo de Vries on the Unmanned Valley grounds.
Bruno van Wayenburg Photos Erno Wientjes
UNMANNED VALLEY
The control tower in the distance and the test field’s tarmac are reminders of Unmanned Valley’s past: this airfield nestled between Wassenaar and Leiden used to be called Naval Air Station Valkenburg. However, you would be hardpressed to find a traditional pilot there nowadays because Unmanned Valley has since become a hub for drone and sensor technology.
The former military building has undergone a complete makeover. Community manager Dietmar Lander gives us a tour and, upon entering, we find a group of MBO College Airport students engaged in a lively discussion in a spacious hall with a model of a blunt Marlyn drone with wings in the background. You might just run into “the best drone pilots in the Netherlands”, says Lander as he guides us around these hallowed halls.
The site is home to some 14 drone organisations, from DroneVolt, which makes drones to order, and Nova Sky Stories, a specialist in drone-powered light shows, to educators such as the Drone Flight Academy and MBO College Airport.
“We’re essentially the linchpin between all those organisations”, managing director Theo de Vries states. Unmanned Valley offers companies test facilities, including the test field from which Orion aircraft used
to take off, and a hangar in which Dutch racers train for the Dutch drone racing championships and more.
Network between hospitals
“One of the most striking projects is the station that ANWB is testing”, De Vries says. In the corner of the test field, they have set up a large metal box from which drones can take off automatically. De Vries: “The aim is to set up a drone network between hospitals to speed up and automate the transport of blood samples, medication and even organs in the future.”
Although for that to happen, the law on drones will have to change since they’ll have to fly without a pilot’s direct supervision. “Automation is essential in order to unlock the major social and economic added value of drones”, Lander says. Parcel delivery, building or wind turbine inspections, up-to-date maps of agricultural fields, and security are but a handful of applications that will rely heavily on BVLOS, which stands for Beyond Visual Line of Sight, the technical term for flights without a a pilot in sight.
“BVLOS is hamstrung by current legislation but Unmanned Valley is working hard to make a change”, says De Vries. Several test flights have already been carried out within a dedicated corridor - a small strip of
At Unmanned Valley everything revolves around flying.
‘Not all drones have good intentions. Counter-drone security is becoming increasingly important’
Above Unmanned Valley is located in a renovated, former defense building.
Below Theo de Vries
airspace above the uninhabited dunes between Valkenburg and the North Sea - with drone pilots guiding the flights along the way. If Unmanned Valley had its way, the corridor would also be extended to Rotterdam, but they’ll have to wait for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management for permission for ‘real’ BVLOS.
De Vries: “They’ve said it’ll be another two years but we can’t wait that long. That’s why we’re trying our hardest to show that it is safe, that the technology works and that we can control the airspace.”
Counter drone technology
Partly for this reason, the roof is densely packed with radar and radio equipment, says De Vries. “The equipment can spot everything in the sky, even the smallest birds, and is used for counter-drone technology, another Unmanned Valley expertise. After all, not all drones are operated with good intentions. Counter-drone security is becoming increasingly important at major events or political summits, as are detection and authorisation.”
“We don’t bring down drones here”, says De Vries, although Drone Dynamics did demonstrate its net-based downing system at a recent drone conference.
Besides drones, Unmanned Valley is also used to develop sensor technology, from radars to radiocommunication. The defence company Marshall, for example, produces shelters, which are ready-made military command centres packed with equipment.
“Developments are happening at break-neck pace”, says De Vries. “In the next phase, we’ll see software companies offer automated drones as a service, so you won’t have to buy one yourself.” Hydrogen-powered drones are another upcoming development. In the long run, we might even see manned drone flights. De Vries: “We’ll have a meaningful role to play for the foreseeable future.” ■
‘Collaboration is necessary for a resilient society’
CHIEF OF DEFENCE VISITS DELFT
In late August, the Netherlands Chief of Defence Onno Eichelsheim visited the TU Delft Campus. He met with the Executive Board as well as the Defence-Related Research Project Group to explore potential partnerships between the Ministry of Defence and the University that will contribute to state-of-the-art armed forces and a resilient society. He spoke with ‘Pioneering Tech’ after the visit. According to Eichelsheim, “We don’t have a minute to waste”.
Photos Ministry of Defence
What is your message for TU Delft?
“It’s a broad message. First of all, it’s essential that the Dutch armed forces continue to develop into a modern army capable of weathering any threats that come our way. Given the breakneck speed at which technology is developing, especially in fields such as AI, quantum technology and autonomous systems, we need the help of knowledge institutes and academia to ensure we stay ahead. And if you want to stay at the front of the pack, you need to work together.
“Secondly, we need to maintain society’s resilience. There’s a lot of common ground. We must take precautions to ensure that society stays up and running in the event of disasters, crises or power outages. The energy transition, for example, is particularly vulnerable if we do not properly secure our North Sea wind farms. Cyber security innovations and advancements will prove crucially important both to keeping our vital infrastructure safe and to making the armed forces and the Ministry of Defence more resilient. Universities like TU Delft will have a key role to play.”
‘We must take precautions to ensure that society stays up and running in the event of disasters, crises or power outages’
How urgent are matters?
“We must not take anything for granted. That energy is a given, that the freedom we have is a given. It is not so. We’re constantly under attack; cyber-attacks have become an everyday occurrence and bad actors are trying to undermine society with fake news. Some of these attacks are linked to the war in Ukraine, and our analyses suggest that the Russian Federation could move on the Baltic states within the next few years. The risk is steadily increasing and the time factor is rapidly shrinking. The worst thing we could be is unprepared.”
In what fields would you like closer ties with TU Delft?
“We’re already working closely in multiple areas. The Ministry of Defence identified five key priorities: intelligent systems, sensors, smart materials, space and quantum. They all happen to be fields in which TU Delft has ample expertise, which is why we are so keen to work with academics on research that will help make society resilient and also benefit the Ministry of Defence. Quantum technology, for instance, is poised to have an enormous impact on cyber security, and partnering with researchers will help us stay abreast of the latest developments and ensure that our communication systems remain secure. We desperately need this knowledge.”
Technology plays an important role in armed conflict and increasingly harnesses highly fundamental research. In the face of these developments, how can we guarantee compliance with the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law?
“Various fundamental agreements have been made on this under international humanitarian law. We’re also in favour of making international agreements on the responsible use of AI in military contexts, such as requiring autonomous systems to always have a person in the loop, or demanding that algorithms be transparent and explainable.”
Collaboration is in line with TU Delft’s mission
TU Delft’s mission is ‘impact for a better society’. Societal challenges are leading in this. In times of increasing geopolitical tensions, this also means an effective focus on developing innovative defence technology when society demands it. Cooperation with defense and the defense industry takes place in a balanced manner.
Read more about our approach here:
The Ministry of Defence focuses on intelligent systems, sensors, smart materials, space and quantum
AI has already had a profound impact on the modern battlefield. How do the armed forces deal with AI? What precautions have you taken to avoid illegal implementations?
“Developments are moving very fast and if we deploy AI in military contexts, which the Dutch armed forces always do responsibly, it’s important that laws and legislation keep up with these developments. Otherwise, we risk falling behind. AI is a crucial technology that requires quick action and concerted efforts. That’s one of the reasons why we’re part of the ELSA Lab Defense, which is working with various knowledge partners to develop a methodology for the responsible use of military AI. We don’t have a minute to waste.”
Military-university partnerships are controversial. What would you say to students, researchers and staff who object on principle?
“First of all, I understand their concerns. At the same time, we have to realise that we need the armed forces to protect the world as we know it today, along with all the values and norms we hold dear. A modern armed force is a deterrent but you need state-of-the-art technology to build one. It may be an inconvenient or unpalatable truth, but it’s a truth nonetheless.”
‘We need the armed forces to protect the world as we know it today’
That might not be enough to change people’s minds.
“I appreciate that people have mixed feelings but virtually all our technology is dual use, which means it also has civilian applications. Ultimately, the investments you make and the research you do to develop military technology also have a positive effect on society. GPS and the internet, for example, were originally military technologies. Regularly sitting down with researchers and students to explain what role the military plays in keeping society safe and resilient will likely improve mutual understanding.” ■
Let’s innovate with impact for a better society
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Biotech Booster the investor
DRAGONS’ DEN FOR BIOTECH
The Netherlands is renowned for its leading biotech research, yet it produces an underwhelming number of practical applications. Biotech Booster was designed to shake this up through targeted investment in promising ideas and getting entrepreneurs involved at an early stage. The programme was set up with funding from the National Growth Fund and has been operational since May 2024. Biotech Booster is helmed by biotechnologist Nettie Buitelaar. “We have industry and academia meet at an earlier stage.”
By Jurjen Slump Photos Biotech Booster, TU Delft
Delft researchers are scaling up sustainable bioprocesses for industrial use in the Zero Emission Biotechnology project. The Zero Emission Biotechnology research programme of TU Delft specialises in biotechnology for reducing and reusing CO2 emissions, in partnership with industry.
What was the reason for establishing Biotech Booster?
“The Netherlands is at the forefront of biotech from a scientific point of view. Although a large number of publications and registered patents are produced here, fewer new products and services emerge from these novel insights than you might expect. No one really knows why, but a lack of entrepreneurial ambition among academics may play a role. It also often involves a combination of factors such as funding or the lack of good role models.”
How are you going to change that?
“Biotech Booster is a unique coalition of knowledge institutions and industry. In 2022, we were allocated €246 million from the National Growth Fund to accelerate the transformation of biotechnology knowledge into relevant innovations. We have worked hard to get the organisation up and running since then and expect to admit the first 50 projects to our programme this year.”
How does Biotech Booster work?
“Consisting of three phases, the programme aims to offer both financial support and expertise. We have around 40 business developers traversing the country to scout and mentor promising ideas at research universities, universities of applied sciences and beyond. The goal is for these projects to deliver a proof of principle so that the most promising ideas can be developed into a proof of concept in the next phase. The remaining teams get support and guidance to help commercialise their invention in the scale-out phase. In the first phase, projects can apply for up to €200,000 in funding, with proof of concept projects getting up to €1.9 million.”
What themes are you interested in?
We have five thematic clusters: Industrial Biotechnology & Production, Agrifood Biotechnology, ATMPs [advanced therapy medicinal products] and Biopharmaceuticals, Diagnostics and Services, and Vaccines and Small Molecules. TU Delft mainly excels in the first cluster, which is one of the reasons why the manager of the industrial biotech cluster, Cornelis Mijnders, is also based in Delft. The entire innovation ecosystem in Delft - including Planet.bio, Biotech Campus Delft and DSM - has also been linked to Biotech Booster.”
What makes Biotech Booster unique?
“We bring in biotech entrepreneurs at a very early stage and have compiled a pool of 130 top-performing business owners who are involved in projects from the get-go. Proof of concept project proposals also consist of a pitch to our entrepreneurial panel, followed by an extensive round of questions. The independent opinion of our entrepreneurs is decisive, which is our way of ensuring that projects meet market needs and wishes. We also involve experts at an early stage who assist us with issues such as the compliance of new drugs with various laws, regulations and requirements, which researchers often know little about.”
So you’re more than just an investor?
“Our programme marks the first time that all the different parts of the Dutch biotech sector have joined forces. And that is just fantastic! While industry and academia were never entirely separate
Nettie Buitelaar
Dr. ir. Nettie Buitelaar MBA is a biotechnologist with years of experience in both business and leading public-private partnerships. She has been the director of the Leiden Bio Science Park and director of the successful BioPartner programme from which dozens of new biotech companies have emerged.
worlds, Biotech Booster brings the two together at a very early stage. The programme is intended to be and remain a learning system but we must also stimulate entrepreneurship in academia. If you ask me, every researcher has a duty to consider whether their findings can make an impact outside academia.”
But has there been a return on investment?
“Absolutely. We lose our money when a project fails. But if a team advances to the proof of concept phase and decides to bring in other investors, we’ll want to recoup some of our investment because we gave them the push that enabled them to take that step. The same applies to projects leading to an exit. Over time, Biotech Booster will need to be funded with the programme’s own proceeds, which we can then use to support subsequent projects. This would enable us to continue under our own steam when the grant from the Growth Fund ends after 2031.”
What biotech breakthroughs do you expect in the coming years? What radical innovations will we see?
“It’s too early to tell, but there are a few clear trends. A lot is happening around ATMPs, drugs for cell therapy, gene therapy and tissue engineering. Many steps can also be taken in the field of production processes involving fermentation to produce more efficiently with less waste. Circularity is an important issue in all areas.”
The National Growth Fund has been discontinued and the new government has announced plans to cut higher education spending. What does this affect innovation?
“You have to realise that cutting back on scientific research will lead to the gradual depletion of the valorisation pipeline, resulting in fewer new products and less new knowledge. Our future prosperity will inevitably be affected, which was exactly why the National Growth Fund was set up in the first place - so it could contribute to the country’s long-term earning capacity. Hacking at the roots affects the entire tree.” ■
Smart solutions for better water management
For more than 30 years, Nick van de Giesen, professor of water management at TU Delft, has been working with African partners to develop accessible water solutions. His current main interest is the innovative deployment of geoinformation services, which use data from satellite imagery, maps and local sensors. “It provides crucial rainfall and flooding data that are crucial for to agriculture, urban areas and water reservoirs.”
By Irene Salverda
Photos TU Delft
Driven by climate change, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common in Africa. Prolonged droughts cause fields to wither, while sudden downpours flood villages and towns. With these extreme events threatening both agricultural and urban areas, the potential of geo-informatics to provide solutions to these issues is becoming increasingly evident.
Plentiful opportunities
According to Van de Giesen, geoinformation services are a source of plentiful opportunities. “Here in the Netherlands, we have a hundred experts for every water-related issue, but in Africa, one expert has to solve a hundred problems on their own.” As part of the four-year TWIGA research and innovation project, which ended last year, TU Delft researchers worked with African partners, including universities, meteorological service providers and NGOs, to investigate ways to enhance satellite data with innovative sensors to provide better information on weather, water and the climate.
“Better forecasts can mean the difference between a bountiful harvest and a failed one”, Van de Giesen
explains. “The combination of satellite imagery, soil moisture data and models enables us to accurately predict the start of the rainy season and, therefore, the best time to sow the fields.” Armed with this information, farmers won’t have to waste their precious seeds any longer.
Solutions that work locally
Of the nearly 20 innovations tested as part of the TWIGA project, only a few proved viable, which isn’t actually a bad thing, argues Van de Giesen. As part of the four-year TEMBO innovation project, massive steps are now being taken in the further development of the ‘winning’ services - solutions for small-scale farmers, medium-sized towns and water reservoirs. “It’s about developing solutions that work locally”, he stresses, “which is why our project partners in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia play a bigger role in TEMBO than we do. They know exactly what locals need and which practical solutions they require to install and service equipment.” He smiles and adds, “All too often, we fall into the trap of eagerly dreaming up solutions that do not always address the most pressing local issues faced by the people in Africa!”
Affordable technology for cities
In African metropolises such as Lagos, Accra and Nairobi, large flood early warning systems (FEWS) have been set up with
foreign assistance. However, such financial support is often lacking in smaller towns, which harbour two-thirds of the urban population. “It’s an opportunity to make a big difference”, says Van de Giesen. His team has deliberately opted for an innovative approach based on appropriate solutions that fit the budget. “We start by asking about the budget and pick the best system based on the answer.” This approach saw Van de Giesen’s team develop a weather station that performs almost on par with more expensive stations but at one-tenth the cost. “We use affordable GPS systems, such as ArduSimple’s global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and combine them with accessible local alert services, such as phone-based services. This allows us to spot upstream river floods and give early warnings to cities.”
Big step forward
TEMBO researchers have different roles within the project. TU Delft, for example, shares knowledge about models and new sensors that are still unknown in Africa. Apart from GNSS systems, it also spreads awareness of fish finders: affordable devices that use sonar to detect fish and easily measure water depth. Local partners are now taking the lead in developing innovative services, such as combining forecasting systems with micro-credit and insurance for small-scale farmers.
Some services have proven to be unexpectedly popular. For example, water reservoir managers urgently required better flood forecasts to prevent costly disasters and were therefore eager to invest in TEMBO-developed services related to fish finders. Van de Giesen hopes this big step forward will be adopted more widely. “It would be great if we could develop new observation networks that produce international public goods, such as improved rainfall maps. This would enable local organisations to develop new, profitable services to recoup the costs of the system and make a positive impact throughout Africa.” ■
Boosting innovation with generative AI
By Bennie Mols
Hanneke Rozemuller
Generative AI (GAI) has been making headlines ever since ChatGPT was launched at the end of 2022. We now have a large range of GAI applications. Citizens, businesses, scientists, governments and civil society organisations are all exploring whether and how GAI can help them. What consequences will GAI have for research and innovation? What will it require from government and businesses? How can TU Delft contribute?
Illustration
ChatTUD ›
GAI changes scientific research
When it comes to GAI’s applications in scientific research, the low-hanging fruit consists mainly of writing text, searching scientific literature and creating summaries. The higher-hanging fruit includes the various opportunities that GAI offers for analysing data faster and better, accelerating the discovery of new materials and drugs, and contributing to the design of new experiments. The highest-hanging fruit is GAI that can generate new scientific hypotheses and ideas.
“Typically, generative AI can help solve computational problems that have a large search spectrum of possible viable solutions”, says Alessandro Bozzon, professor of Human-Centered AI and programme manager of TU Delft’s 24 AI Labs. “Think about how a protein can fold or the combination of chemical compounds that can be used to develop new drugs. Generative AI approaches allow scientists to explore a huge search spectrum much more quickly.”
Yet Bozzon also warns that finding a promising molecule for a new material or drug faster is not automatically a bullseye: “To find out whether such a molecule actually does what it is supposed to do often requires a lot of work. With GAI, we let the computer do the boring computational work but the traditional testing in practice still has to be done by scientists.”
GAI improves organisation, dissemination and utilisation of knowledge
Many companies struggle with the question of how experienced employees can transfer their knowledge and skills to new employees as efficiently as possible. Generative AI can provide a scalable solution, as shown in the EU project COALA (COgnitive Assisted agile manufacturing for a LAbor force supported by trustworthy Artificial Intelligence), in which TU Delft participated. The project developed AI-driven tools specifically designed to assist workers in manufacturing environments.
Bozzon: “Such tools enable workers in production plants to request information about how to operate a machine or deal with a dangerous situation. They can also share their own knowledge and experience with the tool so that other workers can benefit from it in the future.”
In another example of public-private funded research on generative AI, TU Delft has been collaborating with Maastricht University and the companies DSM-Firmenich and Kickstart AI in the ICAI Lab GENIUS since early 2024. The lab aims to develop human-centred GAI approaches for knowledge management and knowledge discovery within large organisations.
GAI tools for knowledge management can benefit companies and governmental organisations. Bozzon: “Such tools can help people to be civically engaged and ease access to information and services. In particular, I’m thinking about improving accessibility for those who currently have difficulties, such as people with disabilities, elderly people or people with a language disadvantage.”
Message Message
ChatTUD ›
GAI boosts innovation GAI & strategic autonomy
“Generative AI has created a mega-boost in attention to AI among our partners”, says Joost Poort, managing director of TU Delft’s Mondai House of AI. He is responsible for translating the AI knowledge developed by some 1,500 AI researchers at TU Delft into real-world applications. To this end, Mondai House of AI collaborates with the Erasmus Medical Centre and Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Convergence programme ‘AI, Data & Digitalisation’ and leads the AI Hub Zuid-Holland in collaboration with AI Ned and the Dutch AI Coalition.
As part of the ‘MKB Data Studio’ programme, Mondai House of AI collaborates with SMEs in the region on the use of GAI tools in their digitisation processes. Poort: “In the form of student projects and workshops, we help SMEs apply existing GAI tools in their digitisation. I think it’s important to pair the scientific development of new knowledge, like we traditionally do at the university, with the implementation and adoption of preexisting tools by companies.”
Mondai House of AI also helps strategic key sectors in the region determine what added value AI tools can bring. Poort: “We do that for the port and maritime sector, energy and sustainability, healthcare, mobility and smart industry, among others.”
Generative AI requires a lot of training data, a lot of computing power for the training and execution of models, and consequently a lot of money. Currently, it’s mainly Big Tech companies from the US that have the money, data and computing power to develop GAI models. Both Bozzon and Poort stress the importance of not becoming overly dependent on US digital infrastructure at both national and European levels.
The best form to achieve this strategic autonomy is still under discussion. Should TU Delft be able to train its own GAI models on its own supercomputer and link to other such local facilities and thereby contribute to a federated infrastructure? Should a High-Performance Computing facility be created at the national level in the Netherlands? Should a sort of CERN for AI be founded at the European level?
“Whatever form it takes”, says Joost Poort, “it is of paramount importance that we invest in a strategically autonomous solution for the Netherlands or on a European level. European countries individually are by definition small players on a global scale, so the most important thing we can do to have a meaningful impact is to organise ourselves collectively at regional, national and European levels. That is what we aim to contribute to at TU Delft and Mondai House of AI.” ■
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AI to improve the world
Artificial Intelligence is neither good nor bad. It is just a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for constructive or destructive purposes. It is, however, a truly revolutionary development and student team Epoch V is committed to showcasing all the good it can do.
For example, the team recently entered an international competition to automate malaria detection. Malaria can be cured within two weeks if diagnosed early, but it takes doctors and nurses a lot of time to analyse blood samples for signs of infected red blood cells indicative of the disease that still kills some 619,000 people worldwide every year.
An AI model could make a valuable contribution by identifying the malaria parasite at an early stage. That’s why the team is training an AI model to recognise infected cells based on a dataset of 3,000 photos of blood samples from Uganda (pictured above).
These kinds of competitions are the best way to make an immediate impact. As a matter of fact, the team won a different competition earlier this year with
a model that helps scientists monitor kelp (seaweed) forests – important for preserving biodiversity.
The team got its name from a technical term in AI research, in which epochs are the different iterations of a model. The same goes for the team itself, which applies AI to humanitarian and environmental issues with a new team every year while building on the knowledge gained from previous Epoch teams. The code is open source, so anyone can use it.
Epoch’s mission aligns with that of the university: uniting fundamental and applied AI to help prepare society for an AI-driven future. ■
