Participating Teams

Information (especially in complex businesses or projects) can be vast and often go way beyond the limit of what humans can process and remember. In an ever more complex world, there should be a simpler way to look up, interact with and get to decisions with your data.

The energy transition is not happening fast enough.

Climate change as a result of human emissions.

The future of energy production is clear - it is renewables that are going to take the lead. However, they have one shortcoming - intermittency. Due to wind patterns, night and day cycles, and overall weather, solar and wind energy are not stable in their operation. Furthermore, it is not only that there is too little energy when we need it but sometimes there is an excess. Then we hear stories about private solar panels being disconnected from the grid.

SimEnergy was created by a group of students from the Honors Academy of the TU/e with the aim of combating energy poverty and making sustainability affordable for all. Over 750,000 households in the Netherlands fit the criteria for energy poverty. The rollout of smart meters have facilitated the reading of consumption. However, are smart meters enough to drive behavioural change and less consumption?

Warehouses, harbors, and airports are demanded to operate at a faster and faster rate every day. Advancements in technologies have allowed this to happen by introducing automated guided vehicles, which have proven effective in these sectors. However, at what cost? These vehicles use big batteries for which content is harmful to the environment after its lifetime. Besides, to build these machines, we exploit many of the planet's rare metals and resources. Financially speaking, it is not very productive to have an area where AGVs can charge and the time it takes for them to be charged.

Outdoor furniture in general, and benches most specifically, are currently built with non-sustainable and imported materials and building practices and with very little concern about both the users and the environment where it occurs. This leaves both with unmet needs that can range from being comfortable to having a liveable habitat.

There is still a large gap between science and society. As we noticed during the pandemic, there is a need for more scientific communication. Society in general has no access to or does not have the time/knowledge to read scientific papers. News cannot always clearly explain complex concepts with news articles, and anyone can write explainer news articles, therefore confusing what sources can be trusted and what cannot. Only large corporations such as Pfizer have the means to hire/make good explanation videos.

Start-ups have a tough time putting everything in place by themselves to get going. At the same time, students are hesitant to commit to demanding internships.

Nurdle Soup strives to fill the unmet, pressing need for environmental sensing to localize and remove plastic spills of all sizes in ecologically vulnerable areas. Our focus is on prioritizing the protection of sensitive ecosystems, while also raising awareness on the global microplastics crisis, especially amongst the plastics industry, policy makers and cleaning initiatives. The magnitude of the impact of plastic pollution on the environment continues to grow, making this mission critical.