The 4TU Impact Challenge gathered the eight best ideas from Dutch Technical Universities. The nominees will present their business pitches online on Thursday 19 November.
Video stills. (Merged by Delta)
In the Dutch 4TU Impact Challenge Final, two teams from each Technical University will pitch their projects before a jury and online audience. The eight participants are the winners of the preliminary rounds held at the four universities earlier this year. In alphabetical order, the two TU Delft projects in the Final are the air quality monitor Respire, and the battery-free electronics from ZED (Zero Energy Development).
Project Respire
Poor air quality in cities is an underestimated problem, says EEMCS master student Akshit Gupta. He, Tao Chen and Cecilia Casolo developed a miniature air quality sensor that measures particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and ozone. The sensor isn’t much bigger than a box of matches. The sensor’s air quality data can be linked to the city map through the mobile infrastructure. Gupta imagines that municipalities will be the prime customers, and he is in contact with AMS Institute. Technologically, the drift in the sensors is the main challenge. Gupta proposes to use reference sites to calibrate any passing sensors. See the challenge’s website for more info.
Project ZED
The Internet of Things (IoT) promises an interconnected world in which everything is traceable through the Internet. For logistics, the IoT is a dream with applications for inventories, freight management and predictive maintenance. The only thing is, you don’t want to have to change the batteries all the time. That’s why Zero Energy Development (ZED) proposes IoT solutions that are battery free. EEMCS master student Suryansh Sharma offers businesses the opportunity to make their IoT applications battery free by harvesting power from button pushes, wind, solar or vibrations. See the challenge’s website for more info.
The final event will be held at 15:00 on Thursday 19 November. Free tickets are available here. The winning team will join the trade mission at the Dutch Pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, which will be held in October 2021. You know why. There is also an Audience Award (worth EUR 1,500) to be won.
Science editor
Jos Wassink
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