Education

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People first Compartmentalising is the greatest system fault in our society. To combat it, we need to put people first, and not organisations.

This was the message from Professor of Innovation, Guus Berkhout, during his TU Delft valedictory address on Friday 8 June. In his valedictory address Berkhout described what he believed to be the major system fault in our society. “Since the start of the industrial age we have been accustomed to resolving a difficult issue by breaking it into parts and then solving each part separately. This resulted in enormous compartmentalisation, erecting walls everywhere. Walls between and within the sciences, politics, society and commerce. These walls must come down.” Berkhout (67) is Professor of Innovation and Professor of Geophysics at TU Delft, and was a member of the Executive Board. He is also the founder and current programme director of Delphi, a consortium of international companies funding geophysical research for oil extraction. He also gained recognition as chairman of the Berkhout Commission, which addressed Schiphol Airport’s noise issues.
Eco Runner

On 2 June, Minister of Education Ronald Plasterk chose environmentally friendly transportation on the way to the fourth Dutch-British Apeldoorn Conference: he drove the ‘Eco-runner’, designed and developed by TU Delft students, and an example of environmentally-friendly technology in practice: the car covers around 500 kilometres on just one litre of petrol. After the ride Plasterk was welcomed by Prof. Jacob Fokkema, TU Delft’s Rector Magnificus. Minister Plasterk was en route to the Apeldoorn Conference, a biennial Dutch-British conference that this year discussed securing a sustainable future.
‘Signposter’ Mijksenaar

The internationally-renowned developer of visual information Paul Mijksenaar took his leave as TU Delft professor on May 30. To mark his departure, a conference on the specialisation was held on that day. Mijksenaar and his ‘Bureau Mijksenaar’ company are known worldwide for the development of visual information. Mijksenaar’s work, such as the signage for Schiphol airport, the Dutch railways and New York airports, achieved great acclaim internationally. Mijksenaar (born in 1944) graduated as a product designer at the Institute of Industrial Art in Amsterdam in 1965. Among the products he designed over 14 years as a freelancer were household items for the Hoorn metalwork factory. In 1977 Wim Crouwel invited him to Delft, where he supported Professor Ootje Oxenaar as Assistant Professor. From 1982 he combined the lectureship with service as team leader at Total Design. In 1986 he launched Bureau Mijksenaar, with a branch in New York from 2002, followed in 2004 by collaboration with Arup under the name Mijksenaar Arup Wayfinding. In 1992 he succeeded Oxenaar as part-time Professor of Visual Information Design at TU Delft.
AfricAlive

Five students and a professional cameraman will devote five months to raising awareness of sustainable technology among the general public. Five African projects, several of which are from TU Delft, will be presented to the public on radio, television, the Internet, newspapers and magazines. Africa and sustainability might seem like a contradiction in terms. However, the continent that is afflicted with countless problems, including wasted energy, disease and desertification, also has the greatest need for sustainable solutions. The West has tried to help Africa in recent decades, often with the best intentions, by offering ‘ready-made’ solutions that make sense largely from a Western perspective. But no one took much trouble to listen to the Africans themselves, and the continent’s enormous potential was ignored. The Africa expedition was launched at TU Delft’s Fifth Anniversary Summer Festival on 8 June, and will end on the Fifth Anniversary Symposium in November.
Eureka Award

TU Delft Geology Professor Salomon Kroonenberg has won the 2007 Eureka Award with his book ‘De menselijke maat: de aarde over tienduizend jaar‘ (The human scale: the earth in ten-thousand years’ time). The Eureka Award is presented annually by the NWO to the three best performances for popularising science and conveying knowledge to the general public (books, media and oeuvre). Kroonenberg won the award in the books category: the Furore Book Award.

People first

Compartmentalising is the greatest system fault in our society. To combat it, we need to put people first, and not organisations. This was the message from Professor of Innovation, Guus Berkhout, during his TU Delft valedictory address on Friday 8 June. In his valedictory address Berkhout described what he believed to be the major system fault in our society. “Since the start of the industrial age we have been accustomed to resolving a difficult issue by breaking it into parts and then solving each part separately. This resulted in enormous compartmentalisation, erecting walls everywhere. Walls between and within the sciences, politics, society and commerce. These walls must come down.” Berkhout (67) is Professor of Innovation and Professor of Geophysics at TU Delft, and was a member of the Executive Board. He is also the founder and current programme director of Delphi, a consortium of international companies funding geophysical research for oil extraction. He also gained recognition as chairman of the Berkhout Commission, which addressed Schiphol Airport’s noise issues.
Eco Runner

On 2 June, Minister of Education Ronald Plasterk chose environmentally friendly transportation on the way to the fourth Dutch-British Apeldoorn Conference: he drove the ‘Eco-runner’, designed and developed by TU Delft students, and an example of environmentally-friendly technology in practice: the car covers around 500 kilometres on just one litre of petrol. After the ride Plasterk was welcomed by Prof. Jacob Fokkema, TU Delft’s Rector Magnificus. Minister Plasterk was en route to the Apeldoorn Conference, a biennial Dutch-British conference that this year discussed securing a sustainable future.
‘Signposter’ Mijksenaar

The internationally-renowned developer of visual information Paul Mijksenaar took his leave as TU Delft professor on May 30. To mark his departure, a conference on the specialisation was held on that day. Mijksenaar and his ‘Bureau Mijksenaar’ company are known worldwide for the development of visual information. Mijksenaar’s work, such as the signage for Schiphol airport, the Dutch railways and New York airports, achieved great acclaim internationally. Mijksenaar (born in 1944) graduated as a product designer at the Institute of Industrial Art in Amsterdam in 1965. Among the products he designed over 14 years as a freelancer were household items for the Hoorn metalwork factory. In 1977 Wim Crouwel invited him to Delft, where he supported Professor Ootje Oxenaar as Assistant Professor. From 1982 he combined the lectureship with service as team leader at Total Design. In 1986 he launched Bureau Mijksenaar, with a branch in New York from 2002, followed in 2004 by collaboration with Arup under the name Mijksenaar Arup Wayfinding. In 1992 he succeeded Oxenaar as part-time Professor of Visual Information Design at TU Delft.
AfricAlive

Five students and a professional cameraman will devote five months to raising awareness of sustainable technology among the general public. Five African projects, several of which are from TU Delft, will be presented to the public on radio, television, the Internet, newspapers and magazines. Africa and sustainability might seem like a contradiction in terms. However, the continent that is afflicted with countless problems, including wasted energy, disease and desertification, also has the greatest need for sustainable solutions. The West has tried to help Africa in recent decades, often with the best intentions, by offering ‘ready-made’ solutions that make sense largely from a Western perspective. But no one took much trouble to listen to the Africans themselves, and the continent’s enormous potential was ignored. The Africa expedition was launched at TU Delft’s Fifth Anniversary Summer Festival on 8 June, and will end on the Fifth Anniversary Symposium in November.
Eureka Award

TU Delft Geology Professor Salomon Kroonenberg has won the 2007 Eureka Award with his book ‘De menselijke maat: de aarde over tienduizend jaar‘ (The human scale: the earth in ten-thousand years’ time). The Eureka Award is presented annually by the NWO to the three best performances for popularising science and conveying knowledge to the general public (books, media and oeuvre). Kroonenberg won the award in the books category: the Furore Book Award.

Editor Redactie

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