MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND PARTNERS SUMMER 2019 SPIN-OFF BY Hans van Eerden PHOTOGRAPHY Rikkert Harink Walking is about maintaining your balance. After a stroke, a patient has to relearn how to do that. An athlete BALANCED wants to get consistently better at it. The spin-off Gable Systems helps both ENTREPRENEURSHIP with its mobile robot that provides assistance during training sessions. Founders Sebastiaan Behrens and DOSSIER Carsten Voort graduated from the UT’s Photonics in the spotlight Biomedical Mechanical Engineering programme. Afterwards, they worked as researchers on the LOPES walking ACTIVE STUDENT robot that the University developed together with rehabilitation centres. Smart solutions for “We did not have time to obtain everyday problems our PhDs,” Behrens explains. “All we wanted was to set up our own company. We took the leap in 2015.” EDUCATION They built a prototype for walking sup- University in port, but quickly headed in a different Netflix style direction. “After some market research and meetings with clinical partners, we moved from walking support to balance training. That makes our robot far more versatile, so it can be used for e.g. research into the dynamics of human motion. Balance training is a fairly unexplored area. Our robot will help with research in this field.” In a hip harness attached to the robot, the patient, athlete or test subject has complete freedom to perform various motions. The walking robot is mobile and flexible. The user can walk around the room during the rehabilitation process. Gable Systems developed the necessary innovations: a control system for the balance exercises, a self-learning camera system that recognises the position of the subject’s feet, environ- ment detection to detect obstacles and an intuitive app for mobile operation. Gable Systems is located in Hengelo, near its strategic production partner NTS Norma, and will maintain a close relationship with the UT, which “Our walking robot can be used remains invested in the company via Novel-T as a co-shareholder. For more information: for research into the dynamics www.gablesystems.com of human motion” CONTENTS Cover image: Rikkert Harink THE POWER OF 10 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGINEER LOOKING FOR 36 FEWER NANOMETRES SMART SOLUTIONS FOR A FLAMBOYANT 16 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 18 VISIONARYMPACT 4 DOSSIER 18 ENTREPRENEURSHIP 32 WERE YOU THERE? Photonics in the spotlight Pioneer and prof 34 ON CAMPUS 8 IN BRIEF 20 IN THE LAB Students houses with smart grid 10 PHD RESEARCH 22 AMBITION & ACHIEVEMENT The power of social media Supplier of croquette order sys- 36 INTERVIEW RESEARCH tems to in-flight entertainment 12 FUND NEWS 38 DEPARTURE POINT TWENTE Crowdfunding campaigns 25 EXECUTIVE EDUCATION Senior vice president for student teams Risk & Resilience festival 2019 technology at ASML 14 INTERVIEW EDUCATION 26 IN BRIEF 40 STUDENT HOUSE A university in Netflix style 28 ALUMNI NEWS 42 MY JOB 16 ACTIVE STUDENT The UT Challenge winners 30 FUND NEWS 44 SPIN OFF Magazine in English please visit: www.utwente.nl/magazine/en 2 FOREWORD INCUBASE Earlier this year, there was a nice With this new meeting ground, infographic in the Volkskrant. Its we are also taking a step towards subject: the university as a nursing talent retention, which is a mission room for businesses. The “stain” we all support in the region. It is in Twente was the largest in the my hope that I can soon sign the Netherlands in this image, visuali- regional deal Twente: an investment sing the more than 1,000 spin-offs programme that involves the natio- that the University of Twente has nal and provincial governments, produced, 200 of which were born the region of Twente, businesses in the past five years alone. We con- and knowledge institutions and “TO ME, THIS CONFIRMS THAT tinue to play a leading role when it offers a total of 172 million euros THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT comes to entrepreneurship, but to for co-financing. This money is to maintain that position, we have to be used to tackle various issues, SEES THE REGION OF TWENTE, WITH continuously reinvent ourselves. such as the development of the top THE UT AS ITS MAJOR INNOVATOR, work locations in Twente, the reali- We are hard at work to do just that. sation of a smart manufacturing AS A POWERFUL STIMULUS During the annual Entrepreneurial industry 4.0 and a future-oriented FOR THE DUTCH ECONOMY” Day, which was held in late June, employment market and the tran- we launched Incubase, a new hub sition towards a circular economy. for start-ups, together with the The UT plays a major role in many Student Union and Novel-T. Starting of these projects. Twente will in November, entrepreneurial stu- receive a large slice of the regional dents will receive close supervision pie – and for good reason. To me, to help them make their dreams this confirms that the national come true in the Bastille building on government sees the region of campus, which many alumni will Twente, with the UT as its major know as the central student buil- innovator, as a powerful stimulus ding. It never ceases to amaze me for the Dutch economy. that I encounter students on cam- pus with the most innovative ideas Talent is a key aspect of many of every single day. They face the chal- the aforementioned projects. That lenge of translating their plans into is why I want to ask you, the Uni- a viable start-up. Incubase will soon versity’s alumni and relations, to offer everything these prospective contribute to this mission. The UT entrepreneurs need: flexible work- and Twente need all those young spaces, a large network of small talents I see every day, now more businesses, investors and legal than ever. Let’s offer them all the VICTOR VAN DER CHIJS, LL.M., expertise. In other words, it is a per- proactive support we can. (1960) CHAIRMAN OF THE UNIVERSITY fect example of how the University OF TWENTE EXECUTIVE BOARD SINCE strives to reinvent itself. OCTOBER 2013. 3 From crystals that capture a single photon to chips for high-speed optical communication and new sensors to be used in the healthcare sector: together with its partners, the UT is working on photonics in various fields. This discipline is expanding rapidly from niches to major markets. BY Wiebe van der Veen PHOTOGRAPHY Rikkert Harink Photonics is the technology of Chips that have light channels for Uncrackable light. Transporting, processing and photons, instead of metal connecti- Pepijn Pinkse is researching manipulating light. Despite this, the ons for electrons. Sonia García Blan- remark able quantum effects with revolution has thus far mainly taken co wants to develop a photonic chip light. The colleagues in his group place in the shadows. The shadow that can detect tumour markers with also know how to manipulate light. of electronics. “Electronics have al- an extreme degree of precision. “We Take a photon’s ability to be in two ways had a head start in this field,” are developing the sensors for that, places at once, for example, and says professor Pepijn Pinkse. “Now but we would like to put the light the fact that this property can be that we are approaching its limits, source on the same chip. Perhaps used for a unique and uncrackable photonics can offer alternative the readout as well. This could be a identification method. “When you solutions or be combined with major innovation for the healthcare send light through white paint, electronics.” His colleague, profes- and self-care sectors. To realise that, most of it will be blocked. How- sor Sonia García Blanco, says: though, the chips would have to be ever, depending on the light you “I recently read a book from the very cheap and suitable for single send in – i.e. the ‘question’ you ask ‘70s. It described photonic compo- use. That is a chicken-and-egg – you get an ‘answer’ in the form of nents that we are still publishing situation, because the only way to a unique pattern of dots.” Pinkse about today. These days, however, achieve cheap production is by explains. The key is determined on we know how to develop light con- having a major sales market.” She site, so you would no longer have ductors with extremely small losses shows a small chip: it is like a jewel to remember codes. Even though it thanks to our MESA+ NanoLab. with visible light conductors and is easy to put a small drop of paint We excel at that.” fluid channels. It is capable of detec­ on passports and credit cards, it ting small quantities of proteins in does require new readout equip- They are both working on new ap- urine that serve as an indicator of tu- ment. Thus far, this technology is plications for photonics – or, to be mours and has the potential to dras- therefore mainly suitable for access more exact, integrated photonics. tically change the healthcare sector. control to high-risk areas such as PHOTONICS IN THE SPOTLIGHT 4 DOSSIER “Personally, I believe the way this processor works to be similar to the networks in our own brain” - Pepijn Pinkse PHOTONICS IN THE SPOTLIGHT PHOTONICS Earlier this year, three Nobel Prize winners emphasised the fact that photonics is one of the key technologies for innovation in their call to the European Commission to explicitly keep photonics on the agenda for the new research programmes for 2021 to 2026. The Netherlands is investing heavily in this field as well, e.g. in the form of the cooperative alliance Photon­ Delta. The University of Twente and its partners play a significant role in these developments.