Intermania November 2018 by Intermania

n o i t a rs v o Inn ind ba beh

Innovation behind bars: as Intermate prepares for a week of festivities to celebrate her 35th birthday (which also happens to be the Intermaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 25th birthday), the Intermania committee has been concocting a special edition where we constrained ourselves within someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme. Indeed this time our topic will be the same as that of the Lustrum: Innovation without Boundaries, in which we observe the limits of our studies and of technology. This has resulted in an edition that includes many different perspectives of people who are constantly pushing past the boundaries of their studies: on pages 10-11 you can read about BEP boundaries to get insight into the struggles that await you at the end of your bachelor, on pages 33-34 you can read about foreign experiences during your masters and at pages 39-40 about graduation projects and even about the experience of a PhDer (33-34). To enhance this and give some extra perspective, we have added a new segment to this edition about Student Teams (29),

where we will ask a different team to present their project in every edition. Since I do think that I am reaching the limit (or boundary) of words for this editorial, I would like to conclude it by giving a warm welcome to Peter Ruijten as our new columnist for the Intermania. So remember, there are no limits to how many times you can read this edition, especially if you are sitting behind bars! Yours truly,

Table of contents Bestuuur, can we open the bar? Marit and Pam elaborate on their daily board activities.

Column Peter Ruijten 6 Our newest columnist, Peter Ruijten, writes about the curiousness of innovation. Open Innovation

On your way to the Lustrum Congress! 9 AC-Team: Getting Your Game On

The Future of Intermate

Hoe Overleef Ik... HET LUSTRUM

21*

Last Chance for the Gala

23*

According to Arjan

Wintersporten Zonder Grenzen

45*

Column Hub

Puzzle 48* What is Intermateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is not the Intermaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Figure it out.

Theme: Innvovation without Boundaries BEP Boundaries

Unlimited Minds

Cartoon: Isabel Blijenburg

Technology Without Ethics

Child Inventors

Burning up the Future 29 In this new rubric about Student Teams, Team SOLID presents their innovation process

*Dutch Articles Taiwan, the Island of Many Names

The Curious PhD of Alain Starke

Living Abroad Marvin Tiemessen experience in Kenya.

39 presents

his

Career Corner: Lustrum Edition 41 Bert van Gestel interviews Jiayi Zeng, a member of the previous Lustrum committee. Intermania Goes Undercover/Rates 43 TU/e for Dummies

Intermania

Table of contents

“The field of open innovation is still new...” - Jaïr Campfens, p. 7 6.

15.

39.

45.

Colophon Intermania is the magazine of study association Intermate, home to the bachelor’s and master’s programs of the department Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology. The Intermania is released four times a year, with a total of 450 prints. Members of Intermate automatically receive the Intermania at home.

Content for the Intermania may be submitted in consultation with the editors. The editorial staff shall not be liable for any consequences arising from its content and reserves the right to, without notice, amend or not publish any submitted content. Articles may only be redistributed with permission of the editorial staff.

Study Association Intermate Address: Den Dolech 2, IPO 0.74 Postbus 513, 5600MB Eindhoven Phone: (040) 247 44 30 Website: www.intermate.nl E-mail: board@intermate.nl Advertisements: external@intermate.nl

Intermania Chief Editor: Hugo Bezombes Editorial Staff: Colin de Bruin, Manon van Hastenberg, Nienke Buikstra, Marit Loonen, Michelle van Ardenne, Cécile Geertman, Evie Toissant, Isabel Blijenburg E-mail: intermania@ieis.tue.nl Printer: Drukkerij Snep

November 2018

Board

Bestuuur, can we Open the Bar? If you have ever peaked your head into the board room, you have likely seen Marit and Pam working there. But what do they actually do there during the day? Text: Marit Loonen and Pam Philippens, Chairman and Secretary of the 35th board

Marit As the chairman of the current board, I do not have many activities that are purely related to my function. This both makes my days very diverse, which is nice, but also a bit hard to define. The most chairman-related things that I am busy with, are preparing for our board meetings (that we have every week) and preparing for the General Meetings of Intermate (that happen around once per quartile). When it’s time for the General Meeting itself (after all that preparation), my function is to lead the meeting, with the occasional hammerscale here or there. Additionally, I have a monthly meeting with the chairmen and some other board members of the other study associations of the TU/e, the FSE meetings (Federation Study associations Eindhoven). Apart from these being very useful for topics that apply to all study associations, it is just nice to work so closely together with these other boards. My final main task is related to the upcoming rehousing of Intermate to Atlas. Together with Meike (Comm. of Education), I stay in touch with the many different parties involved: our department, Dienst Huisvesting, Industria, Lucid and the bar designer/builder an extremely interesting and exciting process!

Pam Ploughing through piles of both physical and electronic mail is one of my main activities in the boardroom, as I am the current secretary of Intermate. It is my favorite way to start a working day: taking a walk to my beloved mailbox in the IPO hall. One of the things I like most about being in charge of the board mail is the fact that I have (close) contact with many external parties and the other study associations at the TU/e. I receive many emails that I forward to the correct responsible in the board. This allows me to be informed on what my fellow board members are up to. Also, I send out the monthly newsflash to inform our members on the upcoming activities organized by our committees and the board. Another important thing that I work on is the members database. This has been quite a hassle, since the database was flawed at first and adding new members to it was hilariously complex. Luckily, I have managed to fix this and now it is a matter of maintaining it to make sure that it remains in working order. Next to this, I am the association’s responsible of the Wervingsdagen. The Wervingsdagen are composed of several interesting career events for TU/e students. Lastly, I have the honor of writing the minutes of our General Meetings.

However, after working for a few months here in the boardroom (or ‘fishtank’) of Intermate, we have come to realize that quite some of our time here in the boardroom is not actually spent on our ‘known’ boardtasks - but on members coming to ask us their extremely pressing questions. In order to help you all in these times of need (and at the same time maybe save ourselves a little bit of time), we made you this Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list. Hopefully it can help you in time of need! 4

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Board

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Where can I find the... ... Scissors? Yeah, sorry. We also don’t know. Your best chance is searching the bookcase next to the boardroom. Maybe you’ll find it there, maybe you won’t.

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... Tape? Most of the time over there, in the middle drawer of that small closet.

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... Rabo Scanner? The Rabo Scanner should be there as well, in the top drawer of that closet. If not, someone is probably paying their rent or something, you can try searching the internaat!

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... Stapler? On Robs desk. Always. (That’s the one in the back-left.)

Is there any more lemonade/tea? Hmmm... 50% chance of a yes, 50% chance of a no. If you come to the boardroom we can give you the key so you can check yourself!

Do you know where Timo/Meike is right now? Yeah, we know. Out of office, sorry! (Probably, Timo is visiting a company and Meike is at at meeting.)

Can we open the bar? Or actually, most often we hear the Dutch version of this question: ‘Bestuuuur, mag de bar open?’. Since the answer to this question is very much dependent on the situation, it’s probably best if you just come to the boardroom to ask this question.

Can I leave my suit/tennis racket/bag/(phone) charger/shoes/winebottle(s)/headphones/dignity/ horse* in the boardroom and pick it up later? Yeah... Sure, we guess? Just put it in the corner over there, but please pick it up as soon as possible. *Alright, maybe the horse was a bit exaggerated. The rest actually happened.

Maybe one of the FAQ’s above answers your pressing question. However, if not, please do not hesistate to ask it to us. It may sometimes keep us a bit from our other work, but it’s a nice break! November 2018

Column Peter

The Curiousness of Innovation “...creativity can be enhanced through environmental factors, and social psychologists come up with the funkiest studies” – Peter Ruijten While staring at the blinking cursor on the screen, asking myself why I said yes to become Intermania’s new columnist, I am thinking back to my recent travels to France, Belgium, USA, Portugal, Mexico, and Romania. All these destinations had their own special vibe, and I can talk about any of them for hours. I am pondering what I can write about the disappearing boundaries between my home country and my holiday destinations. Then it hits me. I realize that I am thinking ‘insidethe-box’, trying to follow a pre-defined pattern that does not allow for creativity. I immediately remember a study my colleagues and I discussed during one of our lunches. In this particular study, social psychologists invited a bunch of people and literally put half of them in a real 5-by-5-foot wooden box, showing that those people displayed less creativity as measured through a convergent thinking scale. The authors claimed that being inside this physical box has a creativityhampering effect. (For those who want to read more on this study, you can go to https://goo.gl/KHiCZE and see for yourself). This paper simultaneously showed that creativity can be enhanced through environmental factors, and that social psychologists come up with the funkiest studies. Since the thinking-outside-the-box metaphor for increasing creativity was disproven in 2014 (see https://goo.gl/Ct2xut), scientists have been trying to explain where creativity comes from in many different ways. My personal opinion is that it is curiosity that drives creativity, similar to how the book Sapiens describes that scientific discoveries appeared after humans recognized that they did not know everything. A person who is curious will ask the right questions, will question the status-quo, and will come up with the greatest innovations. Without curiosity, we may never have had many of our everyday devices like cars, smartphones, and wearables. Maybe we would never have set foot on the moon, or discovered how to get electricity from sunlight. Maybe in a way curiosity is the secret to innovations without boundaries. Maybe the theme of this year’s Lustrum is chosen to make us curious. 6

Intermania

SExCie

Open Innovation

Jaïr proved that he is a good addition to the SExCie, by going on an exchange camp this summer. Here he experienced how country borders and mother tongues could influence innovations. Text & Images: Jaïr Campfens, SExCie

The classic image of innovation is the one of a new idea entering the market and disrupting the longstanding incumbent. For companies already possessing a substantial amount of capital it is a question of adapting - or dying. Therefore, big companies hire engineers and largely finance research and development (R&D) departments. The engine of capitalism thus lies in the desperate, constant creation of new entrepreneurial opportunities for the sake of survival in a competition that barely collaborates with its borders, in order to foster innovation. Literature more often speaks about an open innovation system, without boundaries that would serve the nation best. Open innovation has been defined as ‘. . . the use of purposive infows and outfows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively’ (Chesbrough et al., 2006). While the focus remains to be at research and development, a number of 9 research areas have been founded to support

November 2018

the organization of open innovation. One of these, the process perspective, looks at three core processes in opening up the innovation process: outside-in, inside-out and coupled (Gass-mann and Enkel, 2004).

“...the stereotypes I had in mind turned out to be accurate...” Another perspective, being the cultural one, will be more outlined in this article as it resembles the intention of the SExCie and I have an experience related to this. On the 5th of July, after having beaten Team Kaas in the annual football tournament’s final, I rushed myself to Schiphol to catch a plane that would bring me to Geneva Airport. Over there I was welcomed by an animator

SExCie of the Lions International Youth Camp and Exchange. What followed was a camp of four weeks of solely talking in French, joined by 25 other internationals, representing 20 countries and 5 continents. Throughout the weeks, I learned and saw a lot in the region of Annecy, Montelimar, Geneva and Lyon. Apart from talking French and appreciating some of France’s finest wines and cheeses, I had the opportunity to discover some cultures that were pretty interesting, if not weird to me. I was astonished by the norms and values of some people. Truths I would consider to be self-evident like freedom of speech or sexual orientation were suddenly being questioned and debated by some Armenian and Russian people. Furthermore, it really confirmed to me that people, when in the midst of uncertainty, become really nationalist and try to defend their own standards. Somewhere it was funny to see that the stereotypes I had in mind turned out to be accurate and completely resembling with the people. On the other hand, I felt that conversation remained pretty difficult, as many did not master French that well. One afternoon, we were hosted by the mayor of Thonon-les-Bains, who gave a fierce speech on solidarity and the French revolution in detail. This was a stunning moment, as it opened many to share their opinions and emotions on the tragic they had seen, if not had to endure themselves in their own country. On one of the last days, we visited the palace of the United Nations in Geneva. We worked on a case related to sustainability and had to come up with a resolution, representing our own country. There, it became clear to me that the many different backgrounds,

opinions and values present were extremely helpful in the production of a resolution. It is like two extremes that find the perfect balance. Because of this, a resolution was designed that favored everyone, but did not give special preference to one individual in particular. In my opinion, an open innovation system works like that as well. This starts by cooperation between actors, even if controversy or rivalry exist, in order to work towards a common goal that favors all. Rather than focusing on market domination and claiming property by means of intellectual property and patents, fostering collaboration between companies to realize innovation as a goal rather than a means of success. Some prerequisites, however, have to be realized. For one, the mindset needs to change. A culture that appreciates individual talent as much as external talent and in which companies take into consideration their own values, but also work by establishing collaboration through communication platforms, incentives and decision criteria. The field of open innovation is still new and needs new insights from academia to be fully brought to a higher stage. Universities are already trying to become more collaborative between one another. Examples like the 4TU Graduation Program (TU Delft, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Twente and University of Wageningen) offering masters of sciences at 4 locations, or the master of Nuclear Engineering at both the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and EHT Zürich, show an enhancement in the spread of knowledge between universities. It is only up to Industry to adapt to this method.

“The field of open innovation is still new...” 8

Intermania

Lustrum Congress

On Your Way to the Lustrum Congress! Presenting yourself to companies is stressful. The Congress committee will help you to prepare to deal with the scariest of recruiters. With three simple tips, you will be able to get the most out of this event! Text: Jelle Lehman, CongresCie

Prepare yourself You want to establish valuable connections with companies you like and inform these companies about your interests. To achieve this, you should come prepared. Take some time to look through all the companies that

to note is that talks with recruiters need not be serious. Have a casual conversation with them, you can tell them about your study, the university, your hobbies etc. Recruiters like to see socially active students that are fun to be around.

“On the day of the congress, you can drop by anytime you want” – Jelle will be visiting the congress and get to know their specialization. By doing this, you will get an idea of what kind of people they are interested in and what they want to hear from you. You can also check if a company is a start-up or is an established business: Start-ups, usually, are more sensitive to your interest in them, since they focus a lot on growth. Additionally, if you do not have a lot of time to spend, make a list of the companies you are interested in and the things you like about them. Once there, you can ask the recruiters specifically about those things, and, if want to hear more, you can always ask for another meeting.

Ask the right questions The last and probably most important tip we want to give you is to know how to get the information you want to know, so, in other words, what questions you need to bring with you. We have a short list for you with question which have helped us a lot with getting a clear view of the ins and outs of a specific company:

Loosen up On the day of the congress, you can drop by anytime you want. All attending companies will be there the entire day, so take all the time you want to walk around and have conversations. It is always helpful to walk around once just to see what is happening and who is present. Only after should you walk up to the person of your choice. What is important

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What projects is your company proud of? What type of people are you looking for your company? How do you feel about working at your company? Do you also have activities outside of the working hours? What opportunities do your employees get when working at your company?

We hope that, with these tips, you can prepare yourself for the Lustrum Congress and the best of the day. We hope to see you there! 9

Theme

BEP Boundaries... Did you already finish your final bachelor project (BEP)? Are you busy with it during the current semester and struggled to hand in your interim report? Do you still have to start doing it? Ronald, Aad, Bas en Maithe finished their BEP last summer and all experienced different kinds of boundaries. Text & Images: Ronald Warmels, Aad Zandbergen, Bas van Rhenen and Maithe van der Wal, (former) P&T students

Rona

ld Wa

rmels

As a P&T student, one of your goals is to learn how to perform good research and use trustable sources. My BEP topic about ‘reproducibility during the peer review process’ focused on improving the quality of reproducibility of research. While doing my literature research I reached the boundary of the field: there was no published information yet. There were few papers, and most were not even cited much. This is why I moved my scope to one big source of trustable information: Twitter. While Twitter is abandoned by me and other users who tweeted what they had for dinner while they were 14, it is still used by a lot of researchers. They discuss topics, make announcements about preprints or blogs that will be coming up. While papers take months before being published, you can find the newest information there. So don’t remove your Twitter account, you might need it in the future!

I did my Bachelor End Project about introducing emotions in functional movements of a robot. In other words, I tried to let a robot express emotions during a pointing gesture. I did this by varying the speed and smoothness of the motion. My biggest struggle in doing so, was creating an appropriate research design. Creating an executable research design is one thing, but thinking ahead to your statistical analysis is harder. I found out that it is important to create your design in such way that the statistical analysis is as easy and meaningful as possible. For myself I learned that scheduling hours for your project helps you to work more efficient. My advice for future BEP students is to do something you like, do the best you can and learn from your mistakes. Since this is probably your first big project.

e real Aad

*This is not th

berg d n a Z ad

A 10

Intermania

BEP Boundaries

...and What to Learn From Them When I started with my BEP, I was still the Secretary of the FSEDB, and I was also busy with following some courses. At first I thought this was doable, but after a few weeks I already sat together with my BEP mentor to discuss how I could combine everything. We came to the conclusion that I should do more on an individual level in my own time. First I thought this was a nice solution, but in later stages I was struggling to motivate myself and come up with next steps in my report. Afterwards it can be concluded that the freedom was my biggest struggle, so I would really advise everybody who is working on their BEP to keep close contact with your mentor. They are there to guide you through the process that is new to you. To finish my BEP I had to meet with my mentor during the holidays, and although this seems unpleasant, that was the period I had free time to finally meet more with my mentor which resulted in receiving my last 10 ECTS.

a v s a B

n e n e Rh

ithe

van Wa l der

My BEP project was a little different than usual. For two quartiles, I have been analyzing the accident rate of different care homes for people suffering from dementia. This project came from the manager of a care farm where all residents have dementia. This care farm is not a standard one, because at this place residents are allowed to roam around throughout the day (inside but also outside). This results in residents being exposed to a certain level of danger of falling, stumbling or other types of accidents. It was my task to figure out how big of a health threat this level of extra freedom was! This was something I had of course never looked at before and it was a big challenge to be on my own to gather data, analyze them and present them to a group of people (the workers of the care farm) who actually could benefit from my study!

November 2018

HousCie

The Future of Intermate With the move to Atlas imminent (for the 3rd time) and the plans for the new Internaat becoming clearer, Max and Jobert from the HousCie give you a tour of Intermate’s new living room. Text: Jobert Zoetbrood and Max Quintes, HousCie members

With only a few months left before the big (and certainly long-awaited) migration to Atlas, it is time to explore some ideas of what the grand future of Intermate in the most sustainable educational building in the world will look like! Before we have a close in-depth look at some of the interior of the brand-new Intermate room (new sofas, new bar, even a mobile bar!) we will look back at an article about Atlas from 6 years ago. So sit back, relax and enjoy all of these aspects of the soon-to-be brand-new Intermate room in Atlas! In order to be able to fully appreciate the green technology implemented with the ‘upgrade’ of Atlas, we should take a look back at June 2012. An article was released in the Intermania, discussing the recent

design choices of making the TU/e campus a much greener place. One of those design choices, called ‘De groene loper’ (The green strip), was only very recently implemented at that time. The green strip is a design choice which encompasses the grassy areas of the campus. The migration of our department is also mentioned in the article, along with the prediction of it happening in 2018. Although the department will be moving somewhere around the Christmas break, it is safe to say that Intermate’s move is definitely not happening in 2018. However, it will very likely happen during the first three months of 2019! Moving on to the interior of the new Intermate-room, I am glad to say we are getting two brand-new sofas in our new room

Intermania

HousCie

in Atlas! One of them will be a corner-sofa and the other will be a 2/3 seat sofa. Both will be light brown of color, because we feel that this will be a good fit with the color palette of the new Intermate room. The old sofas will be auctioned after the migration to Atlas, so stay tuned if your (student) house is looking to buy some new old furniture! Certain items that are of significant value to the association, such as the old Intermate clock, the committee board and the board lists will obviously be moved to the new room, as well as both our TVs.

“The old sofas will be auctioned after the migration to Atlas, so stay tuned if your (student) house is looking to buy some new old furniture!” Next up are the bars! Not only are we getting a stylish new bar, we will also start using a mobile bar for the drinks outside of the building in the future. Feedback sessions on the choice of materials and colors for the bar were held in the 2nd week after the holidays, and the input we received from the members (for example, you showed November 2018

preference to making booze visible and having a wooden background) has been extremely helpful in making design decisions. These decisions still need to be finalized, so unfortunately there are no details on that yet. But that is not all. As some of you may have seen during the Freshmen Fever drink, Intermate is now a proud owner of a mobile bar! We hope have many opportunities where the mobile bar can be used for outside drinks. Currently, the HousCie is working on finalizing the details of the bar. Some other projects we are working on are the budget for the new purchases of the move, determining the available storage space in the new rooms, and what to store where. This is being done by comparing situation sketches of the HousCie members and working out the details of the power connections available in the new space. We are also working on more general things, like the look & feel of the new living space. The HousCie is working very hard on trying to finalize the design decisions, because we all want to start the installing process as soon as possible. And that’s it! You’ve been brought up to speed with everything that has been revolving around the big migration to Atlas. The HousCie is looking forward to these changes with a smile, and we hope that the rest of Intermate will do the same! Images: Please note that the drawings of the bar are not yet finalized and thus subject to change. The sofas will be light brown of color and in the form of a corner-seat. 13

Cartoon Isabel Blijenburg

AC-Team

How do you get your game on?

An AC-Party is the perfect opportunity to be your most drunken and most seductive self. Julia looks into her experiences into this enchanting night and recounts some of the most talented pick-up artists and lines of the evening. Text: Julia Verbruggen, AC-Team Matchmaker

The 19th of September: the day of the first AC party of this academic year. Intro groups reunited at their parents’ houses to eat, drink and of course to have fun. Whispers of creative group costume ideas had been going around for the last couple of weeks, but there were also some people who willingly took on the last-minute outfit ideas the ACTeam provided for those who were short on inspiration. The theme of this party was ‘Games Alive’, a theme where everybody could get their game on. Me being a very curious person, I wondered how people actually ‘get their game on’, so I went on a quest to look for the best players at the party. Feeling excited and ready to start this game, I walked into Geert

One of two wild families of Sims to be spotted

and wanted to kick-off my quest with some amazing game-related pick-up lines. These were: ‘YOU are my game’, ‘Do you want to jump on my mushroom’ (Mario) and ‘I want to conquer your empire’ (Risk). Blown away by his preparations, I was completely ready for the party that night. Hoping there were

“Give me 30 seconds and I will seduce you.”

Evie & Evie and the Domino Family

a few hours before the party and talked with him about his strategy for tonight’s event. Even before all the fun had started he was very enthusiastic about the theme November 2018

some people who were able to surpass this level of greatness. As people came trickling that night, one of the first groups among them was the board who was dressed as a game of Twister with every board member being a different color. They were very eager to let everybody play their game, which was in itself a very physical approach. Some of the board members didn’t shy away to ask you to put your hands on 15

AC-Team their Twister dots. Their confidence made me excited to continue my search and I decided to go to one of my friends. I approached Melissa Baars who, with her always curious character, came up with a Cluedo inspired pick-up line. This included going up to someone and then asking them if she was allowed to solve their mystery.

fltr: Dora, Harry Potter, Jack Sparrow & Ed Sheeran

Having investigated quite a bit already, I found it important to talk to some freshmen and figure out how they seduce their prey. Looking around, I suddenly saw Yvar standing at the bar talking to Zeger. I walked up to them and asked how they got their games on which took Zeger a bit by surprise, but Yvar didn’t have to think that long. He liked to keep it simple and would go for the following

she was instantly ready to spit some great lines. She started off with a game she played a lot when she was really young. This was memory, it made her want to look for the other person with whom she made a matching memory set. Looking back at another of her favorite board games from the old days, Monopoly, she said she would approach someone and tell them she would not mind arriving in prison with them. Very happy with her creativity I decided to continue partying, but suddenly a wild Jobert appeared in a hand-made outfit. Intrigued with the memory game you were able to play on his shirt I asked him if this was a strategic move of him. Neither denying nor confirming this he was able to tell me that a lot of hands had already touched him this night. I thought to myself that Lotte might be able to complete her memory set with one of the cards attached to Jobert and made sure I passed her this note. This more physical method showed me that this is also a very successful plan of attack if you are at a loss of words. The party continued and at the end of the night I ran into Lotte again and she told me that there was one more way to get your game on, but it was more direct. Me, always liking people to be pretty straightforward, was up for one last pick-up line and so she told me: ‘Give me thirty seconds and I will seduce you’ (30 seconds).

“What game would you like to play tonight?” effortless question: ‘What game would you like to play with me tonight?’. Liking the very straightforward approach I established that I needed to look for someone who is very into playing games. Then it came to me, Lotte was the girl I needed to find for some awesome game related pick-up lines. When I finally found the board game queen 16

The mAtChmakers themselves!

Intermania

Ethics of Innovation

Theme

Boundaries surround us everywhere; literally and figuratively. As Innovation Sciences students, we are adept at conducting research and setting up experiments. But what if the scientific world did not have ethical boundaries? Text: Arjun Tyagi, Freelancer

Innovation with ethics means that innovators give society a say in the process of innovation. Most innovators have an intrinsic sense of ethics, however, corporations have their own forms of ethics and codes of conduct that they follow. Many a time it so happens that these do not overlap and the innovators are left with difficult decisions to make and they find themselves in a tight spot. The more we advance as a society, the more we are involved in policy making and the greater our engagement towards manufacturing or other general processes of companies that have a direct impact on

on. Every field of technology has its own ethics and restrictions, but what if innovation did not have restrictions or rules or any form of structure? How will it enhance the process of technological development? It might give meaning to the phrase “thinking outside the box”, especially since the box and its boundaries do not exist in this hypothetical situation. But what if there were no such boundaries or a box, and ideals were thrown out the window to have best possible technological solutions? We could live in a world with self-driving cars or maybe even

“...would there be atrocities committed in the name of science?” our everyday lives becomes. An example is the increasing trend of veganism nowadays, which is partly due to the fact that the process of meat production is not sustainable and causes a lot of harm to the environment. This is just a peaceful method of protest or retaliation of the people shown towards something that they do not agree with, which happens especially when the ethics of a company do not coincide with the ethics of an individual. This affects the advancement of science and technological sectors of industry such as the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and automobile industry and so November 2018

flying cars. Or would there be atrocities committed in the name of science? Think about electrocuting people for experiments or using human test subjects for medical purposes. These things are so closely governed today, but they will not be in such a world. Without existence of boundaries, such an act would be considered the norm in society and would not be a cause for concern. Human race is taught to aim and achieve perfection, a perfect society, a perfect technology or a perfect medicine. In some cases, this would mean having no ethical considerations would be an advantage, but 17

en Theme to achieve such a perception we should not ignore our societal rules and the ethics that bind us. For instance, many modern-day medicines and medicinal techniques are developed from previously existing medicine that were used in World War II which was obtained via unconventional methods such as torture or leaving someone untreated in poor conditions

be done, it has become a debate of whether it should be done. Technologists tell us that driverless cars still have no judgment. They cannot choose between two terrible options, like hitting an elderly woman or hitting three children. But the human beings programming them can, which raises the question of who is to blame if an accident were to happen.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;..obtained via unconventional methods such as torture ..â&#x20AC;? just to observe reactions in war prisoners. Some of the examples of such medicines are frost bite treatment, plastic surgery, nutrition science, sanitary napkins for women, penicillin etc. Due to the existence of these techniques, modern-day scientists were able to improve and provide safer and better medicine. However, it remains a fact that initial development in this field lacked the ethical guidelines that we follow now. But at the same time, it cannot be overlooked that the knowledge obtained in the world wars created a foundation for future technological development. Similarly, the case of self-driving cars has created many ethical debates. From people considering where it can

Therefore, ethics are those boundaries that box technological development, but it is done so for societal good, to give voice to societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinion, and to let the people know that ethics in technological development has a lot in common with ethics of people followed in everyday life. Responsible innovation is crucial, but it is not always easy. We are in a complex era full of disruption that requires careful consideration, especially in relation to the positive and negative consequences associated. Such consequences are not always easy to predict, but it is necessary to try. And in any case, it would help to follow each innovation to analyze its outcomes. And from this point on it requires creativity to humanize innovations.

Intermania

The Unlimited Brain

Theme

Do you ever feel like you cannot keep up with all that is going on in your life? Could you use some help in the organization department? Michelle shares how you can make your mind limitless. Text: Michelle van Ardenne, editorial staff

As a student, it is hard to keep your thoughts together sometimes. In my case, a student’s life means three courses in eight weeks, a job, and a social life with lots of fun activities. It is hard to keep track of everything at the same time and sometimes I feel like my head can explode at any moment. I think a lot of people can relate to this feeling, which is why I want to share what I have learned about creating an unlimited brain. The definition of learning is a “lasting change caused by experience”. Many of you have another view when it comes to learning. Concepts we associate with learning are facts, formulas, and theories; just a bunch of words that represent research that is done before by

“I feel like my head can explode at any moment.”

someone else. They are almost the opposite of what we call an experience. Yet, we undergo learning exactly as the definition states. If you want to learn something you have to do something with it, make an experience out of it. A fact is remembered best when you do more with it than just reading. For example, linking information to something you have seen, felt, or heard. This relates to my first trick; try to make the information you have to learn as real as possible. Imagine how it looks like in real life or connect it to your emotions. The best November 2018

thing is to make a real experience out of it. Do your own research to see if it is true. Unfortunately, as a student we do not have the time to do this for every theory that is in the book. However, making an assignment or

“do something with it, make an experience out of it!” exercise is also doing research, so use them! If you find it hard to imagine something in your head, you can try to draw it. In that way, you experience it in real life. Make a sketch or a comic to give your brain the opportunity to link the new information to experiences that are already in your head. By making drawings you trigger different brain pathways from the ones that you use while reading.

A trick that is very cliché is timing. It is good to repeat the information. Especially semantic learning – facts – is easier when 19

en Theme your brain is exposed to the same information for multiple times. Repetition under different circumstances will definitely improve your learning capacity, since different circumstances will show you different approaches. When you combine these approaches, they give a good overview which helps you to remember. So, do not stick to just one learning strategy. When you learn with restrictions, your mind will be limited for sure. An idea could be watching YouTube videos and reading the book. Or maybe you

motivation strategy which says that you have to make a game out of something to make you intrinsically motivated. Some of you might use such a strategy, like having a break after having read 15 pages. The tip I read stated that you have to write down your progress. Start with a 1 and let yourself earn points by reading a chapter or going to a lecture. In such manner, you actively see your progress which can work as an intrinsic motivator. You can take it to a higher level by comparing your points with someone else and make a real

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...let yourself earn points by reading a chapter or going to a lecture.â&#x20AC;? could test a friend, which is by the way a great way to learn hard facts. Especially when you try to make jokes about the stuff you have to learn. In that way it will be stuck in your head forever! A tip I find very interesting is one about gamification. For the people who hear this term for the first time, gamification is a

competition out of it. This will give an extra boost to your motivation. Especially when you use shiny stickers to keep up the score. Hopefully, these tips and tricks turn out to be useful during your next exam week. Some may take some time to master, but in the end they will help you to get rid of the boundaries of your brain.

Intermania

Lustrum Commissie

Hoe Overleef ik … HET LUSTRUM?  Zoals deze hele Intermania in het teken staat van het 7e lustrum, zit de periode van 14 t/m 23 november ook vol activiteiten die je niet kán missen. Hoe overleef je nou die 10 dagen? Dat gaat Jurjen je haarfijn uitleggen. Tekst & afbeeldingen: Jurjen Faber, voorzitter Lustrum Commissie 2018

Er zijn vast heel veel dingen die ik je niet hoef te vertellen - zoals goed slapen en je goede humeur meebrengen - maar daarvoor schrijf ik dit niet. Dit stukje zal jou gaan vertellen hoe je maximaal kan genieten van de 35e verjaardag van Intermate. Ten eerste had je al een tijdje geleden kunnen beginnen met de voorbereidingen. Mocht dit je nou niet gelukt zijn toentertijd, dan raad ik je bij deze aan om toch nog een lustrumpakket te bestellen. In dit pakket zit alles om de 10 dagen te overleven, waaronder een muts en een heerlijk biertje

groepsgenoten aan de slag gaat met een case van de ANWB. Heb jij de beste oplossing voor hun probleem gevonden? Dan ga jij naar huis met een vette prijs! Dit gaat natuurlijk niet op een lege maag, net zoals de vele andere activiteiten, en daarom zal er op de eerste dag van het lustrum een diner plaatsvinden, geheel verzorgd door de koppels die het hebben gered tot de MasterChef finale. Tijdens dit diner kan je alvast geheel in de stemming komen en zelf ook eens proeven van de

“Je kan overleggen met anderen en groepen vormen om de weerwolven, of burgers, op te jagen” –Jurjen gebrouwen ter ere van het 7e lustrum. Buiten deze  essentials  is het ook zeer belangrijk om daadwerkelijk deel te nemen aan de activiteiten van het lustrum. Natuurlijk zal het niet alleen maar lang leve de lol zijn bij deze activiteiten, maar zullen er ook wat educatieve of grensleggende activiteiten zijn. Eén van de vele leuke dingen die we doen, alle activiteiten zijn natuurlijk leuk, is een week lang weerwolven spelen. Vele van jullie hebben dit spel vroeger, of pasgeleden, natuurlijk wel gespeeld, maar heb je het ook wel eens over een periode van 10 dagen gespeeld? Tijdens deze periode kan je verleggen met anderen en groepen vormen om de weerwolven, of burgers, op te jagen. Een andere lange activiteit die we hebben is het Best Idee van TIW, waar jij met je November 2018

kwaliteiten van de chefs. Waar gegeten wordt moet ook gedronken worden, iets wat elke donderdag gebeurt op de borrel. Maar tijdens de lustrumweek leggen we de grens van de borrel nog iets verder. Op deze borrel zullen leden geholpen worden over hun angsten heen te komen. Deze angsten kunnen van alles zijn, bijvoorbeeld een angst voor een bepaald stuk eten of angst voor hoogtes. Mocht je nog iemand kennen die ergens bang voor is, wacht dan niet langer en laat het de lustrumcommissie weten! De tweede borrelavond van het lustrum zal in het teken staan van een heuse katerjacht. Rennend over Stratum zal jij de ‘kater’ bij moeten houden qua drinktempo en looptempo, want als de kater naar de volgende bar gaat met de pot is het handig om daar achteraan te rennen! 21

Lustrum Commissie

We hebben uiteraard niet alleen activiteiten waar je op van raakt, we hebben ook genoeg tijd ingepland om te ontspannen. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan de activiteit waar we met z’n allen deel zullen nemen aan een cursus  geitenyoga, waar tijdens het beoefenen van yoga een paar speelse geitjes over je heen lopen. Of aan een heerlijk relaxte lunchlezing waar je achterover kan leunen met een lekker broodje en de informatie van de desbetreffende bedrijven tot je neemt. Genoeg tijd dus om na de hectische dingen weer helemaal zen te worden. Naast deze wat kleinere activiteiten is het natuurlijk ook heel belangrijk om lekker 22

de voetjes los te gooien en te dansen op de dansvloer tijdens het gala. Deze avond zal een prachtig Casino thema hebben in een haast sprookjesachtige setting op kasteel Maurick. Naast het bonden en beter kennismaken met al je studiegenoten of alumni, is het natuurlijk ook van belang om de bedrijven in je studiesector al wat beter te leren kennen. En wanneer kan dit nou beter dan op het congres speciaal georganiseerd voor de studies van Intermate? Al met al, genoeg te doen tijdens deze, nu al, memorabele 10 dagen, dus blok alles in je agenda en bereid je alvast voor! Wij als commissie hebben er heel erg veel zin in en hopen jullie alle 10 de dagen te zien verschijnen! Intermania

Gala: Last Call

Het Lustrum Gala: dĂŠ feestelijke activiteit die elke vijf jaar bij onze prachtige studievereniging wordt herhaald. Dit jaar zullen wij Kasteel Maurick in Vught onveilig maken. Nu het gala dichterbij komt, begint het allemaal wat meer te kriebelen. Van velen hebben we al gehoord dat ze blauwe brieven schreven of ontvingen. Heb je nu weinig inspiratie? Gebruik dan deze voorbeeldbrieven!

Mijn liefste (Naam van heer die je een brief stuurde)....................,

Ik voelde ook dezelfde vonk bij jou toen ik je zag op (Locatie)..................... Ook jouw (Kleur).................... ogen en jouw (Kleur).................... haar hebben mij slapeloze nachten bezorgd. Ook ik droom alleen maar over jouw (Lichaamsdeel 1)...................., (Lichaamsdeel 2).................... en (Lichaamsdeel 3)..................... Jouw (Karakter eigenschap).................... maakt mij helemaal gek. Elke ochtend als ik mijn ogen open doe na een nacht van jou te hebben gedroomd voel ik de (Dieren).................... weer in mijn buik. Mijn ramen vliegen dan open en de (Vogelachtigen).................... zingen dan over de grootste onbekende liefde die ik voor jou heb. Op de fiets voel ik mij dan als een dartelende (Dier wat kan dartelen).................... die door een veld met (Bloemen, of iets anders wat bijen aantrekt)..................... Als mijn dag dan voorbij gaat zonder jou te hebben gezien of te hebben gehoord dan voel ik mij als (Vast voedsel).................... met (Vloeibaar voedsel)..................... Nu sprong mijn hart ook (Getal).................... keer in de lucht toen ik een blauwe brief van je kreeg. Het LustrumGalaÂŠ Is absoluut een

Vanaf het moment dat ik je zag bij (Locatie).................... was ik op slag verliefd. Jouw (Kleur).................... ogen en jouw (Kleur).................... haar hebben mij slapeloze nachten bezorgd. Ik droom alleen maar over jouw (Lichaamsdeel 1)...................., (Lichaamsdeel 2).................... en (Lichaamsdeel 3)..................... Je bent ook zo ongelofelijk (Karaktereigenschap)..................... Elke dag als ik wakker word na een nacht waarin jij mijn hele hoofd in de war hebt gebracht, voel ik de (Dieren).................... weer in mijn buik. Als ik de ramen open doe en ik denk aan jou dan schijnt de zon toch iets harder en de (Vogelachtigen).................... klinken beter dan ooit tevoren. Ik voel me dan als een dartelende (Dier wat kan dartelen).................... die door een veld met (Bloemen, of iets anders wat bijen aantrekt).................... dartelt. Als ik je dan weer zie blijft er toch een brok in mijn keel steken. Ik ben op dit moment niet met jou en dat laat me voelen als (Vast voedsel)....................met

Mijn liefste (Naam van dame die je wilt verleiden)....................,

16 November Casino Themed

(Je eigen naam) ....................

In afwachting van je antwoord,

(Vloeibaar voedsel)..................... Nu wil ik hier graag verandering in brengen, door je te vragen als mijn LustrumGalaÂŠ date. Ik zal je meenemen met mijn(Voertuig)...................., ik zal je dragen als je hakken pijn beginnen te doen(als dat maar niet al aan het begin van de avond is) en ik zal alles voor je doen om de avond onvergetelijk te maken. Hiervoor zal ik (Dans).................... videoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opzoeken op youtube, als je dorst hebt zal ik een (Drank).................... voor je halen en als je iemand nodig hebt om mee te praten kun je naar je vriendinnen gaan. Op de foto zullen wij staan als (Filmster 1).................... en (Filmster 2).................... en iedereen die ons samen ziet zal denken dat wij het perfecte setje zijn. 20:0003:00 Kasteel Maurick

No ticket for the Gala yet? Buy it online by scanning this QR code!

geweldig romantisch moment waar onze liefde echt kan opbloeien. Ik nodig je bij deze uit op (Datum en tijdstip).................... op (Je eigen adres).................... om een gezellig kopje thee te drinken. Dan zal ik je misschien (koeksel/gebak/slagroom/ drugs/niks/ hondenbrokjes/Ketel1/donuts/bagels/koenkie/brownie/spacecake/ VLAUOEI/cupcake/ wereldvrede/SOA).................... aanbieden. De kleur van mijn jurk, zal ik ook zeer onduidelijk aan je doorgeven door middel van een (Kleur).................... knoopje. Ook zal ik zeker gebruik maken van het feit dat je me zal dragen als mijn hakken pijn doen, iets wat na (Getal).................... minuten al het geval zal zijn. Ik ben ook zeer positief verrast dat je (Dansstijl).................... wilt leren, ik zal deze effort repliceren door je maar (Getal).................... keer tegen je schenen te schoppen. In afwachting van je antwoord, (Je eigen naam).................... â&#x20AC;&#x192;

According to Arjan

Social Innovations without Boundaries Arjan looks into what it means to develop society in a more sustainable way. By looking at and improving social practices we can make sure that innovation can be developed by everyone. Text: Arjan Derks, Sustainable Innovation student

At the TU/e, we dedicate much of our time to fantastic technical innovations. These innovations often are 10 years ahead of their time, if not more. Good examples of these are the light chips and semi-android robots. Yet, only 25% of the success factors of an innovation or novel technology are technical in nature. The remaining 75% are social, like organizational structures, business practices and networks. And the social side of innovation is what the TU/e should probably learn much about. I am glad that is what we do. Social Innovation is literally defined as a new way of doing business. This new way often incorporates new types of collaborations between people of different backgrounds. And background can be seen in the broader sense of ethnic, or socioeconomical background, instead of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;justâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; academic differences. A first example of this could be Fairtrade, which is a combination

November 2018

of Western consumers, multinational corporations and Third World farmers, who talk with each other to ensure that each gets a fair deal from the trade in commodities. The traditional trade boundaries are thus ignored and fairer collaborations take place. A second example of a social innovation is the paradigm of Sustainable Development. The goals associated with this, the Sustainable Development goals, present many challenges that go beyond the mere role of government, enterprise or individual in society. Besides, technology is neither the only, nor the best answer to tackle the challenges and solve the problems. It is for this reason that social innovation will be important, as the solution to the global goals and challenges lies in new ways of organization and cooperation. At the same time, providing the solution to these challenges and succeeding in them, will require people with a social-entrepreneurial mindset and the drive to tackle the challenge.

According to Arjan This entrepreneurship could mean that Corporate Social Responsibility can be revived or that we motivate people and new companies with new ideas to solve problems. People with the skills, knowhow and daring to go after these opportunities, the entrepreneurs, can truly make a difference. And engaging in social entrepreneurship is not only a nice way to help others, but you

to develop. On the other hand, the road to success is neither straightforward nor easy to tread. There are a lot of physical and administrative boundaries that are in the way before the trade can start. The ‘without boundaries’ part of the lustrum would really be of social and developmental importance in this YSEA activity. The Hackathon Hack Global Goals is

“Technology is neither the only, nor the best answer to tackle the challenges and solve the problems” –Arjan can truly challenge yourself with it. This can of course be done via Enactus Eindhoven, of whom many of the faculty have already heard. Another group that will try to promote social entrepreneurship is the Young Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator. With this group, we try to find local versions of SDG challenges and find people, combine them and get a solution. The beauty in it, is the people that are willing to start it up. Most of them actually have some experience in corporate life, or have small start-ups of themselves. The network and connections these people have, run all over the globe. This means that YSEA not only finds business cases in the vicinity of Eindhoven, or cases that can be

“The beauty in it is the people that are willing to start it up” applied here, but also in developing countries. One of their activities is an attempt to set up a fair trade supply chain for products from developing countries. If successful, this really will help the farmers in these countries 28

another of their activities. In this Hackathon, five local SDG-related challenges have been presented to the participants. Taking place in the weekend of 21st until 23rd of September, it started with a kick-off drink at the Colour Kitchen, on the High Tech Campus. On Saturday and Sunday, we could work on the challenges. And the most beautiful part of the whole hackathon, the final presentations, had a very nice surprise: all the solutions that were devised will be supported or taken up further if the participants wish so. This can also be classified as a social innovation. Not only is it a bit different from regular hackathon practices, that all ideas are followed up with (though scale plays a role here), but also that social goals and social problems are ‘solved’ via a hackathon. The TU/e likes to promote as the place ‘where innovation starts’ and in a technical sense, it most certainly is. However, in terms of social innovation, a challenge remains and many gains can be made, for everyone involved. Let’s hope that more TU/e students can be motivated to take up this challenge of social innovation. Let’s go together for social innovation without boundaries, applying all knowledge and skills the TU/e has given us. Intermania

Burning up the Future

Student Teams

New in the Intermania! TU/e student teams write about their activities. For the first edition of this rubric: team SOLID. Geert Vergoossen elaborates what boundaries they encounter, and how they tackle them. Text: Geert Vergoossen, Team Captain at Team SOLID, Pictures: Bart van Overbeeke

Innovating without boundaries is horrible. Boundaries are great because they give you limits as to where you can go and therefore provide you with direction. However, too many boundaries cause the destruction of your disruptive idea and result in mere incremental innovation of existing products or services. If one wants to innovate without boundaries, you should have a clean vision. This one dot on the horizon, which enables you to make decisions. Instead of firm borders on the sides of a piece of paper, the dot on the horizon on a infinitely large piece of paper is the only guide you have. From that point in the future, you plan your way back. Step by step, from mission to vision to your objectives and then to measurable results. You might argue that this funnel is creating more and more boundaries the closer you get to an operational level. Yet this should not scare you away from revising your measurable results all the time, as long as they serve your objective. And change your objectives if they don’t serve your vision anymore. The constant iteration of elements that serve to fulfill your mission, is the innovation without boundaries.

November 2018

To relate this back to Team SOLID, we currently have the mission of: “Enabling clean, renewable energy for everyone at any time” and want to achieve this by the vision of “Creating an ecosystem in which metal fuels are used as a circular energy carrier”. Of course we cheated our way to vision by looking at Elon. “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”. So how do you go from a vision and mission to a true innovation? Something new and disruptive.

“The dot on the horizon is the only guide you have” We started at the final dot of the paper and roughly estimated the necessary intermediate steps needed to eventually make our vision become reality. From a complete ecosystem to a minimal viable ecosystem, from a minimal viable ecosystem to a core supply chain, etc.. Ending for us at awareness of the industry for metal fuels systems. We can achieve this step by showcasing a risk free demonstrator at a working combustion plant. Right now, the idea to make a noncommercial iron based energy system without a supply chain that most likely won’t contribute that much to a combustion plant, looks like a less strange idea. But, it’s just one of the steps to a truly disruptive innovation. 29

StudyTour Committee

Taiwan: An Island With Many Names As the committee picks up its preparations to go to Taiwan, they offer some insight into the cultural exploration and technological aspects that will be on the program next StudyTour. Text: Marleen Hillen & Theys Andriesse, StudyTour committee

‘Made in Taiwan’, a label affixed to products from the country once known as Ilha Formosa (Beautiful Island), and an image often visible in the Eighties and Nineties. During these times, The Republic of China (or just simply Taiwan) experienced a huge boost in the manufacturing of products ranging from plastic toys to computer chips. This is why it was known, together with Singapore, South Korea and Hong-Kong, as the four Asian Tigers. The country’s quick industrialization and rapid growth even got a nickname, namely the ‘Taiwan miracle’. During these years the country had really evolved from

Already checking the costs of a flight ticket to Taipei? No need! Next summer, we, the Study Tour Committee, will organize a threeweek trip to this beautiful and innovative island. Are you interested in joining our trip or do you have some questions? Please let us know by contacting one of the committee members, or by sending an email to studytour@intermate.nl. Be aware that, to join this trip, a case study of 100 hours at a company has to be completed, and a raffle will be held in case there are a lot of interested students. an agrarian farmer state into a workforce intensive culture. The country which history mostly consists of being occupied by other 30

dominating nations had now become an economic powerhouse themselves. However, the economy of Taiwan could not compete with the emerging industries of China in the late Nineties anymore. Therefore, it was necessary for the country to invest in innovation in specific areas and shift away from the mass production. And they did. Over the years, the country created an engineering expertise in hardware and information technologies. This has given them the opportunity to become a highly innovative nation as we know now. Taiwan, and especially the city of Taipei, is a real technological hub. Luckily, Taiwan has not lost the nature and culture of its beautiful island to its booming industry and innovations. With a surface of 36.200 km^2, it is even slightly smaller than the Netherlands. You can thus imagine that it is possible to drive around this island in only one day! Does this make it less special? Of course not. As it lays exactly between two tectonic plates it is a volcanic island, with more than 70% of towering mountains. Because of this, Taiwan is home to many natural spectacles like hot springs and cavernous lava rock coastlines. On these beautiful landscapes Taiwanese and Chinese cultures have met, which are still present in the small villages of the country. Innovation without boundaries. This is what Taiwan needed to develop itself into the nation it is nowadays. It showed us that even a country that was constantly dominated by other nations, is able to act beyond its perceived capacities. Intermania

Graduate

The Sustainability of Chocolate Where does chocolate come from, how is it produced and how can the industry improve in sustainability? Merlijn explored this complicated matter for her graduation project. From bean to bar. Text and images: Merlijn Borneman, graduating student Innovation Sciences

Think about a relaxed evening at home: sitting on the couch with a cup of tea and some sweets, for example a piece of chocolate. Imagine the taste of that piece of chocolate melting on your tongue. But have you ever thought about all the steps that cocoa beans must undergo before they melt like chocolate in your mouth? Many of these steps have already been executed on the other side of the world and a number of national borders have been passed before the chocolate can be sold in the Netherlands. The impact of the Netherlands on the cocoa supply chain resides only partly in the sale of confectionary products like chocolate. The import of cocoa beans has a much larger influence, since the Netherlands is the world’s largest importer of cocoa. Our policies and actions have an impact elsewhere. But what is the impact of the cocoa supply chain? What are the sustainability trade-offs? To answer these questions, I started my research with the development of an overview of the cocoa supply chain, to identify the different steps taken from bean to bar and relative locations. Then I used the trade database from the United Nations to map cocoa trading quantities around the world. A November 2018

small number of countries is responsible for a large part of the cocoa cultivation. Specific climate conditions are needed for successful cultivation and those climates can only be found around the equator. That is why the origin of cocoa is located in Central and South America. Due to colonisation, the crop has been brought to West Africa as well. Currently, seventy percent of all cocoa is grown in four West African countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Nigeria. However, surprisingly the share of cocoa grown in Central and South America is increasing. What is the reason for the re-emerge of cocoa cultivation in Central and South America? To research the sustainability tradeoffs in the cocoa supply chain, and try to connect that knowledge to current changes in the cocoa sector, I used the monitor well-being and sustainability (developed by the Statistics Netherlands, CBS). In the monitor the level of ecological, economic, human and social capital is measured for the years 1975, 1995 and 2015. This creates a clear and broad picture of the national development over time. I implemented three countries in the monitor: Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, as they are the largest cocoa exporting countries, and 31

Graduate Ecuador because it is re-emerging as a cocoa producer, which gives me the possibility to investigate the differences between WestAfrica and South-America. It sounds easy: find data for the monitors, compare the results, write a nice story and there you go, thesis done! However, it is slightly, or let’s say a lot, more difficult than that. For example, gathering all the historical data was quite a challenge, since data from West-African countries is mainly collected for development aid purposes which started around the sixties. That turned out to be a good reason for a daytrip to the African Study Centre in Leiden, where I found some interesting (typewriter written) documents. Finally, (almost) all my data is collected and bit by bit an interesting story is unravelling. It seems the case that the re-emersion of South America is related to the improved social circumstances and the fact that cocoa beans are easier to trace. In West Africa, the majority of the farmers still live with less than $1.00 a day, meaning that they still have a long way to go before they can give any kinds of guarantees about the ecological sustainability of their farms. The cocoa and chocolate industry is forced to choose if they want to focus more on the social or ecological trade-offs. Investing in

South America means more ecologically responsible sourced beans, while investing in West Africa gives the farmers there the chance to grow a better livelihood.

“...the Netherlands is the world’s largest importer of cocoa” For example, Tony’s Chocolonely, that only works with West African sourced beans, is obviously focusing on social sustainability with their aim for 100% slave free chocolate. Although, they buy off their ecological impact. I combined the first, more theoretical, part of my study with an analysis of the current trends and stakeholders in the field of cocoa production and processing. So, I went on a tour in the cocoa factory of Olam Cocoa. The beans are extracted from the cocoa pods, then dried and pressed to separate the so called cocoa cake (powder) from the fatty part of the bean, the cocoa butter. Unfortunately, a cocoa factory is not as exciting as a chocolate factory with OompaLoompas walking around...

Intermania

PhD’er

The Curious PhD of Alain Starke Some kids want to be a scientist as they grow old. To them, a scientist is usually some guy wearing a white lab coat and goggles, precariously looking at an Erlenmeyer flask while chalking some formulas on a blackboard. Text & Pictures: Alain Starke, PhD candidate Human Technology Interaction

How I got there Not me. Despite of the appeal of becoming a professor and growing a beard, I wanted to be a civil engineer. I had the tendency to remember every single motorway exit my parents drove past. Case in point: I spent many of my free hours drawing extensive road maps on small sheets of white paper, often including sophisticated road junctions, highway intersections and exit signs. However, I did not hit the road to fulfill my destiny. Instead of steamrolling through a Bachelor’s program of Civil Engineering in Delft, I was drawn in by Technische Innovatiewetenschappen back in 2008. This

“I haven’t worn a lab coat since sixth grade of high school” eventually led to me attaining a master’s degree in Innovation Sciences in 2014, landing a NWO Research Talent grant along the way to fund a PhD. Yes, life has its funny ways. Just as a movie rarely resembles the book it’s based upon, doing a PhD is nothing like the childhood dreams. I haven’t worn a lab coat since sixth grade of high school, when I had to handle a pipette in chemistry class. No, my PhD days are less imaginative and are spent at my IPO desk, running some Stata scripts on my Dell Latitude laptop. In fact, since my PhD relies November 2018

on online data collection, I rarely have to leave the office. And even though I graduated cum laude from Innovation Sciences, I decided to abandon the macro perspective on energy transitions and pursued a psychologyinfluenced PhD at Human-Technology Interaction instead. My PhD research My PhD investigates how to motivate consumers to adopt energy-efficient behaviors in their home. One thing that is unequivocal in conservation research is the effectiveness of tailored energy-saving advice. Rather than using one-size-fits-all solutions, such as “you get a solar panel! You get a solar panel! Everybody gets a solar panel,” tailored energy-saving advice fits one or more characteristics of an end consumer. For example, it makes little sense to suggest a student to re-construct his home to increase energy efficiency, if that students lack funds or capabilities to do so. However, tailoring energy-saving advice creates a problem of scale. The old-fashioned way to promote tailored advice would be to hire a large army of energy consultants and make them go door-to-door to perform energy audits. However, such a Jehovian approach to conservation promotion is timeconsuming and costly. My PhD project presents a solution to this, using energy recommender systems. I am sure you have used a recommender before. Just think of Amazon or Bol.com, which recommends you new products because consumers have bought them, along with 33

PhDer the product you’re currently looking at. Or perhaps Netflix, which recommends you a set of movies ‘because you like Pulp Fiction’. All these are recommender systems, and use input of their users to present suitable items. We apply this principle to the energy domain, with one important difference. Recommender systems typically work with socalled latent factors, dimensions for which it’s hard to pin down what they mean. You could compare this to performing a factor analysis of which you are unaware what the resulting

“My PhD investigates how to motivate consumers to adopt energy-efficient behaviors in their home” factors actually mean. However, our energy recommender system uses an understandable algorithm, which assumes that the extent to which a user performs different energysaving measures indicates the strength of that user’s energy-saving attitude. Rather than asking about a user’s opinion (e.g. “I think it’s important to save energy”), we inquire on behavioral frequencies (e.g. “I typically turn off the light after leaving a room”). The resulting behavior-based attitude can be easily matched to the execution difficulty of an energy-saving measure. Our recommender system can predict which energy-saving measures are likely to be already performed by a user, and which measures are good recommendations. To test this, we built an energy web shop where we test different algorithms and interfaces. For example, since consumers typically ignore kWh savings when choosing energy-saving 34

measures, we test whether emphasizing these savings can nudge users into installing energy-efficient measures. Beyond research itself This research has brought me to a few places. First and foremost, I get to attend conferences, which sometimes are organized in the Eindhoven area (e.g. Wageningen and Tilburg), but usually farther away. For example, I have been to Italy twice, but have also presented my work in the hotel which was used to shoot the movie ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. One time, the conference was even an excuse for the attendees to lavish on the beautiful Swiss Riviera of Lago Maggiore. To me, travelling is definitely one of the upsides of working in academia, but I can imagine this becomes harder as I grow older. However, all this PhD’ing is drawing to a close now and l have to figure out whether I want to continue to work at a university. Although travelling and flexibility are great, the lack of job security is likely to cause stress in the future. Again, it was no childhood dream of mine to have a ‘huisje, boompje, beestje’, but the long ‘waiting times’ for a permanent contract job at a university are definitely less appealing. Whatever happens, you are all cordially invited to join my PhD defense ceremony: 26th of February 2019, 11:00 in the Senaatszaal, Auditorium.

Alain at RecSys2017: A recommender Systems Conference

Intermania

Child Inventors

Theme

Innovation is not only for grownups. Children can also be “smartasses” sometimes. Cécile did some research for you to point out some of the little geniuses that have contributed so much to the world. Text: Cécile Geertman, editorial staff

Some people living in this world are not very talented and will probably not achieve very much in their lifetime. Luckily, they can be compensated by some genius children. At a young age, some have already developed amazing inventions which have helped improve of our lives. The Internet provides us with many examples of these little geniuses. George Nissen One of the inventions that was developed by a young genius is the trampoline. George Nissen, born in 1914, was a fanatical gymnast as a teenager. At the age of 16, this guy saw some trapeze artists perform in a circus and he was fascinated by the way George Nissen and a kangaroo on a trampoline

“The first trampolines he sold were used to to train pilots in WW1” they used the safety net below them. Nissen thought it would be nice if somehow they could keep on jumping in the air with the help of something elastics. If something like this existed, his acrobatic acts as a gymnast could significantly be improved. A few years later, Nissen made his first prototype by using a canvas and some springs made out of rubber. Continuing on his basic concept, he kept on improving his trampoline and started up his own company. The first trampolines he sold were used to train gymnasts and to train November 2018

pilots in World War II, but he found out it was also a nice invention to entertain children. The latter is nowadays the most common application for trampolines. Frank Epperson Another popular invention that originally comes from a child is the popsicle. In 1905, an 11 years old boy called Frank Epperson accidentally discovered the recipe of how to make ice pops. According to the stories, Epperson left a glass with powdered soda and water, and a mixing stick outside during a winter’s night. When he found it again the next day, the mixture had become solid, and that is how the first popsicle was created. However, it was only at the age of 29 that Epperson requested a patent for his idea. Initially, he called his invention ‘Epsicle’, but 35

en Theme because of the fact that his own children called it Pop’s sicle he changed the name to ‘Popsicle’.

Louis Braille, the inventor of the Braille system

Louis Braille Louis Braille who was born in 1809 in a small village in France. At the age of 3, this little boy managed to get himself into the workshop of his dad. In there, he started

replacement of the normal alphabet. That is why, at the age of 15, Braille started to perfect a new method to a higher level. He eventually came up with an efficient writing system with 6 points, which included the alphabet, punctuation marks, numbers, mathematical symbols, and musical notes. In 1825 he proposed his idea to the director of the school and four years later his Braille writing was accepted. Nikita Rafikov A more recent example of a child inventor is Nikita Rafikov. Being a young boy of 14 years old, he presented in 2014 some great plans to make our future a bit brighter. His goal was to come up with a renewable energy source as efficient as the old ones, but without having a

“He eventually came up with an efficient writing system with 6 points” playing with the tools he found. By doing so, he accidentally hurt himself by getting an awl into his eye, which had the consequence of complete blindness in that eye. The infection caused by this led to the loss of sight in his other eye. In 1819, his parents sent him to a school for the visually impaired in Paris. In this school, the blind children learned how to read and write by using letters in relief, which allowed them to feel the shape of the letters. However, this was not the most effective method. As an alternative, the students tested a new method which worked with twelve relief points. According to Braille, the points were definitely an improvement, but the method was far too underdeveloped to be a 36

Nikita Rafikov, young inventor

damaging effect on the environment. Rafikov invented a way to light up houses without the use of electricity. He discovered that the green light emitted by green fluorescent protein (GFP), a protein that can be found in certain jellyfish, could have a practical use. By embedding this special fluorescent protein in the glass of windows, these windows will get a certain glow in. This glow allows for natural heat and light. Intermania

Humans of Intermate

Internationals of Intermate

Innovation without boundaries happens also within the humans of Intermate. Internationals push their boundaries so they can study whatever they want. That is why three internationals have been interviewed for this edition. Text: Michelle van Ardenne, editorial staff

Hugo – France One of the most familiar faces at Intermate is Hugo. You may know him as the chairman of ‘Pharos’, the French guy or as the guy with the blue headphones. We think we already know everything about Hugo but still he has an interesting story to tell. Hugo came to Eindhoven because he wanted to study sustainability in English and since Eindhoven was the first university that accepted him, he did not have to look any further. He is glad he has made this decision, because even though the study may not have been the best decision, he was still able to discover what he wanted. For him, Eindhoven feels like home thanks to the people that he met here. However, according to Hugo, Dutch people are not perfect because they lack the ability to wonder. “Dutch people maybe lack the ability to wonder at stupid or pointless things. In France people just admire beauty, maybe at the cost of some efficiency, but yeah… who wants an HD movie in black and white.” Luckily for us, he said it with a smile on his face.

November 2018

Humans of Intermate

Cansu - Turkey This enthusiastic freshman had already seen a lot of Europe before she came to Eindhoven. In her home country Turkey, she started her student career with chemistry. After a couple of years she felt the need to do something different and started with the exchange program called ‘Erasmus’ in Poland. There, she realized that chemistry was not her destiny, so she started to look for something more environmental. That is when she found Sustainable Innovation at the TU/e. Cansu really likes her study so far, but there are a few things about the Netherlands that she still does not get. Take for example cycling, which is not Cansu’s biggest talent. Another Dutch practice she had to get used to is throwing beer at parties. Already at one of her first parties here, she experienced our weird ‘habit’. On the other hand, the people she met were very nice and friendly.

Ana - Portugal All the way from Portugal, Ana is here to follow her dream; becoming a person who is working for a better and more sustainable future. If you have heard Ana’s story, you might find it quite impressive. A thing that is worth mentioning, is that it took her some time to eventually get here. A few years ago you could find her in a lab in Oxford as a biometrical scientist. ‘This is the best place on earth’ people said, but Ana did not felt that way. That is why she started to pursue her dreams and ended up here in Eindhoven, studying Sustainable Innovation. However, this does not mean that this is the end. She loves Eindhoven, but if she gets the opportunity to develop herself somewhere else, she will take it with both hands. Of course, she misses her home country. She had to leave her friends, the good food, and the good weather behind. On top of that, she has to deal with the Dutch language which is not easy, she says. But if you ask her, it is all worth it.

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Living Abroad

Chaotic Kenya

“Sasa? – Poa.” That’s Swahili for “you right there”. It is an informal greeting and it usually sparks small talk about the day, fuel tax and corruption. So how are things in Kenya? Is it ‘underdeveloped’ and what is the way forward? Text & Images: Marvin Tiemessen, Innovation Sciences student

Before beginning a rant about traffic pollution and public planning, I want to bring a tribute to the creativity of the Kenyan people for fitting so many chairs (and people) in their busses. It is efficient too, transporting many people for the low price of around 2050 Kenyan Shilling (~ €0.15-0.40). Easily thousands of people use them, and in turn, generate a low impact on the environment; they are more ‘developed’ than us if you look at carbon emissions per passenger.

“Internet banking started

efficient transport system. The matatus offer a fun experience though. The speakers blast afro-beats through the bus, and they often come equipped with large TV-screens (to attract more customers). One ought to be careful with their wallets and phones though. A friend of mine got her phone stolen while calling because someone opened the window from the streets – bye bye phone. I wouldn’t say it is very dangerous here though. Sure enough things get stolen on a daily basis (my phone almost got grabbed by two boda-boda drivers), but there are almost no weapons here on the streets. As

here, and the operator here is the highest valued listed company in Kenya” I am a daily user of this transport system. While public planning made roads less efficient in carrying a lot of passengers, this is basically the legacy of the car-based city model, opposed to our bike-friendly cities. Moreover, there are no trams or trains to be seen, due to corruption. The ‘saccos’, or community-owned enterprises have a large influence here, they own the ‘matatus’ (busses) and ‘own’ the policeman. If you get run over, forget about getting any help from the police in certain parts of town. Owners are sometimes influential politicians or relatives, so there is, unfortunately, no change coming to make a new ‘sustainable’ and more November 2018

Living Abroad

my Brazilian friends pointed out, in Brazil I would have been shot in the face in the event of a theft. However, when they are caught in neighbourhoods (nobody cares about you in town), thieves are regularly beaten to death, raw justice right in front of your eyes. Talking about phones, almost everyone here has them (90% of Kenyans), and the 4g penetration is among the highest in the world. Why? Innovation in digital banking. Basically, internet banking started here, and the operator here is the highest valued listed company in Kenya. Rarely do people have bank accounts, addresses for receiving post or formal payment. This can all be done using their mobile phones, either through text messages or by using an app. I must say, it is very convenient. Everyone has it and you can

“I have taken three enterprises under my wing” pay your energy bill, the boda boda driver or your friends with it. You can even apply for loans or get your salary paid on it, all of it before we had fancy things such as sending a ‘tikkie’. Many Kenyans have an entrepreneurial spirit, most often they are forced to due to rife poverty. But, they at least try to tackle it themselves. This ‘VOC’-mentality has brought up many innovative ideas. There is where I help (as an intern), I support sustainable businesses in Kenya within the organization Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC). 40

One project is training all our incubated entrepreneurs about sustainability and how to achieve it. To bring rapport to what I say, I have taken three enterprises under my wing. One of them is owned by Bryan, and he picks up used cooking oil (Kenyans love their fried chicken, €2,50 for half a chicken) and then converts it into biodiesel. Super-sustainable! Unfortunately, there are quite some barriers regarding scaling up his business. One barrier is the cost of capital here. Inflation is about eight percent and taking on loans is even more expensive. Any investment, therefore, needs to have a high return, and this makes capital intensive products hard to sell. Take renewable energy, which often has a high up-front cost with little to none maintenance or operational cost. Another reason is their lack of technical and research skills. I have helped Bryan by developing a new plan to process oil more efficiently with a higher throughput rate. All this information was already available on the internet, but due to the lack of formal educated people, they lack understanding of the technical parts, or of the ‘soft’ skills of researching solutions out on the web. Another factor is the brain-drain happening, with many educated people aving left the country. We need more institutions like KCIC that are funded by the donors, like UKAID, the Danish Embassy and the World Bank to support innovations on finance, business modelling and technical support. I think this is the way forward to have a sustainable economy owned by Kenyans. To end this article: Asante sana (many thanks) and mpaka baadaye (until later). Intermania

Career Corner

Career Corner - Lustrum Perspectives In this edition of the Career Corner we set out to interview a member of the previous Lustrum Committee; Jiayi Zeng. Where did she end up after graduation and which lessons has she learned in the committee? Bert invited her over for a cup of tea to find out. Text: Bert van Gestel, Image: Jiayi Zeng

Hi Jiayi, nice to have you here! Can you tell me about your graduation project? During my Sustainable Energy Technology master, I became fascinated with sustainable development in developing countries. As I was very interested in Asia, Johanna Höffken

“Join every activity!” helped me to find a graduation project in Assam, India. This involved on-site research on the breakthrough of electricity in small towns. India was working on a centralized energy network and all the small towns had to be connected even though they sometimes already had a small localized network. I was surprised to see that even small villages were already concerned with sustainable

of 95% of all household corporations. Think about plan development, conceptual thinking, gasless households, and large installations. The job includes lots of freedom, an awesome young team, and all initiatives are welcomed and treasured. They basically described my dream job during the job interview! Let’s get to the Lustrum celebration of 2013. What are your favorite lustrum memories? The Lustrum Gala was genius. The Gala committee was in charge of the organization, so we had a night without responsibilities as the Lustrum Committee, meaning we could all party even harder than during all of the other activities. To me, this resulted in the best Intermate Gala I’ve experienced. During the Lustrum Party, everyone had a few too

“Several free kegs of beer too many… at least it was fun!” – Jiayi energy policies. Eventually, I returned to the Netherlands to finish my report, but I would have enjoyed staying there longer.

many beers as well and we kind of forgot who oversaw the money. The result? Several free kegs of beer too many… at least it was fun!

Where did you end up working after graduation? After a nice job hunt via YER, I ultimately chose to work at Hemubo in an advisory role. Hemubo mainly focuses on renovations November 2018

Career Corner What have you learned in your time at the Lustrum Committee?

How can people get the most out of the upcoming 10-day celebration?

Since organizing a lustrum celebration takes a lot of time, our committee became very warm, close and intense. We collectively built towards a big climax and afterwards there was a period of very proud afterchilling. This is not something that you typically experience in your study or at work, so I think it is great to look for such an opportunity or bigger committee whenever you can. Working closely together with a small group can also bring up minor annoyances. We have all learned to fix these as quickly as possible, which is still helpful at work today.

The simple answer is to join every activity! And if this if not possible for you, then at least choose for a good mix between serious and leisure activities, know that sleep is not always necessary, know that lectures slides can always be found online, drink lots of water to prevent hangovers and join the Gala for sure. A Lustrum celebration happens only once every 5 years (!) so take some time to stand still and enjoy it.

Picture: The Lustrum Committee of 2013: Stan van den Broek, Jiayi Zeng, Paul de Hooge, Alex van Ginkel, Stephanie Meertens, Mats de Ronde, Joost Tolkamp, Ellen Hoefsloot, Erwin Simons 42

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Intermania Undercover/Rates

Intermania Goes Deep

After a lazy holiday, Michelle went undercover to discover the opportunities to become fit at the sportcenter. Her targeted lesson: the famous BBB. Read more to find out about her intense experience! Text & Images: Michelle van Ardenne, Sports Fanatic

A new academic year has started and that means that, just like new year, we make a lot of new resolutions. Going to all the lectures, making summaries of the books and so on. Participating in a group lesson once a week at the student sport center is my new resolution. For the Intermania, I made a report of my first lesson, after a long lazy holiday.

Lucky for me, I did not have to do this alone. Emma and Larissa were willing to join me to a BBB class. After I pulled myself in my fitness legging, we went to the room we normally had the group lesson. We had a great start by standing in the wrong room. On our

way to the right sports hall, we bumped into Julia and Sil. Intermate was well represented! We started the lesson with some warming up exercises. In front there was a teacher who was very fanatic! With her music and pep talks she tried to motivate us. The exercises were not difficult, but at a high speed. Each exercise was part of a set of exercises. One set is oriented on one group of muscles, thus you train the same muscles in different ways. You could make it more difficult for yourself by using dumbbells. In the beginning we all were enthusiastic, but after 30 minutes Julia and I almost quit. Our legs were burning and it was not funny anymore. Therefore, for the last 20 minutes we made a game out of it by singing along with the music and putting high fives in between the sets. On the way home, we all felt pretty good. We were exhausted and our muscles were painful, but we could still smile. Hopefully we will be able to walk tomorrow.

Intermania Rates: Limitless Text & Rating of the movie Limitless: Intermania Editorial Staff

“Good story!” - Michelle

Bizarreness

Well thought-out “Screenplay could have been better, but the story pulls though” – Hugo

Violence

Funniness “It’s been nice watching the movie, but it’s not very special” – Cécile

Inspiring

Final verdict “Original story, there were some exciting action moments in it” - Isabel

November 2018

en TU/e for Dummies

Innovation Space As of this academic year, Innovation Space moved to a new building: Matrix. To satisfy your curiosity Cécile went on a tour through the new Innovation Space. She shares her experiences. Text: Cécile Geertman, Editorial Staff

The Matrix building on the TU campus has recently undergone a renovation. The building first belonged to the Chemistry department, but from now on there is only a small part of the building reserved for them. A lot of the building is now dedicated to the Innovation Space.

“...inspire interdisciplinary teamwork” The Innovation Space has been developed to motivate and inspire interdisciplinary teamwork. There are paddocks reserved for the student teams of the university. Mostly one paddock is shared by two student teams. On the ground level of the Innovation Space, three workshops can be found, each of them focuses on a certain specialization. The first one is called the ‘Greasy Workshop’. In here, there can be made use of machines to work on metals. These machines are controlled by a supervisor who keeps an eye on everything that is going on in these workshops. The supervisor is there, because it takes several weeks to learn how to operate those machines. The students will not operate the machines by themselves. However, an appointment can be made to work on a project together and search for solutions. The second workshop is called the ‘Dusty Workshop’. This is a place where machines and other tools are available to work on wood. The last one is the ‘Clean Workshop’, which 44

will be available for operating actions that do not result in a lot of mess. This will probably include metal 3D printing, laser cutting and the use of fume cupboards. However, this room is not yet finished and it is currently used as a paddock by a student team. For all of these workshops applies that there is still some equipment that still needs to be delivered. Most of these are coming from different faculties of the university. On the first level, you can find an open space reserved for light assembly. To get tools, you have to go to the service desk where you have to hand in your student card in exchange for the required tools. This space does not have to be reserved but can usually be freely made use of, if you are not in the way of the courses who have access to this place. When passing the information desk, you will find yourself in a room filled with 3D printers and examples of 3D printed components. In the same room, there has been a corner equipped to be the ‘electronic corner’. Another corner has been designed in a way that it allows for chemistry activities like laminating. Here, also fume cupboards are placed. All in all, the Innovation Space is a place where innovation is openly stimulated.

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Wintermate

Wintersporten Zonder Grenzen Dit jaar gaan we weer met een groep naar de Franse Alpen om 8 dagen lang te genieten van witte pistes, goedkoop bier en de beste feestjes. Maar wat maakt de Alpen nou zo leuk in vergelijking tot andere gebieden? Tekst: Michelle van Ardenne, Wintermate

Europa en zijn geliefde Alpen Wintermate is tot nu toe ieder jaar naar de Alpen geweest. De wintersportgebieden liggen lekker dichtbij, zijn van goede kwaliteit en hebben de leukste feestjes. Door de goedkope prijs die we hebben weten te regelen zijn we al helemaal verkocht. Tussen de wintersport landen binnen de Alpen kan een vakantie nog wel eens verschillen. Zo vind je in Frankrijk veel grote wintersportgebieden met brede pistes waar je heerlijke tochten vanaf kan maken. Oostenrijk staat daarentegen meer bekend om het entertainment om het sporten heen. Lage prijzen vind je meer in het oosten van de Alpen, met name in TsjechiĂŤ. In de Alpen mag Risoul, de Wintermate bestemming van 2019, natuurlijk niet ontbreken. Risoul is vooral geliefd onder studenten door het afwisselende gebied

November 2018

en de leuke feestjes. Het mooie aan Risoul is dat het een hoge sneeuw- en ook zonzekerheid heeft door de zuidelijke ligging. In het wintersportgebied zelf vind je naast gevarieerde pistes ook meerdere funparken, een rodelbaan en een ijsbaan. Er is dus ook nĂĄ het sporten nog genoeg te beleven! De kaap van Afrika Je zult het niet geloven, maar zelfs in Afrika kan men op wintersport. In vergelijking met wat we gewend zijn in Europa en Amerika stelt het echter niet zo veel voor. Dit gebied, tevens het grootste wintersportgebied in Afrika, heeft maar liefst 6 pistes en 1 lift. Als dit je niet overhaalt om erheen te gaan, dan is het wel de naam. Afriski in Lesotho ligt op 1000 meter hoogte en is daardoor niet altijd sneeuwzeker, maar het voordeel is dat

Wintermate je er voor onze begrippen in de zomer kan wintersporten. Het is daar namelijk winter als het hier zomer is. Het verschil met andere delen van de wereld is dus duidelijk zichtbaar, maar gelukkig trekt het naast toeristen ook veel lokale bewoners.

“Je zult het niet geloven, maar zelfs in Afrika kan men op wintersport” Het hoge noorden Iets wat misschien niet voor de hand ligt is wintersport in Scandinavië. Hier vind je de kwaliteit van de Alpen, maar niet de drukte die er in de Alpen bij komt kijken. Brede pistes met een 100% sneeuwgarantie klinkt voor velen als muziek in de oren. Zeker in Noorwegen kan men goed wintersporten, maar dat mag ook wel aangezien de Noren het skiën hebben uitgevonden. Naast sporten kent Scandinavië nog vele andere winteractiviteiten, zoals rendiertochten en sneeuwscooter rijden. Een nadeel daarentegen is het weer. Het is er koud en meestal vroeg donker. Gelukkig kan je op veel plaatsen alsnog lang skiën door de verlichting.

Groot, groter, grootst Als het er ergens groot aan toe gaat, dan is het Amerika wel. Op verschillende plaatsen in de Rocky Mountains vind je grote wintersportgebieden met voor ieder wat wils. De dorpen in dit berggebied verschillen namelijk erg in uiterlijk. Zo heb je moderne chalets, maar ook gebouwen in western stijl. De gebieden zijn zelfs zo groot dat je geen wachtrijen bij de liften hebt. Daarnaast is ook de sneeuwkwaliteit in Amerika van erg goede kwaliteit doordat daar zeer fijne sneeuw valt. Voor ons is het alleen jammer dat het zo ver weg is. Voordat je er bent, ben je ongeveer 15 uur onderweg. Hierdoor hangt er ook een hoog prijskaartje aan. Maar wie weet is het de moeite waard als we student af zijn en (hopelijk) een goede baan hebben.

Intermania

Column Hub

Dreaming Away the Boundaries Flying through the sky, watching gorillas in the backyard or making friends with the dinosaur that kept hunting you. It all makes sense before you wake up, thanks to the brain’s work of interpreting uncontrolled neural activity during the night. Just another day at the nocturnal job. I dream of dreaming. Controllably, into another relative reality. The current consciousness in “our one true world” doesn’t mean much to me. With the evidence of dreaming I don’t get why others do stick to this sanctified reality. If one is capable of adhering a different reality in less than two hours due to a natural process, is it really unlikely that scientists and engineers will be able to improve upon that same trick? I dream of the potential, not the moment I will personally take a one way trip. It’s just the power to no longer share a scarce and predefined world, to experience abundancy in boundless creations as one wishes. And it all happens at the exact same place where one experiences the current shared world. Friends and family can come along as a virtual version as well. Who can tell the ones around us now are more real than that anyway? Elon Musk argues that this likeliness of highly immersive virtual reality in the future, is indeed a reason why it already has happened before. Could be, but here it’s me not seeing the logic. After all it doesn’t matter, as long as our current conscious isn’t aware of it. Maybe we will wake up as entities without our conventional senses and in an unimaginable world. Maybe we will start to create lifelong dreams from here on. Or nightmares, as Black Mirror depicts the case. It is all irrelevant as long as we don’t know any better. But shifting consciousness through different worlds is a reality and an inspiration for innovation. And if you can’t imagine the possibilities yet, just sleep on it. November 2018

“I dream of the potential, not the moment, I will personally take a one way trip”

–Hub

Puzzel

In het Midden Puzzel: Colin de Bruin & Nienke Buikstra, redactie

Horizontaal

Verticaal

1. “Zevende Lustrum! _!” 3. Rebels uit bed komen 10. _sleutel 12. Achteruit in het water 15. Water in de laars 16. Vervelende entertainer 17. Franse verzetsbeweging WO2 18. Laagwater 20. Mix van kippenlegsel 26. Muzikale boom 27. Oude Griekse oorlogsgod 29. De wederhelft van Van Kooten 31. Bijlage 33. Opvouwbaar huisje 34. Geeft je joint een extra kick 35. Kun je leggen en verliezen 37. Nationale-Nederlanden 38. Warme variant van 25 verticaal 40. LustrumCie en AC-Team zijn de _ cies 41. Past voor men of druk

1. Karakteristieke dieren 2. Niet voltooid 3. Gido 4. Kerkgezang 5. Mensen of goederen 6. Mondt uit in de Wezer 7. Bijtend 8. Zeg ’_ Aaa 9. Een flinke hiervan wil je niet 11. Geschreven bericht 13. Leidt af tot een gebroken functie 14. Had je nodig voor wiskunde op de middelbare 19. Bouwmateriaal 21. Hersenspinsel 22. fl 23. Long Range Surveillance Detachment 24. Prediker 25. Koude knuffel 28. Draagt jouw last naar de top 30. Past voor lente of China 32. Bolgewas 33. Theemerk uit Singapore 36. Woordenlijm 38. Staat bij een idioot achterop de auto 39. Egyptische god

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