Introduction by Paul Althuis

Accelerating Innovation & Impact

TU Delft’s mission ‘impact for a better society’. is more appropriate than ever when it comes to one of the major challenges we are working on as a university: the energy transition and the shift towards a sustainable society.This is why this fifth edition of Home of Innovation is completely devoted to the energy transition. We have gone out in search of the latest, radical and most promising projects within our innovation ecosystem on TU Delft Campus.

At TU Delft, around a thousand scientists are working on technological innovations, covering the entire spectrum of the energy chain. This involves both generating renewable energy and developing an energy system that is robust enough to handle these new forms of often locally generated energy. But we also look beyond that: we explore how our buildings can be made more sustainable when it comes to energy, and also look at industry and the transport sector. We showcase the labs, start-ups and institutes that are playing their part in this process. Together, all of these projects provide an excellent overview of the wide variety of research at TU Delft and how our innovative ecosystem operates.

The challenges we face and the technological solutions required are of such complexity that collaboration will be essential in ensuring success. The TU Delft Innovation & Impact Centre is facilitating this in various ways, including setting up field labs in which companies can work together with scientists, researchers, startups and the public in testing, validating and further developing new innovations.

We are making huge efforts for the energy transition. In the Green Village, the field lab for sustainable innovation on TU Delft Campus, tests will be done in the coming year on setting up an 24/7 energy system, in which local hydrogen generation will play an important role. Another excellent example of collaboration is the recently opened ESP Lab, developed in cooperation with grid operator TenneT. In it, a complete digital copy of the Dutch electricity grid is being built, making it possible to future-proof the grid safely. We are also working hard on the development of other field labs, in such areas as floating renewables and e-refinery, in an effort to accelerate innovation.

The projects in this booklet have again been captured in exciting visualisations and rated according to their technology readiness level. All of the information can be found online using a QR code. Home of Innovation is a guide for companies and institutions that are keen to collaborate. Do you also share our ambition for a better society? We will be happy to join forces with you in working towards a sustainable future.

Sincerely, Paul Althuis Director of the Innovation & Impact Centre