Students – individually or in groups – have submitted sixty ideas to this point. Lino Thewissen of marketing and advertising agency Soapbox, which set up the competition, hopes to receive about 150 ideas. It can be anything, as long as it’s innovative, technical, and feasible.

The idea for the contest was shaped when the Bachelor College was just getting started. Dean of the Bachelor College Lex Lemmens: “We want our students to be innovative and enterprising. We’ve even included it in our education vision. And we’re getting there. Think of Storm, Stella, and our honors program. This initiative is a great and informal way to challenge our students.”

Apart from a jury including delegates from companies like ASML, Shell, Brightlands Chemelot Campus, and Bosch, participants can also collect online ‘audience’ votes. Ideas are welcome until April 5. The twenty ideas with the most potential will be selected, five of which will go on to the semifinals on May 25. The semifinalists will participate in a workshop about further developing an innovative idea and creating a proper business model for it. The final is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3 during Dutch Technology Week in the Auditorium, where the finalists will be pitching their idea to the jury.