Isabelle Reymen, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Technology, will be leading the 'hotspot' that was initiated by the Executive Board because of the express wish to have a place where students can set to work on hands-on activities.

Reymen clarifies: “This implies that they will not only be involved with the theory, but also with the execution, with cooperation, and the making of prototypes. Away from their desks. This way we are training engineers who have extra skills, which are in great demand with companies today and in the future.” It is for this reason that Reymen is already establishing lots of contacts this year with the major players in the region, such as Philips, ASML and Océ, “but definitely also with small and medium-sized businesses."

The playing field is not limited to the Brainport region alone. Reymen: “For future cooperation we have already established contacts as well with the European Space Agency (ESA), located in Paris, and the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) from Noordwijk.”

Prototypes

Inspiring and facilitating Bachelor’s and Master’s students and trainee design engineers and supporting students in multidisciplinary projects are paramount. “It is important that those groups should make prototypes which they eventually convert into tangible products and working services for society”, says Reymen. “The work must be visible in Matrix, so that they can talk about it among themselves. Places will be created among others for the student teams of Blue Jay (home drones), VirTue (builders of a self-sufficient house) and Bright Lab (a living lab in the area of sustainable energy)."

The Finnish Aalto University has been running a comparable initiative for almost a decade now, which is called the Design Factory, and for Reymen this functions as a fine example for the Eindhoven Innovation Space.

The Equipment & Prototype Center (EPC), which at present is located in the old TNO building and has to vacate it by the end of 2017, will before long also be given a location of its own in Matrix. “The students can call on the technicians of the EPC, for instance for the manufacture of prototypes”, says Reymen.