Ever since he was fifteen, Robbe Nagel has been an avid watcher of TED talks on YouTube: “I secretly dreamt of being on that podium myself one day.” The 22-year-old finished his TU/e Bachelor’s of Industrial Design last year.

Why shouldn’t he be able to turn his dreams into reality? When Nagel heard about a pitch event on the High Tech Campus, where two wildcards for TEDx Eindhoven would be awarded to the winners, he signed up. And successfully so: together with Eksteen de Waal he emerged victoriously from a field of about a dozen competitors.

What’s the subject of Nagel’s presentation? “I talk about cities, seen from a new perspective. My talk is called ‘Are cities living organisms?’. When you study a city from above and you zoom out, you only need a bit of imagination to see a living organism – like a fungus – that grows and stretches out further and further across the Earth.

That’s his point of departure, and Nagel doesn’t yet want to disclose what vision he wants to share with the audience based on this metaphor. “In any case, it all started with my passion for cities. My parents took me on many European city trips. What fascinates me is how all of those cities are different from one another: the people, how everything functions, what the infrastructure’s like. And consider this: more than fifty percent of all humanity is living in cities right now, and that number will only go up.”

Finetuning his TED talk means freeing up space in his busy schedule: “Two days a week I teach at my old high school, the Technasium in ’s-Hertogenbosch. Next to that, I run a start-up in what we call ‘physical social media’ with some friends from university. This involves creating a pop-up space where people can’t only share pictures and opinions, but can also talk to each other about those things right away. That’s something that’s often lacking online.”

But Nagel is happy to find the time to work on his talk: “My pitch for the preliminaries took about five minutes, whereas a TED talk is more like fifteen. That means I’ll have more time to flesh out my thoughts.” What’s also different, is that this time he has a coach, Serge van Rooij. “He helps me figure out how to best present my story. What’s too difficult? What should I formulate differently? That makes the process more fun and more challenging than when you’re alone.”

She has an important deadline for her graduation project right after TEDx Eindhoven, but Louise de Laat (24) says she couldn’t pass up this opportunity: “I’m extremely honored to have been invited.”

The TU/e bachelor’s student of Industrial Design stood out to the TEDx organization because of her role in the development of the ‘carbon-eating’ car ZEM by student team TU/ecomotive. And if that wasn’t enough, she recently received an Eindhoven High Tech Piek Award for promising talents as well.

TU/ecomotive is a student team that focuses on sustainable mobility. In 2022, the team presented ZEM, a passenger car that extracts CO2 from the air while driving. De Laat led the ZEM project, in which capacity she has acquired quite some public-speaking experience.

But a TED talk is something else. “This is completely outside of my comfort zone. Fortunately, I’m receiving excellent guidance from coach Mark Robinson. He wrote a book on speaking and I already knew his name because he also teaches training courses at TU/e innovation Space.”

So how’s this different from an ‘ordinary’ talk for an audience? “It’s a completely different way of presenting, more like story telling. I’m used to talking about the specs of ZEM and about our team’s goals. In my TED talk I’ll take the audience along for the metaphorical journey we made as a team, as well as for the one I made as a person.”

“That will be the thread running through my story, which will be adorned with tips on finding your personal drive. That’s why my talk – referring to ZEM of course – is called ‘What’s your drive?’”. De Laat found her own drive in sustainable innovation, so she’s planning on completing the Pre-Master’s program in Innovation Management after finishing her bachelor’s.

But what advice does she have for those people in the audience that are still searching? “I obviously can’t give too much away yet – you’ll have to come to TEDx Eindhoven for the full story! But my first tip is: get out of your comfort zone.” And that’s exactly what De Laat will be doing on June 2.

Alexander Suma (43) completed two master’s at Built Environment and from 2011 onwards spent a few years working at TU/e as the managing director of the EngD program Smart Energy Buildings & Cities. These days he runs his own business IBIS Power at Strijp-S. Their product is called PowerNEST, an innovative construction to generate energy from wind in an urban environment – also in between (and even on top of) high-rise buildings and also if there’s only the slightest of breezes.

“The theme of TEDx Eindhoven is ‘Reshaping our future’ and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do in the field of energy with PowerNEST,” Suma says. What he wants to give to the TEDx audience? “Inspiration and hope in times of climate crisis. I am definitely hopeful we humans can get through these trying times.”

Suma’s talk is called ‘Unlocking the full potential of people and buildings’. “I’ve stood behind a microphone to talk to an audience before, but TEDx is a different ballgame. You’re not there to give a pitch or promote something, it’s all about authenticity.”

He’ll tell the audience about how PowerNEST came into being, and how that invention ties in with his own life. Or rather: how it is a direct result of his life.

“Take my education and background: PowerNEST unites disciplines such as civil engineering, mechanical engineering and architecture. On a person level, I see a connection with the values I grew up with and the adversity I had to overcome. There were plenty of people that didn’t believe in my invention. And finally, there’s the importance I attach to self-determination – and an energy source of your own is definitely empowering in that respect.”

How he’s prepared for the moment? “I invested a lot of time in writing and I practice every morning. You need to ‘feel’ your talk. I’m definitely excited. I always am, no matter how many times I’ve done it before.”