A train journey that continues onward

Recently, Lecturer Jenny Coenen (Smart Sustainable Manufacturing at the TIS Faculty) boarded a train with a remarkable group of passengers. She was invited by Het Groene Brein to join Queen Máxima, Minister Stientje van Veldhoven (Climate and Green Growth of the Netherlands), companies such as IKEA Netherlands and Philips, and others to discuss accelerating the circular economy. Jenny explains: “It was a fantastic opportunity to exchange ideas on topics such as robotics and digitalisation in dismantling for reuse.” 

Het Groene Brein is a network of scientists and experts that connects government, industry, and education to accelerate the circular economy. The train journey marked the kickoff of the Circular Economy Week and took the participants past inspiring circular initiatives. From the NS refurbishment center in Haarlem to Het Hof van Cartesius and the Circular Entrepreneurship Congress. 

The challenges of circularity 

In Jenny’s carriage, which focused on industrialisation and automation, concrete challenges were discussed: products with no clear history, processes that are difficult to scale, and the tension between technology and labour. Jenny explains: “You want to automate processes, for example with robots, but that only makes sense if it takes less time and effort than the manual work people currently do. In other words, technology is not a solution if it makes the problem more complex.” 

The value for THUAS 

According to Jenny, this is exactly where the value lies for THUAS. By taking part in conversations where circular challenges are openly discussed, bottlenecks from professional practice can be translated directly into education and research. “We are pioneers, but we now also know where things go wrong in practice.”