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UT Challenge

JOSE VAN DIJK, VICE PRESIDENT OF PLANNING, OPERATIONS AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT CLOUD SERVICES, PLATFORMS AND OFFICE OF THE CTO AT CISCO, WAS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE ANNUAL INNOVATION LECTURE DURING ENTREPRENEURIAL DAY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE. THE FINALE OF THE UT CHALLENGE ALSO TOOK PLACE.

The annual innovation lecture, which was combined with Entrepreneurial Day this year, is the event wherein a prominent figure gives a presentation about new innovative technological developments and the influence of these developments on society. After Victor van der Chijs opened the event, keynote speaker Van Dijk spoke in-depth about this year’s theme, ‘Digitize: disrupt or be disrupted’, and presented Cisco’s strategies for granting clients fundamental and intentional value in a digital world. She discussed change management, digital transformation, loyalty to clients and the role that enthusiastic employees play in this. Van Dijk cited companies such as Airbnb and Uber; companies without hotels or taxis that are largely successful and have brought new momentum to the market. Business changes quickly ‘Everything is connected to everything’. Still, only 7% of CEOs have a digital plan while 87% find digitization to be crucial. There is a lot of work to be done on this front. Van Dijk closed the innovation lecture with a quote from Winston Churchill. He once said: I never worry about action, but only inaction - or as the Dutch would put it: staying still is moving backwards. The innovation lecture was followed by the awards ceremony.

CONVERGENCE FOUNDER WINS VAN DEN KROONENBERG AWARD

Felix Broens, founder of the organization Convergence Industry B.V., won the Van den Kroonenberg award. The award was presented by jury chairman Gé Klein Wolterink. The organization develops and supplies gas and liquid dosage systems. The majority of the organization’s systems are used for research and quality control in the field of membrane technology.

MARINA VAN DAMME SCHOLARSHIP 2017 FOR MOREBLESSINGS SHOKO

The Marina van Damme Scholarship 2017 went to Moreblessings Shoko, ITC alumna. The annual scholarship is given, this year for the or the fifteenth time, to an outstanding and ambitious UT alumna to support her professional development. Shoko aims to improve the situation of women in Zimbabwe by providing them with the opportunity to complete a full-time educational programme.

MEDAL OF HONOUR FOR MARINA VAN DAMME

The Executive Board presented Dr Marina van Damme with the University of Twente Medal of Honour on the occasion of the 15^th presentation of the Marina van Damme Scholarship to a UT alumna.

ROBERT JAY BAND

Following the Medal of Honour ceremony, the audience enjoyed a musical interlude by the Robert Jay Band. A memorable performance from a talented band and vocalist.

PITCHES UT CHALLENGE

The 18 pitches for the UT Challenge took place in the DesignLab earlier in the day. Students presented their minute-long pitches to an enthusiastic crowd. The audience was able to support their favourite candidate by way of a voting booth. The audience-choice award was won by Hops & Grains. Two winners were selected for the Ideation Challenge: Hops & Grains and the Standard Multi-Spindle Drilling Machine. Two winners were also selected for the Prototyping Challenge: Xpressink and Aryzon. Prince Contstantijn, special envoy from StartupDelta2020, wished the UT Challenge participants good luck in a specially recorded video message.

GIFT FOR NEELIE KROES

Six students, including Jorik Ordelmans, spoke with Neelie Kroes previous to the DIES event where an honorary doctorate was awarded to Kroes. The students were involved with the preparations for the Amsterdam Light Festival and worked on an interactive installation that lit up 15,000 LED lamps. Neelie Kroes expressed interest and shared that she was inspired by the word: WHY. The creative students were inspired to design a piece of LED art for Neelie Kroes in the shape of the letters: WHY. This was presented today, to the great surprise of Neelie Kroes.

WINNER UT CHALLENGE

Following a short street football performance, the grand finale of the UT Challenge began. Hops & Grains won the Ideation component; this start-up will make it possible for customers to brew their own beer in the future. The winner of the Prototyping component was Aryzon. They are bringing Augmented Reality glasses to the market for just twenty-nine euros. The glasses enhance your view of the real world with 3D visuals. According to UT researches, the glasses are largely comparable, in terms of functionality, to Microsoft’s Hololens which retails at 3000 euros. The students previously launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.