Last Friday I bumped into a former college student and I asked her where she worked these days. When she told me that she worked for a large company in the region, I almost felt a bit disappointed. She had been very active with one of the student teams, so I automatically assumed that she would be...
Yesterday a colleague showed me a deep fake clip ripped from Home Alone. Both the face and voice of the lead actor Kevin were replaced by that of Sylvester Stallone – ‘Home Stallone.’ If you look around for examples of this deep fake technology, you’ll see people like...
Start-ups face challenges on many different levels and it’s the ultimate balancing game. You need to have a team in order to deliver your proposal. And in order to get a team, you need funding, and in order to get funding you need … well a team that is able to deliver your proof of...
At the end of high school I had to choose what and where I wanted to study. I had an answer to the question ‘where,’ but the ‘what’ was a bit more difficult to answer. In the end, I chose the bachelor’s degree in Technical Innovation Sciences in Eindhoven. In other...
Anyone who sees me sitting will notice I often nod my head like an Indian and am constantly tugging at my face or neck. I try to loosen my minor muscles and my jaw and neck this way because they are often painful and tense. While it is true that this can be caused by stress (I could have chosen an...
Gliding smoothly over the streets in Oslo, I feel like I’m in an episode of the Jetsons. I am greeted kindly by an oncoming rider on the latest version of the Segway, followed by his girlfriend. They are neatly decked out with helmets. But not me, because you don’t ordinarily take...
Five months ago, we decided to advance the construction of Lightyear’s prototype. Not an easy decision, but it was necessary to test some of the concepts we had on paper with reality at an early stage. It meant a financial risk, it meant a completely different focus, it was the start of 5...
Last Friday we were invited to a special location for Lightyear, in Munich. Through the organization of a rally for a group of car collectors, we were asked to give an exclusive preview of Lightyear One at the end of the tour. The event took place inside a private collection which was located in...
Working at a startup means that you have to deal with a lot of uncertainties. You don’t have track records or any data from your own past to base choices on, which often makes it difficult to make predictions for the future. However, these predictions are necessary to determine, for example,...
When Lightyear considered moving to the Automotive Campus in the summer of 2017, one of the biggest concerns was accessibility. Although there are several ways to get there, the direct road to Eindhoven is almost unbeatable. That’s why the campus supported our move at the time by...
Recently I watched the fascinating Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country about the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who had a huge group of followers in the 1980s. Often it was because of a message of love, encouragement of creativity and craftsmanship plus a spiritual quest. In fact, a...
In secondary school, I regularly participated in initiatives such as the Lagerhuis. Originally I got an interest in politics and for a long time, I thought I might want to do something with it. It continues to fascinate me and give me the energy to understand our society across the whole spectrum,...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Maarten Steinbuch, Mary Fiers, Carlo van de Weijer, Lucien Engelen, Tessie Hartjes and Auke Hoekstra, Innovation Origins tries to find out what the future will look like. The six columnists, occasionally supplemented with guest bloggers, are all working...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Maarten Steinbuch, Mary Fiers, Carlo van de Weijer, Lucien Engelen, Tessie Hartjes and Auke Hoekstra, Innovation Origins tries to find out what the future will be like. The six columnists, occasionally supplemented by guest bloggers, are all working in...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, Tessie Hartjes, and Auke Hoekstra, Innovation Origins tries to find out what the future will look like. All six contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, Tessie Hartjes, and Auke Hoekstra, Innovation Origins tries to find out what the future will look like. All six contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All five contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on solving the problems of our...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All five contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on solving the problems of our...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All five contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on solving the problems of our...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All five contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on solving the problems of our...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Mary Fiers, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All five contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on solving the problems of our...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All four contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on technologies that can provide solutions to...
This week was the final of Postcode Lotterij Green Challenge, where Lightyear was 1 of the 5 finalists. Some time ago, during a live broadcast of RTL Summer Night, I was surprised by the Postcode Lottery with the announcement of our final spot plus the accompanying check of € 100,000. Instead of...
Monday, September 4, the new academic year was officially opened, also at the Eindhoven University of Technology. On top of speeches by rector Frank Baaijens and guest lecturer Alexander Pechtold, Tessie Hartjes could address the audience with her story about the importance of the brand new...
In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All four contributors are working on technologies that can provide solutions to the problems of our time. This Sunday, it‘s...
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