For the most people the vacation is over, it’s back to normal again. Flooded mailboxes are taken care off, little by little the agenda gets fuller. But also ‘Drinks & Demo’s is back from a holiday. Every first Wednesday of the month High Tech Campus organizes this accessible event. For startups, innovators and professionals, but other people are welcome to join says initiator Hans Meeske from Holland Innovative. Ideas are shared, problems presented and business cards shared. “But there’s nothing mandatory.” Together with Bert-Jan Woertman he guides the audience through the evening.
Roughly there are around forty interested people in High Tech XL Plaza, HTC12. In a long gone era there stood a cyclotron from Philips Research in this room, this time is gone and now people listen to the pitches of this event. Presentations for instance from Sensus, a student team from the TU/e. They organize a competition for the development of biosensors. This weekend the first event and there are 5 participating teams in the competition. For next year they have already planned for a minimally of 10 (international) participating universities. A part of the activities will be held at the Campus next year they hope. “So it is good to meet each other in advance.” Says Tamar van Asch, student biomedical technology and communications at sensus.
Also a pitch of Tim Beckers from Aucasi, it’s a smart socket that watches how much energy is consumed and because of the motion sensor, the socket can be used as a burglar prevention system. The startup from TU/e students goes live on Kickstarter at the end of this month, so they’re looking for more publicity. “So please if you know someone or want to have more info, let me know!”
But also companies that are eagerly searching for qualified personnel take the floor to ask if someone can help out. Like ByFlow, the company that build the first portable multi material 3D-printer in the world. Bloonics searches for biomedical tech people. It’s no coincidence that Mit Patel is talking to the students of Sensus, all three of them study biomedical technology. “It can be challenging to find the right people, but nights like are helpful.” Says Patel. At another table stands Ilze Eichhorn, she has studied informatics and works for NXP. She is talking to Duco van den Akker van Aucasi. “How do you make sure the socket is completely safe? If you throw it away, would it be possible for hackers to obtain your wifi-code or other data that you don’t want them to have? This story has to be in order.”
Connect, encounter and strengthen. That’s the goal with these nights says Bert-Jan Woertman. “Not only the little ones, but also the big boys like ASML, Philips and NXP are showing their faces. That’s the good part, we don’t work with registrations. We’ll see who will come. Sometimes it works and sometimes it don’t. But I do know that such a tip is really helpful for the boys of aucasi, investors are asking the same questions. Maybe they’re going to talk again to Eichhorn – I would strongly advise them to do so – nevertheless the connection came together here.”