In our Sunday newsletter, we, as editors, reflect on the past seven days. We do this on the initiative of our cartoonist Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.
During the Paris Olympics in 2024, manned drones will fly for the first time in Europe, transporting passengers between the city’s various airports. Still, with pilots, the rules for uncrewed flights have yet to be ready. If this trial goes well, the next step will be to take the pilot out of the cockpit.
Flying cabs, grocery carts, and package deliverers: the future of drones is promising and getting ever closer. What is certain is that they will make air traffic many times busier. Whether all that air traffic will indeed, as in Albert Jan’s cartoon, be regulated by a flying traffic light is debatable.
This is precisely the issue Wesley Poland, working at the Netherlands Air and Space Center, is dealing with. A traffic control system is needed to ensure that drone flights do not clash with manned air traffic. The name is already there: U-space. You can read all about it in this article by colleague Bart Brouwers.
I also want to draw your attention to Eveline van Zeeland´s column. Last week, together with her daughter, she participated in the climate march in Amsterdam. The unity prevailed until the focus shifted from climate issues to Palestine. She found herself in a quandary. Her write-up, photos, and thoughts afterward resulted in this special column.
Here’s what else struck us last week:
- Harnessing water as a green energy powerhouse
- Europe’s rail revolution: A new era of high-speed travel
- Critical yet pollutant: can silicon be produced in a greener way?
- The energy sector’s skills shortage: A challenge or an opportunity?
- Law and climate action: excessive CO2 removal could be illegal
- Dutch company wins AI award largest tech fair in the world
- Co-creation can serve as the catalyst for the most innovative outcomes. Here’s how
And here you’ll find the rest of the articles we wrote last week. Have a great, innovative week.
Aafke Eppinga
editor-in-chief Innovation Origins
In case you didn’t read them yet: here are the first and second editions of our magazine IO Next. We are now busy working on the third edition. Don’t forget to subscribe.
