It is not the first year that the Hart van Brabant (Heart of Brabant) region participates in the Dutch Technology Week (DTW). But there have never been so many events as this time. Every day from 20 to 25 May, Hart van Brabant is dedicated to the Dutch Technology Week. “Last year DTW was only visible in Tilburg,” says Deborah Reijnders, coordinator for DTW in central Brabant. “Now we are going to broaden and connect. Municipalities such as Loon op Zand, Heusden and Waalwijk will participate. In the coming years, this will be extended step by step to the whole of the Heart of Brabant.”
Read (much) more about Dutch Technology Week 2019 here
The driving force behind this expansion is the Deltaplan Techniek (Delta Plan for Technology). Coordinator Bart Coppes: “The Delta Plan for Technology is a multi-year regional plan in which companies, education institutes and governments work together to strengthen the influx into the technology business community. Specifically, we want to ensure that children choose a technical career on the basis of positive experiences. We want to achieve this through the structural use of guest lectures and internships in education, among other things”. The participating organisations within the Delta Plan Technology believe that the necessary contacts between education and business should not be dependent on the accidental networks of parents. The schools themselves, both in primary and secondary education, should be able to do this much better and more sustainably so that even more students come into contact with technology. The Delta Plan aims to structurally improve this link between business and education, says Coppes. “In the coming years, we will even be showing more and more of the plans of the Delta Plan for Technology to our public. No better time to do this than during DTW.”
Drones
The Friday before the official start of the DTW, Tilburg already has the first event: the Platform Promotie Techniek Midden-Brabant will host the second edition of the National Drone Cup Finals in sports hall De Drieburcht. It is the final competition between 10 secondary schools from all over the country to become the best drone pilot and to build the best obstacle for the drone run as a school. In addition, the children of group 6 of seven primary schools in Tilburg North get acquainted with the world of drones.
On Tuesday, third- and fourth-year students in secondary education will visit manufacturing and technology companies in Tilburg, Heusden and Waalwijk. Deborah Reijnders: “This is the Young Talent Tour, with a visit to Agristo, for example. The students can see the entire production process for French fries there: from the moment the potatoes arrive, they see every step in the process, up to and including the packing and the taste and shape tests.” On the same day, there is also the girls-on-tech tour. “They go to Focal Meditech and to Elisabeth TweeSteden Hospital Tilburg. There they see, for example, how tools are developed and made that offer the user a more independent life. A nice look at the high-tech applications of technology in a hospital.”
Hoppenbrouwers and Capi are also on the agenda, while in Heusden and Waalwijk Kivits Drunen and datacenter DataPlace are visited. “DataPlace is a company where data communication, power generation and cooling technologies come together to store and process the data of large and small organisations.”
Also on Tuesday, in the evening in the LocHal, it is time for Measure-your-city: how a citizens’ initiative contributes to knowledge about the climate in the Tilburg region and the related issues. In order to gain more insight into climate developments, a number of measuring stations will be built in the space of a few hours to collect climate data and contribute to a major local climate research project in Tilburg. This basic module can later be expanded with other sensors in follow-up workshops of the library and Ontdekstation013.
TechniekRijk
On Wednesday there is a walk-in market at Ontdekstation013 with various practical skills. Various parties will show how technology can be applied in primary education, interspersed with short workshops. At TechniekRijk (Empire of Technology) the project “Build a House” is opened by Alderman Marcelle Hendrickx. In the evening there is an educational café with Boy Visser, psychobiologist, teacher and vlogger. Based on these three disciplines, he and his audience will explore how our brains actually learn and where motivation and curiosity arise. His lecture will be followed by a number of simple experiments that tickle the participants’ curiosity.
On Thursday, career opportunities are central. 1st year ROC students Mechatronics, Maintenance and Engineering and ROC students for Process and Environmental Engineering go on tour to manufacturing and engineering companies. In the morning Hoppenbrouwers Installatietechniek will show what kind of projects there will be in the future and where students can start working on in practice. Students of Electrical Engineering go to Jules Goossens Lightning Protection where they can make their own grounding system. In the afternoon, all these students can have a look behind the scenes at The Efteling and see what work is being done on the attractions.
Amazement route
The Amazement Route takes place on Friday. “There is no such thing as a world without technology”, says organiser Laudy de Brouwer. “But what connects technology with art and what does nature teach us about technology? What do they have to do with each other? Can they be interconnected, or are they already interconnected? During the Amazement Route, visitors will see technology through different eyes.”. The Amazement Route takes participants from the Ontdekstation013 to the Museum De Pont, from Vincent’s Drawing Room to the Nature Museum and from the Textile Museum to the library in the LocHal.
Saturday, the final day of DTW, is Technology Day in Nieuwkuijk and the High Tech Discovery Route in the LocHal in Tilburg. The focus is on innovation in various sectors.