IO’s week: GREEN+ corner, democracy en summer innovations

By Aafke Eppinga

Each week in our Sunday newsletter, we look back on the past seven days. Regarding content, we always do so at the initiative of our cartoonist, Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.

Yesterday, you also received a Saturday newsletter in your inbox for the first time. We are going to do something new: every Saturday, a newsletter is all about one of our four categories (GREEN+, CHIP+, BIO+, and DATA+). They will be written by the editor in charge of that category, which will also be much more personal.

For example, in his first GREEN+ corner, Mauro hinted yesterday that Xavi Simons still needs to develop his soccer skills, just like the Dutch decarbonization skills. Such a comparison is precisely why we like to let our editors do their own thing in these newsletters. Leave a comment; we’d love your thoughts on our new idea!

Making the world more democratic

Last week was full of the 11 Gerard & Anton Award winners. On Thursday, it was Dembrane’s turn. This Eindhoven startup wants to make democratic processes accessible to all types of organizations at all levels so that not only the mayor—as Albert Jan depicts in this week’s cartoon—but the inhabitants of a city can make decisions and have a say.

Evelien Nieuwenburg and Jorim Theuns are developing a platform that can easily extract insights from structured dialogues. With the tool, organizations can collect and use their members’ knowledge. Evelien: “We want to take participation to the next level. We do this through workshops, visualizing data, and smart deployment of digital elements.”

Support Us!

I interviewed Evelien and Jorim once just after they officially founded Dembrane. “Social media has become popular to keep stakeholders informed and gather opinions. Mark Zuckerberg’s algorithm is not focused on strengthening communities,” Evelien told me then. So, to see them on stage with their company last Wednesday, I was thrilled.

Summer, please come!

I am writing this newsletter from a campsite in the Veluwe. It has been raining all morning, so summer still feels far away. But it is the middle of July. So, to help get that summer feeling going anyway, our intern Alma is exploring the latest innovations for smart travelers this summer. In her first installment, a little bit of everything comes up: AI-powered travel planning tools, a packing aid, or smart sunglasses.