Eindhoven Engine is all about colocation

Last month, Eindhoven Engine officially kicked off. With the initiative, Fontys, TNO and Eindhoven University of Technology aim to accelerate research projects by providing a place where scientific researchers and students can innovate across borders, in a disruptive manner, together with industrial engineers. The first projects have already been launched, targeting smart mobility, new wafer stages, detection and treatment techniques for cardiovascular diseases, and smart cities.

The driving force behind Eindhoven Engine is TUE professor Maarten Steinbuch, who says he’s inspired by three experiences from his career. “In the 1990s, I worked at the Natlab. I saw that there were no boundaries between the different disciplines. We spoke to each other over coffee and shared our progress and ideas during the famous Thursday morning meetings. Since the dramatic reduction of Philips Research, with several of their former activities spinning out to form separate companies, a pillarization has taken place. Because of this, there’s only limited substantive interaction; perhaps only if they happen to come together in a consortium. Smart mobility doesn’t talk to high-tech machine construction, which doesn’t talk to healthcare, which doesn’t talk to smart homes.”