Newsletter MSc & PhD Education NL
July 2014
Holiday season has started and we hope you enjoy your free time to reload your energy before
the new academic year starts again in September. For nearly 300 Climate-KIC students this
summer will be a very special experience because they will take part in Europe’s largest climate
change education programme: the Climate-KIC summer school.
In this newsletter you can find updates of Climate-KIC Education, an example of an internship
and a report of the first two weeks of theJourney that took place in the Netherlands.
Enjoy reading!
The Dutch Education Team
Agenda Aug/Sept 2014:
▪ 1-5 September: Final week The Journey in the Netherlands
▪ 13 September: Social Start-up Day
The Journey 2014
The first Journey of 2014 kicked off on 7 July in Delft
(Netherlands).
During two weeks, the international group of Master and
PhD students of Journey 1 had the opportunity to get
acquainted to each other and to emerge themselves in the summer school activities. This all in
coordination with the 3 Dutch universities that are part of Climate-KIC in the Netherlands:
Utrecht University, Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University.
Most part of the first two weeks of the Journey 1 consisted of providing students with information
about climate change. The students attended lectures and met with a variety of private
companies and independent start-ups to learn about business opportunities deriving from
climate challenges. There was also a focus on ideation session, networking, an enneagram
session and a pitch training. Some highlights of the Dutch part of the Journey:
- Visit to the sand engine: The 1st day started by a lecture and a visit to the sand engine of
Kijkduin, on the Dutch coast. The sand engine is a large area of sand added to the beach just
north of the Rotterdam harbor and is an experiment in the management of dynamic coastline, a
so called “building by nature” concept.
- Lecture of Bill Aulet and the Dutch Final Venture Competition: The lecture of Bill Aulet (sr
lecturer of MIT and well-knows thought leader in entrepreneurship) focused on giving the tools
to creat a product that people want by following the 24 steps to a successful start-up (as per his
published book with the title: “Disciplined Entrepreneurship”). The Dutch Final Venture
Competition is the Dutch part of the pan-European Climate-KIC Venture Competition. The
Journey 1 students had the opportunity to presence the finals of this competition with 5
promising start-ups working to develop their businesses in the Climate-KIC Accelerator.
- Visit to an algae park: The Algae Parc in Wageningen develops knowledge, technology and
process strategies for sustainable production of microalgae as feedstock for fuel, chemicals,
food and feed at industrial scale.
- Barbecue with Climate-KIC alumni: The 5th day included a lecture of eco system services, a
presentation of practical projects, parallel ideation session and pitches. The first week of the
Journey 1 ended with a barbecue in Delft together with Cllimate-KIC alumni.
- Pitches: The last day of the Dutch part of Journey 1 the students worked on the business idea
that they want to develop during the coming weeks of their journey. There were in total 10
groups of students. All of them had different innovative and sustainable ideas on how to make
an impact on climate change. The different groups considered ideas such as textile waste,
industrial waste, a fruitful fruit bowl, e-commerce, greenhouse energy, washing machines,
nitrate contamination, waste management, awareness watches and crop roofs.
The Dutch part of the Journey 1 ended on 18 July with the pitches, followed by a diner plus
party in Utrecht. The day after all the students boarded the train to Berlin (Germany) to stay
there for 2 weeks. Afterwards they will go to Bologna (Italy) and stay there one week to finalize
their journey.
- Photos of Journey 1: Click here or go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/casparsmits/sets/
- Interview of 3 pairs of students of Journey 1: Click here or go to
https://vimeo.com/101406463?
- Compilation video of Journey 1 in the Netherlands: Click here or go to
http://vimeo.com/101397214
- The Journey 2014 campaign website: Click here or go to http://www.climatekic.org/Journey2014
The audiovisual material was made by Caspar Smits.
The audiovisual material was made by Caspar Smits.
Social Start-up Day: 13 September
(Amsterdam)
From Ambition to Business.
Alwin Veldboom (Climate-KIC Alumni) is organizing a Social Start-up Day on Saturday 13
September.
Young & Fair is the organization behind the event. The Social Start-up Day will consist of
workshop business speed dates and networking opportunities for a young audience who would
like to start a sustainable company. Do you have a great idea but you don’t know how to
translate it into a business plan? Are you registered at the Chamber of Commerce but you
would like to know how to obtain your next customers? Perhaps you would like to know how to
finance your business plan? How do you pitch your idea to an investor? The Social Start-up Day
offers you the opportunity to join workshops of experts who have the knowhow to help you
further. Climate-KIC is a sponsor of this event.
The event will take place from 10:00 to 19:00 at the Impact Hub Amsterdam (Westerpark).
For more information and registration click here or go to http://socialstartupday.nl/
Alumni update: Devin Malone in search for
talent
Devin Malone is an alumnus of the first Climate-KIC summer
journey and participant of the Climate-KIC acceleration program.
Devin is being featured on the side of the Shell Technology Center in
Amsterdam as part of the 100th anniversary of the center. The
campaign highlights local entrepreneurship, including Devin’s
company “One Nights Tent”, which designs recyclable camping
equipment for music festivals.
This is his first summer of operation and he will be at festivals including “A Campingflight to
Lowlands Paradise”, the largest camping festival in the Netherlands. Users can buy their
camping gear online, and they receive it right at the festival campsite. Afterwards, if they return
their gear for recycling, they get a partial refund of the purchase price. On average, 25 to 33% of
all camping gear at festivals is abandoned. Initial lifecycle analysis by the University of Leiden of
Devin’s products, indicate that they reduce environmental impact by 50 to 75%.
One Nights Tent will be expanding in 2015 to multiple European markets and is looking for
talented product designers, event managers and digital sales experts. Interested persons can
inquire via the website.
For more information on One Nights Tent click here or go to http://www.psssh.nl/
For more information on Devin and Shell click here or go to
http://www.shell.nl/nld/aboutshell/amsterdam/my-innovation/devin.html
Internship showcase: Anja Rienitz
(PlugSurfing)
PlugSurfing is part of the Climate-KIC accelerator programme.
They have just entered phase 3 of the programme.
The problem PlugSurfing is solving is the following: currently electric
vehicle (EV) drivers need up to 70 RFID cards in Germany to be able to charge and pay their
charging sessions. EV drivers need to have contacts with energy providers to be able to use
their charging points. PlugSurfing makes paying easier because it enables the EV driver to
charge at any charging point and PlugSurfing takes care of the payment.
Via an email from Climate-KIC I found out that PlugSurfing is looking for a native German to
prepare the launch of their new app in Germany. I decided this would be a very interesting
opportunity for me to learn more about e-mobility. At PlugSurfing I am responsible for
translations, contacts with press and social media. But soon I realized that when working for a
start-up, your tasks vary much more than expected. It is fun to work in a small international and
driven team of 10 people. In May and June I worked part time from the Netherlands, but in July
and August I am back in Berlin to work at PlugSurfing ful-time.
PlugSurfing is a revolution in the way people find and use charging points. The PlugSurfing app
connects electric car drivers with charging stations owners, inhibits range anxiety and enables
charging point owners to attract customers. The new app enables EV drivers to pay their
charging sessions with the app or with the PlugSurfing key hanger (with integrated RFID chip).
Currently this service is available in Germany, but additional European countries will follow
soon.
It’s great to be working in my home town Berlin, one of Europe’s most progressive e-mobility
cities. I really enjoy working at PlugSurfing and contributing to environmental friendly mobility!