‘We make a combination of technology with social interest’
,’Sick! Impressive! Wow! Really? Is that possible with a 3D printer?’' Just a few reactions from students of study association Atlantis† On Tuesday 25 February they experienced a high-tech safari at our companies.
Founded in 2013, study association Atlantis is the youngest study association at the University of Twente. It belongs to the Technology and Liberal Arts and Sciences (ATLAS) undergraduate program. ’’We are a new kind of study association and combine technology with social interest,'' says Commissioner of External Affairs Renzo Besseling. Together with 20 fellow students, he is on a high-tech safari at our companies.
Impression
Coming from a region with many technical start-ups and familiar with the latest techniques, the students are nevertheless impressed by the 3D metal and polymer printer in the ICD Shared Facility Center at the Philips site. ’’Wonderful to see that we in the Netherlands have mastered this technique. To be honest, I didn't know that 3D printing had so many possibilities,'' reveals Besseling. The safari starts at Philips with a visit to the ICD Shared Facility Center and a lecture by NTS Norma about 3D printing. Afterwards, the students will visit Quadient (formerly Neopost) to see how sensoring and big data are applied in the automatic packaging machine for large web store. After lunch, the students travel by coach to XPar Vision in Groningen. Here they hear a story from Sander de Jong, Lead Development Engineer, about measuring the glass quality of bottles with sensors when they have just been blown and are still piping hot. ASTRON concludes the safari with a talk by Technology Transfer Officer Ronald Halfwerk and Competence Group Leader Johan Pragt on how ‘super big data’ is being used to make scientific discoveries in the universe.
Social interest
Not only these but also other ICD companies are of interest to the student body, according to Besseling. ,,Our students combine creativity with social sciences and engineering and have an interest in sustainability. That makes them attractive to companies that want to have a social impact in addition to beautiful products. Some high-tech companies in the Northern Netherlands are certainly a good party for us to work with.’’