News
High Tech safari on product lifecycles
On September 20, a High Tech safari took place with about 50 students from the Industrial Product Design course at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. During this safari, which focused on the life cycle of a product, they visited the companies Comecer, Philips and Sparck. At Comecer, Sjors de Leeuw gave a lecture on product design and production, followed by a tour of the company where systems are developed for the pharmaceutical industry and nuclear medicine. Sjors also indicated that a lot of attention is paid to user-friendliness, use of materials and design. The first impression is always...
First pile for new NTS Norma premises
On September 14, 2022, the symbolic first pile was driven for the new building of NTS Norma. The business premises will be realized by Bouwgroep Noord and will be built on the WA Scholtenlaan in Drachten, with a prominent location on the N31. This new building offers more space and better conditions for the production of ultra-precision parts and thus the company is responding to the fast-growing demand for these products with an eye to the future. During the preliminary phase, employees were asked to think about the layout and wishes of their new workplace. The new building fully meets the wishes of the...
SRON discovers garbage dumps with large methane emissions using satellites
With the help of the Dutch space instrument Tropomi, SRON's methane research team identified methane emissions of 28 tonnes per hour at a garbage dump in Buenos Aires during a measurement in April 2021. Buenos Aires, Delhi, Lahore and Mumbai stood out in the various measurements, because the emissions in those cities are on average twice as high as estimates based on global inventories. Satellites are ideally suited to see where methane gas is leaking. Zooming in with the Canadian satellite GHGSat showed that a large part of the emissions come from the garbage dumps in these cities. The emissions...
Big 5 Podcasts
In our new podcast series we discuss the latest trends and developments in the field of innovative technology. We discuss, among other things, the difference between telemetry, remote sensoring & Big Data, and we discuss how far we have come with Renewable power and energy. What can the latest technology mean for healthcare? How far have we come in the field of 3D printing, what is the future of Visual intelligence and how efficient is the robot? In an interview with our experts you will hear everything about the 'Big 5'. Listen to the podcast of the topic that interests you...
Regional joining of forces is a catalyst for growth in high-tech
Article Ondernemend Friesland Purchasing 3D printers together, captivating and binding students of different educational levels, bringing talent (back) to Drachten and attracting companies that add something to the largest high-tech cluster in the Northern Netherlands. Innovatiecluster Drachten (ICD) does. Program manager Joost Krebbekx: “One of our objectives is to fascinate and bind people. This applies to school leavers, but also to people taking the next step in their career. We develop knowledge in R&D projects, with facilities and equipment that companies share with each other; that is cheaper than investing alone.” High-tech safari SKILL (Shared Knowledge Innovation Learning Lab) is located on the Oliemolenstraat. "This is a...
Students of NHL Stenden close academic year with symposium
The end of the academic year has arrived, also for students of the Ad program Associate degree Industrial Automation and Robotics at NHL Stenden. This dual training consists of theory and practice, in which the students work for a company to gain practical experience. In the last 10 weeks of Module 3, the students worked in the SKILL building in Drachten. Here they followed practical lessons on Friday afternoon: OMRON Techman Robot Programming and picking up and putting away 3 color blocks with the help of vision 3 Smart Gripper: designing, 3D printing including sensor, testing functions on a UR Robot and demonstrating hardness sorting Condition-based monitoring...
Farewell to Jaap van de Loosdrecht, lecturer at NHL Stenden
On Thursday 7 July, a meeting was held to mark the farewell of lecturer Jaap van de Loosdrecht from NHL Stenden. Jaap is the founder of the Vision community in the Northern Netherlands. His passion for images was expressed not only in his work, but also in his private life. This is how hobby and work merged seamlessly. Companies such as BD, ZiuZ and many others have reaped the benefits of this and, partly due to Jaap's work, have been able to lay a foundation for their current success. During this festive occasion, Jaap gave a lecture on the history of the origins of Deep Learning, interspersed with...
Dutch Technology Festival
Saturday 18 June was a successful day for the Drachten innovation cluster. More than 300 visitors visited the ICD companies that participated in the Dutch Technology Festival. NTS Norma, Sparck Technology and the other ICD companies had opened their doors to anyone interested in technology. The Shared Knowledge Innovation Learning Lab on the Philips site was open to visitors, as was the 3D printing and robot lab. There they could see the latest high-tech innovations, such as developments in the field of 3D printing and robotics. Almost all ICD companies were represented and demonstrated their own high-tech products; of Whisper Power's solar boat whose team...
102nd anniversary of Beenen Batenburg
2020 was a special year, because then Beenen existed for 100 years! 1920 – 1983In the year 1920, John Beenen focused on electrotechnical installations for aggregates, lighting and later also radio installations. 1986In the year 1986, the electrotechnical company with winding department was sold to Batenburg Techniek NV. This gave Beenen a healthy financial basis for responsible growth. 2006 Due to the explosive growth, the building on the Leitswei in Gorredijk had become too small. Beenen now had approximately 100 employees. That is why in 2006 the brand new office building with workshop was moved into Mercurius 22 in Heerenveen. 2020Today...