Inspiring initiatives

Yesterday afternoon, I visited the Alumniday of the University of Delft, faculty of Aerospace Engineering. As young graduates we were the minority among the grey-haired bulk. It turned out to be an inspiring happening. Several short presentations brought about the success stories of the faculty and its spin-off enterprises. Especially the latter were inspiring, even for the elder public. Let me stress the group of students who design and build their own nano-satellite in the Delfi-C3 project. This 10x10x30 cm ‘milk box’ is going to be launched on a Russian launcher coming autumn. Five students working on this project have recently founded their own company, Innovative Solutions In Space, offering affordable access to space for qualifying space technology. Another inspiring story is that of start-up venture Actiflow, founded by young graduates Roy Campe and Eric Terry, which is getting foothold on difficult markets. They combine their passion for race cars and aerodynamics in their product: boundary layer suction systems to control airflow around cars. This has proven to increase energy efficiency, noise reduction and stability. For high-speed cars this feature increases safety. Major car companies have reacted enthusiastically on the system. It was good to hear that Delft University of Technology is trying to bridge the gap between technology development and commercialization, a gap that is talked about a lot, but hardly filled. With cross-faculty centers founded for this purpose Delft is creating canals to enable its technology to flow towards the society to contribute to the well being of the people.