Knowledge is everywhere. Advantage: there is much knowledge. Disadvantage: what is true and who knows what? Knowledge is not useful if it is locked up in small rooms, literally or figuratively. Knowledge is only useful when retraceable, unlocked and reliable. …
During the Social Innovation Event on 30 November, Construction Team + won the Social Innovation Award 2011. The prize was presented by prof. dr. P. Eijlander, rector of Tilburg University. Tilburg University organised the event in cooperation with Midpoint Brabant, …
On the new office building of Van Helvoirt Groenprojecten [landscaping company], an innovative constructed wetland for water purification has been planned on a sloping part of the roof. By combining the green roof and constructed wetland in this way, space …
RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection) recently published the report ‘The effect of vegetation on air quality’. SHFT, in cooperation with RIVM, has also carried out a lot of modelling work on the effects of green …
The construction of the new building will soon enter a new phase: the installation of solar panels on the roof. We would like to tell you about two particular aspects of this roof: ‘cost optimisation’ and ‘surprisingly sustainable’. Cost optimisation …
The ‘Groene Woud’ [‘Green Wood’], located in the triangle of Eindhoven, Tilburg and Den Bosch, is a fertile ground for economic success, says also the Chamber of Commerce. This is why the Chamber supports three entrepreneurs that are carrying out …
One of the most difficult aspects of optimum Cradle-to-Cradle design are building materials. During the preparation we inventorised what materials could be used best for what application. During this inventory, it turned out that there is still a lot of …
“I think Vitura is an interesting concept and I believe in the power of nature to cure people and keep them healthy”, says Sjaak van Heukelum, innovation manager at Achmea [a large Dutch insurance company]. “Besides, there is a need …
After long and thorough preparations, Van Helvoirt Groenprojecten (landscaping projects) finally started with the extension of its own office building. For the realisation of this new office, a Building Team + was put together. Building Team + was a concept …
This is not only demonstrated in every-day actual practice, but it has also been proven several times by scientific research. The Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis [Jeroen Bosch hospital] supports this idea. That is why their recently realised new construction was based …
Yesterday I was a guest at the studio of BNR News Radio to contribute to a conversation in a programme called ‘Denktank’ (‘Think Tank’). The central question of the programme was: what can we learn from nature? The discipline of …
Not long ago, Bert van Helvoirt and I were present at a meeting about the Power of Social Surplus Value. Nils Roemen from #durftevragen (dare to ask), amongst others, was invited as a guest speaker and held an interesting argument …
The basic concept of a roof is quite simple: it needs to prevent you from getting cold in winter and it has to keep your things dry when it’s raining. So we make roofs water-tight and, if possible, we insulate …
Rudy Rabbinge, university professor of Sustainable Development and Food Security, reports that a doubling of vegetable-based production is needed worldwide until 2040. This is due to the growing prosperity in countries such as India and China, amongst other factors, which …
Today I saw a nice video at http://www.storyofstuff.com/. The history of stuff shows how the current production and consumption system works. It meticulously explains that we have gone astray. I found it shocking to learn that this is and has …
While carrying out an experiment, German scientists discovered that ants use an efficient system to combat traffic-jams. Ants warn one another when it is busy by pushing each other towards a different, less busy road. They actually warn each other. …
Today’s Telegraaf (a Dutch newspaper) featured an article entitled Price of fertiliser will become sky-high. The article fits in perfectly with one of our current projects. Some nutrients are becoming scarcer. Take phosphate, for example. Of all of the world’s …
Last week I participated in a workshop about Business Model Innovation by Alex Osterwalder. During this workshop I was introduced to the Marshmellow Challenge by Tom Wujec. Divided into teams of four people, each team had to build something within …
The notion of innovation within companies is under pressure. More and more products look alike and due to increases in scale, increasing transparency and quicker knowledge exchange, it is becoming more and more difficult to stay innovative. Most profit is …
The world that we live in is increasingly becoming a large node of relations. A large network of parties who are connected with one other in surprisingly many ways. Everything and every person is somehow linked. Unintentionally we have thus …
In order to strengthen the competitive power of trade and industry, the new cabinet wants to implement a specific policy to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship, by stimulating cooperation between trade and industry, knowledge institutions and the government, amongst other measures. …
