Innovator in the Spotlight

Towards a more inclusive society to raise awareness of basic skills gaps

In the Netherlands, 2.5 million people struggle daily with reading, writing, math, and digital skills, also called basic skills. These deficiencies make it difficult for them to fully participate in society, such as reading and understanding a letter or buying a train ticket, leading to various personal and societal problems.

Moving faster!

It is obvious that the COVID-19 situation has not very kind to us lately: more working from home, the postponement of the much-anticipated Eindhoven Engine Hack2Impact hackathon and no physical seminar get-together. However, we were able to meet the community in person over the last few months and it was great; we saw more interaction between the projects. An awesome example was Hans Brombacher, PhD candidate in the POWErFITTing project, who performed a study at the co-location with the help of the community. Famke Paulussen, student in the Future of Work project, was also able to hold interviews about hybrid working with the help of you, the community. I’m convinced that having met each other in real life will definitely help with finding each other online as well!

Elevate one another to the next level

In the last week of November, we also had a good session about how to further expand our Eindhoven Engine Community of Practice and create more value for and with one another. There was a good discussion about what a community should be (and what not!). I can’t resist sharing, in my view, the most outstanding points mentioned. In a community, there is no place for working in silos; everyone should be equal and it should definitely not be a place to come and steal ideas but rather to help elevate one another to the next level by sharing experiences and knowledge. The need to meet is there. It is now up to all of us to make the time worth it!

“The need to meet is there. It is now up to all of us
to make the time worth it!”

Joris Dufils, Eindhoven Engine community