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    Climate-neutral Brainport 2040: Circular water hubs

    We proudly announce a landmark collaboration between Eindhoven Engine, Rijkswaterstaat, and a coalition of visionary partners. This agreement, officially kicked off during the Festival of Disruption 2025, marks a decisive step toward achieving a climate-neutral Brainport by 2040 through circular water hubs.

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    AUXSTENT

    Unlocking mechanical limitations of synthetic heart stents with auxetic,
    fiber tubular scaffolds.

    Partners

    Start year 2022

    About the project

    Unlocking mechanical limitations of synthetic heart stents with auxetic, fiber tubular scaffolds.

    In the fight against cardiovascular disease, stents and grafts are implanted in patients to support or repair damaged or high-risk vessels. These stents and grafts provide robust mechanical support, but do not provide tissue repair. It would be better if such implants actively promoted tissue repair and regeneration over time.

    The AUXSTENT project addresses these challenges and is already working on 3D-printable and bioresorbable stents that encourage and stimulate regeneration. At Eindhoven Engine, AUXSTENT will take the next step: developing a functional prototype. In this project, the focus is on combining the functional design of these stents with available engineering and materials knowledge.

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    Tom Kortbeek I Project leader

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    Proof‑of‑concept to market insights

    We successfully developed a proof‑of‑concept scaffold using TU/e design tools and a new biomaterial‑focused fabrication process with submicron precision—suitable for stents, soft robotics, and tissue‑engineering structures. A custom mechanical testing setup was built, and in‑vitro studies with human vein cells showed strong cell growth, tissue organization, and cells building new tissues.

    Market analysis confirms a highly competitive stent landscape. For AUXSTENT to succeed, it must lower costs and improve procedural efficiency—key priorities for the next development stage: three potential market strategies.

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    Smart Heat Shed

    Partners

    Start year 2022

    About the project

    The Smart Heat Shed (smart heat storage) project addresses the rapid energy transition by combining two international breakthrough technologies, a heat façade and a heat battery. The heat facade (developed by TNO-Emergo spin-off Calosol) is an innovative, aesthetically versatile solar thermal facade collector, which effectively harvests solar energy at low outdoor temperatures. The heat battery (developed by the TNO-TU/e spin-off Cellcius) is the first completely loss-free heat storage solution. The latter is also 10x cheaper than electrical storage and much more compact than water or phase transition materials (PCM).

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    Olaf Adan | Project leader

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    More about the project

    OpenCall project Smart Heat Shed

    Smart shed powers buildings year-round

    19 December 2023
    Two dynamic startups, CALOSOL and Cellcius , on the TU/e campus are collaborating on a groundbreaking project to drive forward the energy transition. They integrate revolutionary heat wall panels with intelligent energy storage encapsulated within a specially designed shed – introducing the innovative Smart Heat Shed.
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    Media: ‘Slim schuurtje’ voorziet gebouwen het hele jaar door van energie

    30 November 2023
    Op de TU/e Campus in Eindhoven werken twee startups aan een nieuwe ontwikkeling die de energietransitie moet helpen versnellen.
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    Interns join Smart Heat Shed and Low Literacy projects

    2 October 2023
    Since September, two interns at Eindhoven Engine have been actively engaged. Welcome Jamy and Nivar!
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    WECARE

    Partners:

    Start year 2022

    About the project

    Currently, there are 55 million people worldwide with dementia. This number is expected to rise to 78 million by 2030 and 138 million by 2050 according to the WHO. There is currently no medical solution for dementia. In addition, there is a shortage of caregivers. This is putting the healthcare system under pressure. Technology should and can provide the support needed for dementia sufferers and their caregivers.

    Warm technology

    The WECARE project focuses on extending human care by applying the Warm Technology concept to interactive agents, such as chatbots and companion robots. Warm Technology ensures that this technology is made accessible and appropriate for the environment of people with dementia and their caregivers, thereby also taking this environment into account. In this project, work is being done to develop more advanced behaviors and representations in interactive agents.

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    Minha Lee I Project leader

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    Media: New innovation projects for Fontys in Eindhoven Engine

    Fontys participates with two new innovation projects in Eindhoven Engine, the innovation accelerator of the Brainport region. A total of seven new innovation projects will start.

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    These projects in particular in the fields of energy, health and smart mobility will conduct research in the coming years with a total budget of nearly 17 million euros, to which Eindhoven Engine contributes a total of over 2.4 million euros. The investment for the Eindhoven Engine OpenCall 2022 comes from the Brainport Regio Deal.

    The seven projects can bring their innovations to the market faster, as they continue their research within Eindhoven Engine, collaborate at Eindhoven Engine’s colocation on the TU/e campus and build the internal community together. Until 2025, the new projects have time to use the boost from Eindhoven Engine to further develop their innovations.

    Read more [Dutch]