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Media: Innovation accelerator Eindhoven Engine enters new phase

As a society, we face numerous challenges. At Eindhoven Engine, a collaborative program between companies, knowledge institutions, social organizations and citizens in the Brainport region, work has been going on for years on innovations to address these problems. Now the program is breaking new ground.

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Genius project

The project aims to smartly address grid congestion, enhance connectivity, and create a sustainable testing ground for innovations.

Start year 2024
Focus area Livable region

As energy demands continue to rise, many regions, including the Brainport region, are facing significant grid congestion challenges. These issues hinder the efficient use and storage of renewable energy, putting strain on the local electricity network. With ambitious sustainability goals in place, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to optimize energy management and ensure a stable grid.

With the GENIUS project, the TU/e campus will become a smart lab for energy transition solutions. Ultimately, this project will served as a blueprint for efficiently managing energy demand and to serve as a testing ground for innovations, shortening their time to market.
 


GENIUS reveals battery to balance campus grid

On Monday 18 November, some 180 people gathered in the Disruptor building at the TU/e campus to witness the reveal of the 3.4 MWh battery that is at the heart of the GENIUS project. The battery is key in an attempt to manage net congestion on the campus power grid.

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International CBL Conference

Join the premier event dedicated to exploring and advancing the transformative potential of education through challenge-based learning. This year’s theme, ‘Challenging Learners for Global Impact’, underscores the vital role of education in addressing global challenges and creating a better future for all.

Date: 7 & 8 April 2025
Location: Auditorium, Eindhoven University of Technology
Registration fees: Check here

Following the success of the Dutch CBL Conference in 2023, the organization is thrilled to bring together educators, researchers, practitioners, industry leaders, and community stakeholders from around the world.

We are especially proud to feature our esteemed colleagues in Forum 2: Exploring CBL’s Ecosystem:

  • Jessica Goss (Designer & Researcher, Eindhoven Engine), an expert in human-centered design and social innovation, will share her insights on tackling literacy challenges with AI-driven solutions for a more inclusive society.
  • The session will be moderated by our scientific director, Maarten Steinbuch, ensuring a dynamic and insightful conversation.

 

New interns

Eindhoven Engine welcomed a vibrant group of new interns in 2025. Get to know them from left to right. Additionally, four bachelor students from TU/e have started. Over the coming months, they will focus on the climate-adaptive region, working one day a week.

We wish them good luck! We hope the interns gain valuable experience and bring fresh insights to the various programs at Eindhoven Engine. Everyone can make impact on society!

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TU/e Career Expo

The Career Expo is a two day event during which 180+ companies present themselves, and want to get acquainted with Bachelor and Master students. It’s the perfect event to orient on their career! This year, Eindhoven Engine is also at the expo again.

Date: 11 & 12 March 2025
Time: t.b.a.
Location: Auditorium & Atlas, TU/e campus

The Career Expo is specially tailored for all TU/e students. However, if you are a non-TU/e student it is possible to walk around over the expo and have a talk with all the companies.

During the expo, students will have the possibility to introduce their selves to over 180 companies eager to answer questions and talk about their potential place in that field of study or business. Students will be able to orient their selves and develop their career like never before.

Media: Technologie met een duidelijk maatschappelijk doel:

[Dutch]

Innovatieversneller Eindhoven Engine gaat nieuwe fase in

Als maatschappij staan we voor talloze uitdagingen. Bij Eindhoven Engine, een samenwerkingsprogramma tussen bedrijven, kennisinstellingen, maatschappelijke organisaties en burgers in de Brainportregio, wordt er al jaren gewerkt aan innovaties om deze problemen het hoofd te bieden. Nu slaat het programma een nieuwe weg in.

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Source: Innovation Origins

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Reveal smart battery GENIUS

The 3.4 MWh battery, part of the GENIUS project (Grid Efficiency and Network Integration for Universal Sustainability), is the first in the Brainport region of this scale.

Date: 18 November 2024
Time: 15:00 – 17:30
Location: Disruptor building, TU/e Campus

The project focuses on smartly addressing grid congestion, improving connectivity and creating a sustainable testing ground for innovations. The battery plays a crucial role in optimizing energy flows on campus and enables sustainable growth.

This reveal is for invited guests only.

Innovative solution for grid congestion: GENIUS project

As energy demands continue to rise, many regions, including the Brainport region, are facing significant grid congestion challenges. These issues hinder the efficient use and storage of renewable energy, putting strain on the local electricity network. With ambitious sustainability goals in place, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to optimize energy management and ensure a stable grid.

 

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Introducing the GENIUS project

A promising answer to these pressing issues is the GENIUS project (Grid Efficiency and Network Integration for Universal Sustainability). With €1 million in funding, the GENIUS project is set to pioneer energy efficiency and tackle grid congestion challenges. This initiative is a collaborative effort involving 13 partners, including Eindhoven Engine, and is part of its Livable Regions program

A blueprint for nationwide application

The project aims to smartly address grid congestion, enhance connectivity, and create a sustainable testing ground for innovations. With the GENIUS project, the TU/e campus will become a smart lab for energy transition solutions. Ultimately, this project will served as a blueprint for efficiently managing energy demand. The goal is to develop solutions that can be applied to approximately 3,500 industrial sites across the Netherlands, ensuring a more stable and efficient energy network.

Photo TU Eindhoven

For more details, check out the article published by Innovation Origins.

Tackling Europe’s Invisible Health Threat

Hi, my name is Devansh Kandpal. I’m 27 years old and I’m an Acoustics R&D Engineer at Sorama as well as an EngD trainee in Smart Buildings and Cities at TU/e.

Noise pollution is one of the largest contributors to poorer health in the European Union (EU). Disturbance of sleep due to environmental noise leads to the loss of millions of hours of sleep, which is directly responsible for added stress and poorer quality of life for residents of the EU. Addressing this issue, the OpenCall project VIPNOM has been conceived to develop advanced methods for noise measurement and visualization. VIPNOM, which stands for Virtual Position Noise Measurement, is a consortium between Sorama, TU Eindhoven and ReSound. It represents a convergence of diverse engineering disciplines, all focused on innovating scalable technologies that will revolutionize how noise is measured and visualized across various scenarios. I am pleased to undertake the assignment for my EngD traineeship as part of this project. The focus will be on resolving the inaccuracies identified in noise level recordings.

Revolutionizing stadiums and highways

VIPNOM’s breakthroughs have notably enhanced smart stadiums and highways. By integrating advanced, real-time audio capture algorithms, Sorama’s  acoustic monitors can now effectively map noise data. This technology has transformed stadiums into intelligent arenas that utilize noise levels to foster positive fan conduct, thereby ensuring a secure and welcoming atmosphere.

In parallel, these principles have been adapted to monitor vehicular noise on highways. Sorama’s acoustic cameras serve as ‘noise radars’, pinpointing excessively loud vehicles to cultivate a more serene environment. These two applications have been adopted worldwide.

Enhancing accuracy through innovation

In some cases Sorama encounters inaccuracies in noise level recordings due to environmental variables and hardware constraints. The VIPNOM team is proactively addressing these issues through multiple approaches. These include designing predictive machine learning models to compensate for losses, using acoustic models to account for environmental conditions and how noise propagates in the same, and using physics-based compensation solutions for acoustic inaccuracy.

As part of this effort, I focus on crafting digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms essential for calibrating acoustic monitors in expansive venues like sports arenas. My work extends to creating simulations and visualizations that improve the spatial accuracy of beamformers within Sorama’s acoustic monitors, as well as developing transfer functions derived from acoustic modeling to further refine their performance.

A quieter world through acoustic innovation

VIPNOM aims to raise awareness about environmental noise and the health risks that it poses. We aspire to do this by creating new technologies that visualize noise in different ways. We aim to harness collected noise data to create solutions that make the world a quieter and healthier place to live in.

We aim to harness collected noise data to create solutions that make the world a quieter and healthier place to live in.

Devansh Kandpal
Acoustics R&D Engineer at Sorama and EngD trainee Smart Buildings and Cities at TU/e

Empowering Epilepsy Care: Decoding Transcranial Electric Stimulation

Hi all, my name is Steven Beumer (30 years old) and for the last four years I’ve been doing my PhD at the TU/e, specifically the Electromagnetics group of Electrical Engineering. I was born and raised in Geldrop, a small village next to Eindhoven, so studying at this university was almost a no-brainer.

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My research is focused on using transcranial electric stimulation for epilepsy patients that cannot be treated using medicine or surgery and is part of the PerStim project. This project was conceived from the wish to be able to reduce the treatment gap in epilepsy and thus lower the burden of this disease on the patients and society.  

Electrical stimulation is simple, but very complex

Together with the Ghent University Hospital, Kempenhaeghe and Philips we started to research the use of electrical stimulation for epilepsy treatments. Through extensive literature studies, we found that the working mechanism of this technology is still poorly understood. Thus, we set out to answer a fundamental question using clinical studies: “Are we stimulating the brain with currents that go straight through the skull, or is it taking a more complicated route like the facial nerves?”

This method holds great promise for the future because of its affordability, simplicity, and potential for home use, which could ultimately reduce the need for frequent hospital visits.

Steven Beumer
PhD candidate PerStim project

To support these studies, I was tasked with making patient models, optimizing the electrode positions as well as analyzing the data. Together with students from Fontys and the TU/e, we built a full workflow to do this in a very quick and efficient manner. Eindhoven Engine enabled us to cooperate with the students from the Fontys. Their working mentality and different way of approaching problems were fundamental to significant parts of this work. Our clinical studies are still running, but preliminary results have shown that the answer to the abovementioned question might be that the stimulation works via both the direct and the indirect paths.

Looking into the future

Even though the use of transcranial electric stimulation is more complex than initially assumed, we have just started to unravel the actual working mechanism and I wholeheartedly believe that as we gain a deeper understanding, we can improve the methods and their efficacy. This method holds great promise for the future because of its affordability, simplicity, and potential for home use, which could ultimately reduce the need for frequent hospital visits.

My time at the university is running out, but I am still as fascinated by the world of brain stimulation as I was when starting this project and I’ll keep working in this field to improve the understanding of these techniques and unlock their potential for patients.

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Media: ‘Slim schuurtje’ voorziet gebouwen het hele jaar door van energie (DUTCH)

Op de TU/e Campus in Eindhoven werken twee startups aan een nieuwe ontwikkeling die de energietransitie moet helpen versnellen. De startups combineren zogeheten warmtegevelpanelen met slimme energieopslag in de vorm van een berging; de zogeheten Smart Heat Shed.

 

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Daardoor is bijvoorbeeld ook ‘s winters voldoende energie beschikbaar om een woning of kantoorpand te verwarmen. Om het systeem verder te verbeteren is een proefopstelling gebouwd op de TU/e Campus. Het project is één van 28 projecten van innovatieaccelerator Eindhoven Engine en is mede mogelijk gemaakt door Regio Deal Brainport Eindhoven.

Source: Brainport Eindhoven