On 12 May 2020 the Aerospace Innovation Hub @TUD was officially opened during a festive Zoom event with more than 100 participants. Henri Werij, dean of the Aerospace Engineering faculty at the TU Delft opened the event by stating: ‘It is important to facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange between the different disciplines and sectors. This is essential for solving the grand challenges our society is looking for. The network that we are building right now on top of our faculty is bringing enthusiasm together. I hope it will give you and our society a lot’.
A pre-incubator facility that acts as the link between researchers, students, start-ups, and industry with the goal to trigger innovation in the Aerospace sector.
Victor Rijkaart from GKN Fokker Aerospace added to this in his keynote: ‘I am convinced that bringing together corporates, aerospace students, startups, technology developers and scientists is a win win win win for all involved. The startups are able to overcome challenges for existing companies. Students can validate their ambition of becoming entrepreneur. The wisdom and ideas that are so abundantly available at the TU Campus can be a source of innovation and inspiration for all involved’.
During the event, eight of the innovators linked to the Aerospace Innovation Hub, namely PATS Indoor Drone Solutions, Genesis Space, LUMAN Aerospace, Dimple Aerospace, satsearch.co, Geronimo.AI, Flapper Drones and Wattlab shared their endeavors. After the speeches, participants chose a breakout room to ask every question they had to the startups and the team of the Aerospace Innovation Hub@TUD. Antje Bulmann, manager at Airbus BizLab spoke in her keynote speech about the success factors of a startup: ‘A good start up is always originated from a good team. After five years of doing this I can say: this team is it. The mindset, the ambition, the vision that is what creates it’.
The Aerospace Innovation Hub@TUD is a pre-incubator facility, that acts as the link between researchers, students, start-ups, and industry with the goal to trigger innovation in the Aerospace sector. ‘Maybe Aerospace sounds as a specific field of study, however the problems in aerospace that our startups are solving are versatile. Meaning that their solutions are applicable for all kinds of industries and applications’, says Julia Radius, community manager at the Aerospace Innovation Hub @TUD.
In-house coaching, lectures, workshops and events will be set up to inspire and stimulate interaction. At the moment this has to be done in a digital way but hopefully soon in the newly realized community room, “the Flighthouse”, on the 13th floor of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft. Read more about the Aerospace Innovation Hub @TUD here.
