IO+ Week - Holst Centre at 20: breakthrough is only a beginning

Five stories from the Holst Centre Innovation Day, plus cooling, chips, energy storage and a record deep-tech round. This is the IO+ Week.

Twenty years after its founding, Holst Centre used its annual Innovation Day not to celebrate a past achievement, but to make the case for what should come next. The central message was clear: Europe has no shortage of excellent research. The real question is whether it can turn that knowledge into companies, production capacity and industries that matter. In our look back at two decades of Holst Centre, the centre emerges as a bridge between fundamental technology, industrial partners and the ventures that can carry innovation into the world.

That bridge is becoming more important by the day. During the anniversary panel, leaders from the Netherlands and Flanders argued that the next 20 years should not be measured in research programmes alone, but in global champions, factories and successful scale-ups. Holst Centre’s next chapter will depend on patient cross-border cooperation, better access to growth capital and the courage to turn scientific strength into industrial strength.

The day also made that ambition tangible. Three spinouts showed how technology can become part of people’s lives and work: Bloomlife is bringing pregnancy monitoring closer to home, TracXon is rethinking the rigid circuit board, and Touchwaves is developing tactile interfaces for pilots operating under extreme pressure. Meanwhile, four researchers demonstrated that the real challenge begins after the scientific insight: making a coating, chip, assembly process or AI architecture precise, reliable and scalable enough for the market.

That same impatience with technology for technology’s sake was audible in Betsabeh Madani-Hermann’s vision for Philips Research. Good innovation needs curiosity, but it also needs speed, rigour and a willingness to stop ideas that do not work soon enough. We left Innovation Day genuinely energised by the conversations, the people and the urgency behind them.

These five stories are only the beginning: there is much more from the event still to come.

Also this week

Would you panic if air conditioning were banned?

As temperatures rise, air conditioning feels like an obvious answer. But it also adds pressure to the energy grid, consumes large amounts of electricity and relies on refrigerants with a serious climate impact. In her latest “What If…” column, Elcke Vels asks what might happen if we were forced to cool our homes and cities differently.

The green growth hiding in Nicola Harrison’s tomato leaf

A tomato leaf is usually treated as waste. Nicola Harrison sees a possible raw material for future packaging, materials and new regional industries. Her new report argues that horticulture can become much more than food production: a driver of circular bioeconomy, climate solutions and green growth.

AI in math: a convincing proof that is completely incorrect

AI can be a valuable thinking partner for mathematicians, but it can also produce a flawless-looking proof that is simply wrong. TU/e mathematician Jim Portegies explains why verification, transparency and human judgement remain indispensable as AI moves deeper into scientific research.

The sand battery that could stop wasted wind and solar

The Netherlands is increasingly curtailing renewable energy when the grid cannot absorb it. A giant Finnish sand battery offers another route: convert surplus electricity into heat, store it for long periods and use it to warm homes or provide industrial steam when it is needed.

ASML joins TNO’s Eindhoven photonics factory

Photonics is moving from promise to production. ASML and TNO are joining forces at the new Photonic Chip Pilot Line in Eindhoven, where lithography, process control and metrology will help determine whether chips that work with light can be manufactured reliably and at scale.

Nuclear power plant in Eemshaven: heat danger for the Wadden Sea

The debate about a possible nuclear plant in Eemshaven is not only about energy supply or nuclear safety. It is also about cooling water. Environmental groups and local authorities warn that discharging large quantities of warm water could place further pressure on the vulnerable Wadden Sea.

Robot dogs don’t bite: how innovation is changing the job market

Fifi, a robot dog developed by Leeuwarden-based Syntar, can inspect buildings, generate floor plans and take on repetitive work in places where people are increasingly hard to find. The story looks beyond the novelty: robotics may be less about replacing workers than about keeping essential sectors productive.

Largest deep-tech round: €330 million for Nearfield Instruments

Nearfield Instruments has raised €330 million, the largest deep-tech investment round ever seen in the Netherlands. The Rotterdam company develops advanced measurement and inspection systems for next-generation chipmaking—and now has the capital to grow into a global player in a semiconductor industry shaped by AI.

A Daily Podcast

Or do you prefer to listen? A new episode of our daily podcast is ready for you every weekday at 6:30 AM. In it, our AI colleagues Oliver and Shelby discuss the two most interesting stories of the day. That makes IO+ Daily the perfect way to start your morning with optimistic news from the world of innovation and technology. See you tomorrow.

Our Other Newsletters

Thank you for reading this newsletter. But there’s more. Subscribing is easy — via the options on the IO+ homepage or simply by clicking one of the newsletters below:

• IO+ Daily (1,200 subscribers)
• Mauro’s Green Corner (monthly, 13,800 subscribers)
• Elcke’s Saturday Data Dive (monthly, 20,550 subscribers)
• Elcke en Mauro’s BIO+ Bites (monthly, 29,300 subscribers)
• Bart’s Saturday CHIPS (monthly, 16,300 subscribers)

Enjoy your Sunday, and don’t forget: a new episode of IO+ Daily will be waiting for you tomorrow morning at 6:30. Be prepared before you hop on your bike! 🚲

Enjoy your week!