IO+ Week: Starting the New Year with 10 Tech Trends

From our artificially snow-covered office at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, we wish everyone a fantastic 2026. May it be even more innovative than 2025 — and, above all, filled with applications that truly benefit society. We do so, of course, on behalf of IO+, as well as our sister platform Laio and our parent company, Media52. For good reason, all three proudly display their logos above the front door.

Our promise for 2026: we will continue to provide you with your sneak preview of the future. First and foremost, via ioplus.nl, and through this and other newsletters, our social channels, on various stages, and the tools we build for others to help make that promise a reality. 365 days a year.

Piek Awards

Speaking of stages… Anyone who views Brainport merely as a collection of companies, campuses, and institutions misses the most essential ingredient: the people who connect all these worlds. Those people are exactly who take center stage during the Gerard & Anton High Tech Piek Awards, which will be presented for the ninth time on January 8. The evening takes place at MELT @ Avular on Strijp-T and starts at 6:30 PM. Tickets are available here while supplies last.

According to initiator Bert-Jan Woertman, who once again hosts the event with Beatrix Bos, the awards recognize something often overlooked. “Innovation doesn’t happen by itself. It happens because people seek each other out, share knowledge, and are willing to look beyond their own domain. Those are the people we want to make visible.” Read more here.

10 Tech Trends for 2026

Last week, we briefly paused this newsletter, but that didn’t mean we stopped publishing. On the contrary, ioplus.nl delivered fresh stories every day. What stood out in particular was our series of ten articles on the major tech trends shaping the year ahead.

The series is based on the SURF Tech Trends Report, published once every two years by SURF, the Dutch cooperative of education and research institutions. The report combines international trend analyses and market reports with insights from experts within and around the SURF community.

A nice bonus: each article includes a clear infographic that visually explains the trend.

👉 Read the full series here

Highlights from the past week

• Experts warn: zero coordination in the growth of data centers
• NRC reconstruction: how Nexperia exposed Europe’s dependency
• The Google dilemma
• Hydrogen 2025: the hard landing of a promise
• Affordable radar as the missing link for large-scale drone operations
• Semiconductor sovereignty meets biology: imec’s EUV breakthrough
• People make the manufacturing industry
• The EV balance of 2025: a year of tough choices
• How Washington exports ideology through tech dominance

Want to read all our articles? You can find them here.

A Daily Podcast

Tomorrow marks the start of season 6 of our daily podcast. From now on, a new episode will be ready 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! 🚲