IO's week: A farewell and a new beginning
Our weekly overview offers an overview of the most interesting stories around key innovations every Sunday.
Published on November 10, 2024
Bart is the co-founder and co-owner of Media52 (publishing IO+) and a Professor of Journalism at the University of Groningen. He is responsible for all the branches of our company—IO+, events, and Laio—and focuses on commercial opportunities. A journalist at heart, he also keeps writing as many stories as he can.
Today, we take a very deep bow to Albert Jan, who provided us with an inventive cartoon every week for the past six years. Every week, some 6,000 people saw them in our newsletters and a multitude of them on our website. We became so familiar with his style that it became an anchor for all of us.
And yet…
...over the past few months, during our sessions on the focus, mission, and character of Innovation Origins, we have concluded that for a fresh new look, you cannot limit yourself to a number of new choices but will also have to say goodbye to some fixed “old” values. Not because the old is bad but because you have to give fresh air to reach a new maturity. That is why today is the last time we will see Albert Jan’s cartoons, and also why we will no longer - or less frequently - see some other regular faces. More on that soon.
All these steps relate to the identity change our editor-in-chief Aafke Eppinga told us more about last week. Read it back here if you like. She also announced a relaunch event in Microstad, near Eindhoven Central Station. With the motto “,” we have invited two great speakers for a live interview.
The first guest is Martha Riemsma, director of ANP. With her extensive experience in journalism and her vision of innovation within the media world, she knows better than anyone how to reinvent yourself as an organization in a constantly changing landscape. For example, how will AI affect the news? We are going to ask her.
The second guest is Jelle Prins, co-founder of Cradle. Jelle is a creative entrepreneur with an impressive career, including his work at Uber. In 2021, he founded Cradle, an AI platform for developing new proteins. Cradle is a typical example of the initiatives that Innovation Origins (and thus soon IO+) is so keen to showcase.
Register for the event via this link: https://lnkd.in/eP3Df7tE. .
And here's what else caught our eye last week:
- 100 times Drinks, Pitches & Demos: connected dots pique curiosity and create opportunities
- International Precision Conference puts Dutch precision technology on the global map
- 'More spontaneity would make the Netherlands better ' (our expat interview)
- J58 from Twente wins the 4TU Impact Challenge with a standup wheelchair
- Another big prize: Touchpulse wins €50,000 at AI Pitch Competition with Navis, a navigation app for the visually impaired
- Rick Schneiders, Head of Future Foods at Siemens: 'Collaboration and innovation essential for future vertical farming (a prelude to our December event on Innovative Agriculture)
- Investment of the month: ANTENNEX is the world's only one that can measure advanced antennas so fast, so accurately
- Europe's emissions fall, but more ambition is needed
- Solar Team Twente wants to win World Solar Challenge in 2025: 'Our car is a product of the region'
- EU startups want to grow faster and call for new legal status
Not enough? Read all our stories here.
Have a great week!
Bart Brouwers