IO+'s week: No vacation for innovation
Our weekly recap offers an overview of the most interesting stories around key innovations every Sunday.
Published on August 24, 2025
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
For most people, the summer holidays are over, so there's every reason to kick-start this newsletter again. One reassuring thing: innovation never takes a vacation. A quick glance at our articles from the summer months shows that Dutch innovators, inventors, tinkerers, and researchers have not been idle. You will find a few great examples of this in the list at the bottom of this newsletter.
Despite the absence of this newsletter (and of myself :-)) I can say that our editorial team has certainly not been idle. Elcke kept the holiday spirit alive with her stories about innovative campers, tents, and caravans. What did she come across along the way? A cardboard and biodegradable tent (photo above), a 3D-printed camper, and a glaravan. You can read about what that is here. In addition to our regular work, we also worked hard on several new projects, including a magazine for a large innovation cluster (which we'll showcase here when it's ready), new events, and a new series of podcasts. And alongside the editorial team, our developers have been working tirelessly on exciting new additions to our AI assistant Laio and to the websites of IO+ and our partner organizations. We will be able to show you the results of their work soon.
I can already mention a few things:
- We aim to produce a podcast episode daily, where the editorial team selects two recently published stories and uses AI to transform them into a conversation. Check Spotify for the latest episodes.
- In the same Spotify channel, you will also find a series of podcasts that we are producing in the run-up to our Watt Matters in AI conference. We have mentioned this before: on November 26, we will bring together a group of experts to look at possible solutions to curb AI's energy hunger. Order your tickets here.
- And while we're on the subject of that conference, there are a few more very interesting stories in which we take a closer look at solutions for the excessive energy consumption of systems that use AI. One of them is a cool interview with Phillip Burr from the British company Lumai. Read all the stories here.
A small selection of other highlights from this summer:
- AI is everywhere. But how far do we want to go?
- Development companies are increasingly focusing on innovation in the defense sector
- Lex Hoefsloot (Lightyear): “We should have gone to America sooner”
- Biodegradable plastic: towards a sustainable future
- Small modular reactors for the energy of AI's data growth
- AI assesses mammograms better than radiologists
- Tool cracks chemical code of plants
- How Plasmacure wants to change global wound care
- Farmers build hydrogen plant in the Achterhoek region
- Tomato leaves: a new alternative source of protein?
Oh, and at the very beginning of the summer, we had our annual Gerard & Anton Awards ceremony. See the 10 winners here, all of whom are tackling the biggest challenges of our time.
Your next vacation?
And for those who want to start planning their next vacation, I can heartily recommend the overview that my colleague Mauro Mereu has compiled of the most impressive cycling routes in Europe. One small problem: to cycle them all, you'll need to ask your boss for quite a few vacation days...
From fjords to wine: 5 of the most beautiful cycling routes in Europe
Never want to miss anything again? You can find an overview of all our articles here. Have a great summer!
Bart Brouwers, IO+