Marco Waas was Dean of the faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering of the Delft University of Technology (3mE). He was also responsible for the development and implementation of the valorisation of knowledge and initiator of YES!Delft, one of the most successful incubators in the world. Marco studied chemical technology and information technology at the University of Amsterdam.
Marco Waas sees a big difference between implemental and radical disruptive innovations. He will explain why YES!Delft only supports innovations of the last category. This is very related to his idea that Europe has to be re-industrialised and that textiles will play a big role in that.
Alain Langerock of Devan Chemicals, will talk about phase change materials, what they are and how they can change the face of textiles and of architecture. These new materials will become important in textiles, especially in the contract and health care market.
Geert Woerlee of DyeCoo invented a machine to dye textiles without water. He is a real pioneer who is working on lots of new concepts. He will tell his story and also give an idea on how long it really takes to bring an innovation to the market.
Geert Woerlee developed his carbon dioxide technology during his university studies, the project became a spin-off company of the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.
Last year’s winner of the Techtextil award, Julian Lienhard, will tell us how his bionic sunshades, create new possibilities for textiles in architecture. Julian Lienhard is connected to the University of Stuttgart, his work is among the most important innovations we actually see.
Julian Lienhard earned his Diploma in Civil Engineering at the University of Stuttgart in 2007. He his currently writing his PhD on bending-active structures at the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE), supervised by Prof. Jan Knippers. He has been an active part of the academic environment at the ITKE since 2007 engaging in research and teaching. He is leading the German ministry funded research project “Pliable Surface Structures on the Basis of Bionic Principles” which was recently awarded the Techtextil Innovation Prize 2011. Along with a number of different design studios, he is teaching the “Principles of Membrane Structures” course. He was also involved in the “ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion” rewarded with the DETAIL Prize 2011. Since 2011 he has been a visiting lecturer for the Masters of Engineering Program at the Technical University of Vienna. He is a co-author of the “Construction Manual on Polymers and Membranes”, having written the chapters on form-active structures as well as material properties and construction methods with foils and textile membranes.
In 2008, Julian founded the engineering and design practice studioLD. Previously, he worked as a Structural Engineer at Rasch + Bradatsch Architects in Stuttgart, focusing on the structural design and form-finding of large membrane structures, such as the convertible umbrellas of the Madinah Piazza Shading Project.
Pol Speleers, manager of Belginova, invented a way to make textiles work as a conductor. He used this technique in upholstery and recently created his own product that he sells directly to the consumer. These are two different worlds, according to the man.
A startup that helps startups to enter the market? Ides Vandenauweele of T2B (technology to business) and owner of Juri Pacioli will give inspiring ideas on do’s and don’ts for innovative startups. He will also talk about how to protect your intellectual properties. As a lawyer and entrepreneur who sold his first innovative company to Ernst&Young, he recently returned to the flexibility of his own startup.
Last but not least, Chris Deloof of the Textile Incubation Centre (TIC) will talk about bridging the gap between the results of research and bringing your concept to the market. Whether you are an individual having a splendid idea or an established company investing largely in research and development, valorization does not need to be complex nor be reserved to the happy few. Offering sound coaching and an active network, TIC brings innovation within reach of everybody having the passion, the right mindset and enough guts to be different, whatever size your activity is.
The speakers will gladly make some time to talk with interested visitors after the seminar. A desk will be reserved for each speaker, to do so.