© Sam Rentmeester
‘‘Only if we work together we can overcome the major challenges of today’’
Delft Matters. It’s a title that requires little explanation. It also describes our mission: not only to be good at what we do, but endeavouring to ensure that what we do is good for society. That’s how we create impact. Not on our own – but together. These are keywords in achieving that mission. Ultimately, unless we work together, we will be unable to overcome the major challenges of today. Delft Matters is the successor to what you know as Delft Outlook, but it’s also more than that. As always, our focus is on you, our alumni, and our wider TU Delft community. Where do we connect, complement each other, collaborate and motivate each other? It is precisely here that things really happen. So, this is a meeting of minds on paper, in which we not only aim to inform, but also inspire and activate. A new name and a new format: bigger and more comprehensive, just like our community. Delft Matters is published twice annually. As we’ve seen in recent years, the world can change in a short space of time and it is the long-term challenges on which we are focused. But they are no less urgent. Quite the contrary, recent crises have made these challenges even clearer. And the solutions call for a long-term vision. The climate is the perfect example of this. What happens if we risk missing the 2050 European target for climate neutrality and find ourselves unable to halt climate change?
We need to start researching the climate engineering techniques that we may have to resort to in the future, argues Herman Russchenberg. The Chair and Director of Research for our Climate Action programme discussed this subject with EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans. Rising sea levels could also turn out worse than we expect. How do experts from research, government and the business community see this kind of issue?
Is it true that great minds think alike or is the added value here also to be found at the interface of different ideas and perspectives? “It’s by working together that we’ll be able to design solutions focusing on qualities that matter to people,” argues researcher Fransje Hooimeijer in conversation with entrepreneur Rutger de Graaf and publicist Ties Rijcken. This speaks to the essence of what Delft Matters is really about. This and many more encounters and stories can be found in the first edition.
I hope you enjoy reading it and find it inspirational. We look forward to hearing what you think, because that also matters.
Prof.dr.ir. Tim van der Hagen
Rector Magnificus of TU Delft
