‘TU/e knowledge is indispensable for Europe'

She has been working partly in Brussels for a year now and finds it fantastic. Her eyes light up when she talks about her work in the Belgian capital. “It is greabe allowed to be the connecting factor between all the wonderful things being researched at the university in Eindhoven and the policy makers in Brussels.”

“Because,” she says, “at the university, we research technology to advance society. But we need politics to embrace new technologies and put them on the map. And to be able to develop them further.”

Collaboration

She shares her office in Brussels with colleagues from the Municipality of Eindhoven and Brainport. The office is close to the European Parliament (where decisions are made), the European Commission (where policy is made), as well as collaboration partners such as the Dutch embassy and higher education institutions in Europe (Neth-ER)

She walks a lot, because she’s not in the office very often. “I’m mostly in town meeting the people who are important to the university and drinking lots of cups of coffee,” she jokes.  Mitcan also organizes meetings to bring the knowledge from Eindhoven to Brussels, as she puts it.

Knowledge as raw material

Mitcan: “Here in Brussels, important policies are made to move Europe forward. And to do that well requires knowledge. In areas such as renewable energy, for example, but also chips and semiconductors, in Brainport we have knowledge that is invaluable.”

“Then it is important that politicians and companies here in Brussels can take up that knowledge. And if we can act together on this as a knowledge region, our chances of actually being seen as important are boosted.”

The AI Act is an example of how the TU/e institute EAISI has joined forces to contribute to regulation surrounding artificial inteligence.

Funding

To advance our research and make the knowledge applicable, funding is also needed.  And there are grants available for this at the European level, such as the ERC grants. Researchers can submit proposals for these.

Mitcan: “Dozens of researchers at TU/e have been able to explore their research in greater depth with the help of these grants. The development of iron powders as a renewable energy source that Philip de Goey, among others, is investigating one such project that recently received such a grant.”

Broadening the view

“But providing grants is just one of the ways the EU contributes to a better Europe,” Mitcan says. “Free travel between universities is another powerful example.”

“In Europe, students can study and do research at all kinds of universities during their studies. This brings them into contact with all kinds of cultures and visions. That broadens their view. “ For example, this is done  through  EuroTeQ.

To Eindhoven

Mitcan also regularly invites policy makers from Brussels to come and see for themselves what is happening on the Eindhoven campus.

“It is so nice to see how people are impressed by all the great things we are doing on our campus and in Brainport. They especially feast their eyes on the research we do aimed at tackling the challenges of the future. But they are also always enthusiastic about how innovative we are in designing our education with Challenge-Based Learning, for example.”