Five questions for… Dick van der Plas & Roeland Hogt (Noorderpoort)

Every month we ask one of our partners 5 questions. Read below what they do, how important mobility and innovation is to them and how they see the future of mobility.

We asked 5 questions to Dick van der Plas, director technical education Groningen and Delfzijl (left on the photo) and Roeland Hogt, innovation manager automotive education (right on the photo).

Company: Noorderpoort
Number of employees: 1.400

Can you tell us a bit more about your organization, what do you do?

With 16 different schools, approximately 14.000 students, 1.200 course participants and more than 1.400 employees, Noorderpoort is one of the largest ROCs (Regional Training Center) in the Northern Netherlands, with locations in the province of Groningen and in Assen. Noorderpoort is large, but opts for ‘small’: well-organized schools with their own character, where everyone knows each other.
With more than 150 MBO (post-secondary vocational education) courses and an extensive range of training courses in areas such as technology, healthcare and business services, Noorderpoort stands for Lifelong Development.

What mobility challenges do you have or see?

The work area related to mobility (Automotive, Logistics, Maritime, IT) is developing rapidly. This has to do with the sustainability of technology and products and also (re)use. But also the integration of computer, information and control technology plays a role, as does the rise of the sharing and ‘on demand’ economy. The challenge is to be involved in this in an early stage as a study program (future proof) and in this way to develop new modules and study programs around the existing study programs.

Which mobility innovations play a role within your organization?

The mobility innovations are driven by regional developments: hydrogen technology in mobility, sustainable city logistics, droning, Mobility as a Service, autonomous vehicles and VR/AR applications in education.
We develop new education on the basis of optional components, that eventually get a place in the regular curriculum. This process is already underway in, for example, hydrogen technology.

The future of mobility: what are you hoping it will look like?

In the context of ‘tomorrow’s transport starts today‘, we see the transition to sustainable, smart and virtual mobility in three trends: Transport to Desire (From ownership to use); Non-transport (Virtual travel) and Transport in Scarcity (Sustainable and smart). This exploration for 2040 (!) is already in full development! Our hope is that we will achieve these goals in time with the collaboration between knowledge institutions, companies and governments.

Why is it important for you to be a partner of Hive.Mobility?

It is important that education is well connected to the changes taking place within the theme of sustainable and smart mobility. Hive.Mobility offers the opportunity to link the applications in professional practice to the innovations at an early stage. These are given shape in projects, applications and facilities, knowledge sharing and the development of new education in collaboration with HBO (universities of applied science) and WO (universities).
It offers Noorderpoort the opportunity to keep up with the theme of sustainable and smart mobility and to progress faster and further through cooperation. Opportunities arise because new themes can be incorporated in (new) education and ‘hotspots’ are created where students and teachers can get to know these themes. For example, the existing and excellently equipped facilities and new facilities can contribute to this, such as the new dockshelter (practical location) for bicycle technology and light electric vehicles.

“Connect smartly and move forward together faster”