Five questions for…Carine Joosse en Chris Dijksterhuis (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen)

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 Carine Joosse, Dean Institute of Life Science & Technology at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and chairwoman of the Hive.Mobility board, and Chris Dijksterhuis, Senior Researcher Smart and Sustainable Mobility at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and member of the Hive.Mobility core team.

Organization: Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen
Number of students: 30.878
Number of employees: 3.417

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

At Hanze University of Applied Sciences, students, lecturers, researchers and professionals from the field work together on innovations for professional practice and on solving societal issues. Both education (the study programs) and research (the knowledge centers) are very important to the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. Collaboration often takes place in so-called innovation workplaces. For example in the form of research projects or student challenges.

Which challenges do you see in the field of mobility?

The transition to sustainable transport is currently very important. How do we move towards the ‘end of ICE’ (internal combustion engine), with sufficient and stable loading capacity and how do we motivate people to change their behaviour? But it is not only the choice of propulsion type that is important, but also the motivation to make greater use of mobility as a service. Consider, for example, shared mobility, which also helps us to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve better accessibility. In our region, it is precisely the good accessibility of the shrinking areas that is important to keep the countryside well-lived.

The challenge for Hanze University of Applied Sciences is to contribute to this by developing and testing innovative products and services and by generating knowledge together with our partners.

Which mobility innovations play a role within your organization?

Within Hanze University of Applied Sciences, mobility innovations play a particularly important role in three domains. Firstly, there is the innovation workshop Entrance, where sustainable mobility is an important theme. For example, we are currently working on sustainable shared mobility. Secondly, there is the Digital Society Hub innovation workplace. Here, for example, research is conducted into micro-logistics, into Virtual Reality to support driver training and students participate in the Self-Driving Challenge. Finally, within the Engineering Institute other leading student challenges are facilitated such as the HARD racing division and the Solar Challenge. Recently, we also set up a Mobility innovation workshop, which now mainly offers an overview of all mobility-related assignments and initiatives within the Hanze University.

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

Mobility is essential for the social and economic well-being of our society. In the future, our mobility system must be even safer, more sustainable and more inclusive than it is today. Innovations in the field of clean propulsion, individualization through digitization and vehicle automation play a crucial role in this and we are far from done with this transition. We are in a very interesting period in terms of mobility. In 30 years’ time we will hopefully have reduced the number of road casualties to zero, there will be almost no combustion engines left, and residents of rural and urban areas can be met with great ease in their mobility needs with the help of shared transport and self-driving transport.

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

The professionals of the future are trained at Hanze University of Applied Sciences. By being a partner of Hive.Mobility, the lines to other parties in the Hive.Mobility network are short. This makes collaborations happen faster. This results in all kinds of interesting assignments that bring students from all kinds of disciplines into contact with innovative companies in the mobility sector. In this way, students of Hanze University of Applied Sciences are better prepared for their future.