THUAS Students collaborated with FUS to win the 2022 Techathon!

The city of Amersfoort can start working on the Hoefkwartier neighborhood. The municipality was presented with one groundbreaking and innovative plan after another on the 10th of November, 2022, during Techathon '22. Seven teams were given one day to develop plans for a sustainable future of the Hoefkwartier neighborhood.

Each team consisted of mbo students, hbo students and promising talents from technical companies. In the end, after a long and intensive day, the jury chose the plan Next gen digital neighborhood of team Croonwolter&dros/Haagse Hogeschool/mboRijnland. Jury chairman Astrid Janssen, alderman for Housing and Energy Transition, announced the winner. Noelle Choong, student assistant at lectorate FUS, led our winning team. See the pitch and threepager of our winning plan from Digital Twins here.

A concrete plan in a single day

The Techathon is an annually occuring spectacle. Students and young professional are tasked with creating a concrete plan for an existing public space challenge in a single day. This year the challenge was the redevelopment of the Hoefkwartier neighborhood. The teams went to work early on the 1oth of November at Playground 33 in Amersfoort. The participants had to take into account the limited amount of available space, but also consider the rules and preconditions in the areas of climate adaptation, circularity, energy, nature and safety.

Fifty years ahead

Chairman Doekle Terpstra of Techniek Nederland and Mayor Lucas Bolsius of the Municipality of Amersfoort gave the starting signal in the morning. Terpstra made it clear that the Techathon is not a game: 'We connect the practice of technical companies with the ideas of students at mbo and hbo. This is serious business. Cooperation and communication skills are becoming increasingly important in engineering. During the Techathon, you have to make full use of those skills.' The mayor was eagerly looking forward to hear all the plans. Bolsius: 'Hoefkwartier will be a very new, exciting piece of the city, sustainable and dynamic. With the redevelopment of the neighborhood, we should be able to move forward for another fifty years. It will take many bright minds to get that far. We desperately need these talents.

Digital-twin

The jury was surprised by the quality of the presented plans . The teams managed to approach the problems in an original way and from different perspectives. Nevertheless, the jury members agreed that the plan of team Croonwolter&dros/Haagse Hogeschool/mboRijnland stood out. The Hoefkwartier in Amersfoort will be transformed into a "next gen digital neighborhood". There will be a data-driven smart grid and heat network to meet all the energy demands of the residents. In addition, materials used in the transformation will be fully circular with renewable virgin materials, mobility will have an emphasis on bicycle infrastructure to help realize the "10-minute neighborhood" principle, and climate adaptation is ensured through the double use of nature (such as green facades and roofs that both promote biodiversity and have an insulating effect).

A Digital-twin, a virtual representation of the neighborhood, will also be built. In the Digital-twin, the needs of all stakeholders will be further included and automated. The jury was particularly enthusiastic about the idea of the Digital-twin, a digital district in which the real Hoefkwartier can be simulated and regulated. The smart grid and digital-twin ensure that the neighborhood is digitized and centralized. All needs are answered within the neighborhood. Collectively. By and for all residents.

5.000 euros for the victors

After hearing the final verdict from the chairman of the jury, general director Erik van Engelen of Techniek Nederland was able to hand the trophy to the Croonwolter&dros/Haagse Hogeschool/mboRijnland team. A beautiful trophy, but captain Noëlle Choong was also happy with the check of 5,000 euros that her team received. The winning team will also receive a number of technical books, an energy transition game and a circular beer package. And in December 2022, the winners will have the opportunity to present the contents of their plan for the redevelopment of Hoefkwartier to the Amersfoort City Council.

Organisation

Techniek Nederland organized the Techathon in cooperation with the municipality of Amersfoort and the knowledge organizations Wij Techniek, ISSO and TVVL. Techathon '22 stems from the future foresights for the engineering industry CONNECT2025, SCENARIO2040 and CONNECT2030. 

Watch all video’s of the Techathon ’22 on the YouTube playlist .

See all photo’s in the online album.