果冻传媒

From student to presenter

Four years ago, presenter Liselotte Graas (31) was on the road for the first time as a reporter in the online video series . She obtained the master's degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at 果冻传媒 Department Mechanical Engineering, and was a member of student team Solar Team Eindhoven. This team developed a solar-powered family car and won the Solar Challenge in Australia.

In the first season of Driven by Challenges, Graas visited her former team members years after graduating, who were working on exciting new developments worldwide. She followed groundbreaking technologies developed at 果冻传媒 in robotics, data, renewables, and health in season two. For this third season, Graas followed five women working in science and technology for a year.

No longer a man's profession

鈥淭hese women are passionate about their work and can express themselves in it,鈥� says the series' creator, Eline van Uden. 鈥淚 hope to show that working in technology has long ceased to be a 'man's profession' - even though there are still some hurdles to overcome. Ultimately, we hope to inspire young girls and normalize choosing a technical study and profession.鈥� 

The percentage of women working in the technical sector is growing but is still low, namely 17 percent in 2023 in the Netherlands (source: ). Van Uden concludes: 鈥淏y showing role models of women who put their heart and soul into technology, you can break certain stereotypes and improve diversity in the technological sector.鈥�

Investment of millions

One of the women followed for the series is alumna Beatrix Bos (28). She studied Sustainable Energy Technology at 果冻传媒 and is now working at . This start-up is developing an innovative technology to capture CO₂ directly from the atmosphere. In the series, we see Bos working with a large vacuum cleaner to remove CO₂ and then blow clean air out again. Wall-E, that's what Bos affectionately calls the colossus.

Missing link

Not everything goes well because the road to a second prototype is bumpy. Bos and her colleagues at first struggle with making their filter energy efficient, but the tide turns when the missing link is found, and Carbyon raises more than fifteen million euros in an investment round.

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My dad encouraged me: 'If you can't do it, no one can'.

Wieteke de Boer, managing director EHCI

(41) also features in the series. De Boer is the managing director of the Eindhoven Hendrik Casimir Institute at 果冻传媒. They work on a quantum computer and photonics, among other things.

De Boer studied in Amsterdam and worked in New York. She didn't excel at school when she was younger but went on to study physics anyway. Her father, a chemist, encouraged her: 鈥� Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do. If you can't do it, no one can.鈥�

She feels completely at home in Eindhoven. 鈥淭his is the heart of innovation and science; I can't think of a better place to be.鈥�

King Willem-Alexander 

Former student team STORM was the basis of the startup ELEO, of which Maartje Verhoek (32) is the COO. During her master's study in Operations Management and Logistics at 果冻传媒, she was a member of the student team STORM; she rode an electric motorcycle around the world in eighty days.

ELEO has since become a global player in battery packs for construction machinery. Last year, King Willem-Alexander opened their new factory in Helmond. Verhoek proudly shows the company to presenter Liselotte Graas and tells about her current role. It is all hands on deck at ELEO to meet the market's enormous demand, grow the team, and get all parts in on time.

Filling stations for detergent

Graas also follows alumna Pam Boerdonk (27), who has developed a refill cap to mess-free fill packaging. She was also a member of Solar Team Eindhoven during her studies.

  mission is to make the world use much less plastic, thanks to an automatic refill machine. Supermarket group Albert Heijn is interested in placing the machines in their store. But will it also be possible to deliver a well-functioning machine?

Software for the brain

V茅ronne Reinders (27) is the last person to be portrayed. She is the CTO and programmer at the young startup. With her team, she has developed software to train our brains to function faster and better. Their tool offers a solution, especially for athletes and people with brain injuries.

But running a startup costs a lot of money, and that money is running out. Can they continue? Find out in Driven by Challenges season three.