Addressing societal challenges
Holst Centre's fundamentals are to contribute to answering certain global societal challenges. This is visible through the motivation of our researchers, through our collaboration model and through the choice of our research topics.
Energy
Energy production as well as consumption are important topics on the global research agenda. Holst Centre has activities on organic solar cells, which have the potential to become a true low-cost source of renewable energy. Also Host Cente looks into energy harvesting technologies for micro-electronic devices with the aim to eliminate the need for batteries in certain applications. In relation to reducing energy consumption, Holst Centre deploys activities on ultra-low power electronics and on energy-efficient OLED lighting on flexible substrates.
Healthcare
The ageing population imposes some major societal questions. How do we keep healthcare affordable? How do we guarantee qualitative and independent living for the elderly? What can we do - already at younger age - to positively impact our quality of life?
Our activities on body-area networks will enable integrated solutions for continuous, reliable, comfortable and cost-effective health monitoring on-the-move. Not only for patients, but also for athletes and for every one of us who wants to stay in control of his health and wellbeing.
Knowledge economy
As new economic power nations are rising, Europe and the Netherlands are challenged to maintain and redefine their competitive position and the jobs linked to it. Knowledge centers such as Holst Centre act as attraction poles for international talent and knowledge-intensive investments. They contribute to the competitive position of the Netherlands by linking the local ecosystem (including startups and SMEs) to leading companies globally.
Cost-effective innovation and R&D
Companies that want to keep innovating are driven towards more collaborative business models. Amongst the determining factors are: sharing cost of R&D, the increasing synergy between various disciplines and dealing with the growing complexity within each discipline.
Holst Centre's model of partnership in an early stage of R&D offers a neutral platform for companies from across the value chain to jointly investigate new and emerging technologies and applications in multi-disciplinary teams, while sharing the risks and costs.