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The post Wave energy: the new frontier of renewable energy? appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Business solutions 2050: Embracing the circular economy appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Business solutions 2050: Embracing the circular economy appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Rethinking construction: 7 green building blocks for the future appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Rethinking construction: 7 green building blocks for the future appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Ancient technology with modern-day engineering to tackle the energy crisis

The maritime industry still heavily relies on fossil fuels, which account for a significant portion of its operating costs. Due to the increasing concerns over climate change and the need to reduce costs, there’s a growing demand for energy-saving solutions. This has led to new technologies like drag-reducing air lubrication systems, and the reintegration of renewable energy sources such as wind power, like equipping vessels with inflatable sails, also referred to as wings. However, before investing in any of these technologies, the industry can apply the strategy of considering options and alternatives to evaluate and deselect the least unfeasible and choose cost-effective solutions meeting the right level of risk and innovation level.

Wing sail system © Michelin

Nevertheless, it turns out that the reuse of this ancient technology in combination with modern-day engineering boosts efficiency successfully. Pioneering companies such as Michelin claim that this hybrid technology will be able to reduce fuel costs by 10 to 20% per boat. The visual below show the necessary actions the maritime industry needs to take to meet sustainability needs in the short and long-term future. As a result, the technologies mentioned before could help to reduce the industry’s dependence on fossil fuels, decrease its carbon footprint and optimize efficiency, while also reducing noise pollution.

Sailing towards zero-emission container shipping © KPMG

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The post Navigating the future of the maritime industry appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Mindset, skillset and toolset for innovators

First of all, let’s investigate when peak performance happens when you execute work. You work in a certain way because:

• You WANT to work like this. You believe it is meaningful, consistent, transparent or whatever your set of values holds
• You are ABLE to work like this. You know how to do it in an efficient and effective manner
• You are EQUIPPED to work this. You have the tools and means to do it in a proper way

This mix is typically being referred to as the 3 pillars of successful task execution. To make it more practical for an innovation setting, let’s deconstruct each of them.

Mindset

A set of beliefs, a way of thinking, how you perceive things. Your mental attitude determines your behavior and outlook and how you will interpret and respond to situations.

• Be curious; listen and try to understand (rather than checking out). Be empathic with problem owners without pitching your solution. Dig deeper to understand behavior and hidden needs
• Be adaptive to context and continually change to meet the challenges of complex conditions. Question yourself and validate your assumptions often. Change your mind based on new insights
• Think of growth in possibilities, synergetic partnerships, product roadmaps. Be ambitious

The post The innovator’s blueprint: mindset, skillset and toolset for success appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post The innovator’s blueprint: mindset, skillset and toolset for success appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Playbook of success

Naturally, efficiency is part of the playbook for success. But there are other well-known ways to innovate from the learnings of the previous crisis. Knowing that a typical downtime lasts 1,5 to 2 years, it perfectly allows the development of a new product. Starting with understanding ‘what it takes to deliver a successful product or service that meets changes in customer behavior’. Leading companies should and will recognize this shift in buying behavior and take advantage of it. In a moment like this, a structured approach to changing needs discovery and user insights is paramount. After all, it becomes clear that when the world switches to a higher-for-longer inflation environment, it will bring some pain. Not only to consumers and businesses but also to your customers.

The post Rising above the downturn: 3 innovative approaches for business success appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Rising above the downturn: 3 innovative approaches for business success appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Let’s start with an example of the training process of a large language model. Don’t fall off your chair reading the rest of this sentence, but that process can produce up to five times the amount of carbon emissions of an average car over its entire lifetime. Yes, you read that right: up to 5 times! Take a moment to let that sink in because this issue will only grow over time as more and more data is being collected annually and more and larger (smarter) models are being trained on this data. So what can we do to deal with this growing problem?

The premise above might sound familiar if you’ve already read the blog by Jente or seen the talk by Bart De Vos and Niels on this topic. If not, we definitely recommend doing so first to get a general scope. In this perspective we dive deeper into this issue, shifting the scope to techniques focused on reducing the energy consumption of deep learning algorithms.

Decision-making AI

Let’s start by asking a very obvious question: “Do we really need a prediction that frequently?”. A prediction is not always needed, sometimes it’s perfectly fine to wait a bit or to even skip it completely. Reducing the number of inference tasks means a reduction of computations and subsequently also the energy consumption.
For connected devices, a second question comes up: ”Where should the inference be performed?”. Both cloud and edge have their advantages and disadvantages that need to be balanced against each other to determine the best choice.

The post Designing energy-efficient deep learning algorithms appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Designing energy-efficient deep learning algorithms appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Some people say you should focus sustainability action on reducing CO2 production, instead of recovering CO2 directly from the air. A few years ago, direct carbon capturing was still an unfavorable and energy-intensive solution, now it’s becoming a promising deployable technology. Which driving trends are putting direct carbon capturing in pole position? Find out in this webinar from Dirk Fransaer, Managing Director at VITO, and Yvette Plaisier, Manager Innovation Acceleration Services – Strategic Innovation.

Watch the recording

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The post The evolution and potential of direct carbon capturing appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post The evolution and potential of direct carbon capturing appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Now more than ever innovation managers need to cradle ambitious plans and build a rebounding innovation engine. The reality often is that the context for this compulsory change is missing. Rather than fighting for a budget, building a new adapted innovation culture needs a step-by-step approach, based on change management techniques. Discover tools and methods to shift to a robust innovation culture during this webinar from Stijn Smet, Managing Director at Verhaert Innovation Academy.

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The post Installing a shock-resilient innovation culture appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Complete elimination of ultrafine particles is virtually impossible yet reducing the sources and individual exposure to ultrafine particles within tolerances is the best way to ensure healthy living.
Creating a healthy workplace is critical for cities and mainly for airports to keep operating. Awareness on the topic of ultrafine particles is rising and receives special attention from stakeholders like employees, unions, employers, media, insurance companies, and politics. Providing a healthy work environment is in that respect essential. Yet all sources of ultrafine particles are not identified yet. Where, when, and how much are employees exposed to ultrafine particles is mostly unknown. To start innovating an important question is which (economic) actors have the reason, motivation, and ability to change the existing solutions of ultrafine particles generation and processes where exposure is high? Which (economic) actors are blocking the current adoption of new solutions?

Innovation for effective measures

People working at for example airports face severe health risks. High concentrations of ultrafine particles in combination with long-term exposure cause cardiovascular diseases and have been shown to cause pulmonary inflammation due to the retention in the lungs. Although the effects are highly unknown, research has proved that ultrafine particles translocate to all organs. Long and heavy exposure induces cough, worsens asthma, and is also linked to diabetes and even cancer. The longer people are exposed and the heavier the exposure, the higher the health risk. Research indicates that especially the bay areas and the platforms are subject to high concentrations of ultrafine particles.
We realize that it is hard to imagine for the average worker what the health risks of ultrafine particles are. Ultrafine particles are invisible, and we can’t smell it (yet). Awareness and behavior are critical success factors elements. The behavior of people who work on the airside has a major influence on the exposure to ultrafine particles. Experience has shown that the workforce working on the platform is difficult to mobilize. Think of the limited use of lifting aids in the baggage halls. Explicit attention to behavioral change is mission-critical.

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The post When reducing ultrafine particles becomes a matter of health appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.