Foreword World reformers

Thinking about the future isn’t easy when we face so many challenges in the present. Yet that’s exactly what’s needed right now: like a magnifying glass, the current crisis has exposed society’s shortcomings. We cannot return to how things were, nor would we wish to, but must move towards a better society and more sustainable future.

What will that look like? Fortunately, we have enough world reformers in our midst who dream of and are working on the world of 2050 and beyond. Sustainable air travel, to which the Flying V’s revolutionary sustainable design is contributing, an energy supply with no CO2 emissions thanks to clean and safe thorium reactors and safe management of our data and transactions using blockchain technology.

But solutions such as sustainable air travel will not be enough to stem the consequences of climate change – more drastic steps are needed. A North Sea Dam to protect Europe from rising sea levels may sound like the ultimate engineer’s dream, but not everyone is convinced of its merits or feasibility. Climate engineering goes a step further: technology with which humans actively intervene in the climate. Prof. Herman Russchenberg takes a look at the possibilities and risks.

And how do our alumni see the future? Christiaan Fruneaux and Edwin Gardner study the past and link it to contemporary trends in order to develop scenarios for our cities in 2100. Nadine Bongaerts discovered synthetic biology in Delft as a technology for replacing polluting processes with biological alternatives. The new series, ‘All in the Family’, where we speak to several generations of TU Delft students, takes an interesting look at the future from the past.

Finally, recent months have brought some old-fashioned good news: Professor of Molecular Biophysics Nynke Dekker has won the Spinoza Prize, the highest award in Dutch science.

Professor Tim van der Hagen,
President Executive Board