HAS team presents business plan to Queen Beatrix
On Saturday 4 February, as part of the Battle of the Cheetahs, in which HAS Den Bosch takes part these coming weeks, HAS team captain Pauline Rousseau presented an innovative food security concept to Queen Beatrix. The prize to be won includes 25,000 euros to actualize the concept.
New generation of leaders
The Battle of the Cheetahs is organised by the NCDO (Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development) as part of their 40 year anniversary on February the 4th. NCDO promotes international development and cooperation, especially foreign aid projects. “Cheetah Generation is the name of a new generation of leaders in Africa,” states battleofthecheetahs.nl. “Their leadership comes from innovative ideas and an ability to explore new roads. Cheetahs believe in the power of entrepreneurship and sustainable solutions. They no longer want to depend on external aid, but regard revenue models and value creation as keynotes for the development of their country and community.” According to NCDO, Cheetahs can be found all over the world. “It's a way of thinking, shared by young people worldwide, with no boundaries when it comes to innovative ideas.” That's why NCDO organises the Battle: it is an excellent ideas generator for new food solutions. Five teams of young professionals compete for the prize of 25,000 euros that will enable them to actualize their idea.
City farming
The HAS team consists of team captain Pauline Rousseau, Josephine de Vries, seven HAS Den Bosch students from different courses, and two coaches from industry and science, Cor van Beuningen and Frederike Praasterink. For a total of six weeks they set to work on one aspect of the world food problem. “Our subject is city farming. To be able to contribute to the world food problem with a concept such as city farming calls for a high-tech solution. This is what we have done: we aim to integrate PlantLab 'climate rooms' into an urban environment. And because our concept required an international component, we plan to put these units in cities in the Chinese province of Jiang Su. This is a twin province of Noord-Brabant, so there is already a connection, and we have chosen China because of its many upcoming cities, making it more straightforward to incorporate the installation of the units during the building construction. We have found the people of PlantLab willing to think along with us.”
Final on March 1st
Last Saturday, NCDO's anniversary events took place and the team captains were given the opportunity to present their plans. They also got the chance to briefly discuss the problems with Queen Beatrix. The Queen's response was enthusiastic and she thought it was inspiring to see young people so involved with these issues. On March 1st, the final will take place and the teams will present themselves to the jury. The winning team will have to stand out in problem analysis, creativity, social impact, efficiency, feasibility, design and presentation.
Find out more on www.battleofthecheetahs.nl