Students from different universities visit the Netherlands

The competition has been organised for years by our parent company, Rönesans Holding, with the belief that a sustainable future can only be created in collaboration with future generations. "Through the 'Design the Sustainable Future Competition,' we aim to generate shared ideas on sustainability for the future together with the professionals of tomorrow".

This year's theme is biomimicry: designs inspired by nature. The concept of biomimicry involves translating knowledge from nature into innovations. By drawing inspiration from nature, we can learn from a system that has centuries of experience in resilience, adaptability, and efficiency. This is also known as bio-inspired design.

The students, coming from various universities in Turkey, are all winners in one of the following categories: building design, product design, or social innovation. Throughout the week, the students will get acquainted with related topics in the Netherlands. For example, they will visit the BREEAM-awarded project 'Jonas' by Ballast Nedam West, attend knowledge sessions with our Director of CSR Bramske van Beijma, Project Developer Rosa Bos from Ballast Nedam Development, and Commercial Manager Wim van der Heide from Ballast Nedam Park & Connect. A visit to Fort Rijnauwen with a nature expert, a tour at Technical University Delft, and a visit to our modular factory Ursem are also on the agenda. The very first day starts with a lecture by the founder of biomimicryNL, Saskia van den Muijsenberg.