Author: Stefan

The Challenge

In 2014, Heijmans partnered with renowned Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde on an ambitious Smart Highway project. The centerpiece was Glowing Lines: photoluminescent road markings that charge during the day and illuminate highways at night.

It generated massive international media attention. Then it failed within days.

Problem

• Design looked stunning but didn’t work in real conditions
• Electronics couldn’t survive moisture exposure
• Cost efficient maintenance was impossible
• Heijmans’ innovation reputation was at stake.

The Stakes & Constraints

Phase 1: Fix the Failing System

Problem

The first version of the Glowing Lines was breaking down faster than it could be repaired.

Result

Lifespan of the Glowing lines increased from days to months. Furthermore, a patent was granted for the new design.

Decison made

This design of Glowing lines was not a shipable product. Instead of an artists’ vision we needed a business case as a starting point. A technology change was needed.

Phase 2: Build a Commercial Product (SenseSight)

When Roosegaarde exited the project, constraints changed. The aim was to design a product that could out life the remaining 3 years of the maintenance contract and could be sold to all interested parties around the world. This became the SenseSight.

Result

Lifespan increased to out live the remaining 3 years of the maintenance contract without replacement.

Impact

What was delivered:

• Patent granted: NL WO2017086795A1 (light-transmitting road markings)
• SenseSight system installed and functional on N329 pilot
• Art project successfully transformed into commercially viable product

What I demonstrated:

• Complete product development from concept to working pilot
• Enabled management to make informed decisions on project viability

While Heijmans later shifted focus to other innovation priorities, the project proved the approach and was operational for the 3 remaining years of the maitenance contract.

Client & Team

• Solarge is a pioneering Dutch company that develops and manufactures lightweight, recyclable solar panels using innovative polymer-based technology instead of traditional glass, making solar energy more accessible for buildings with limited load-bearing capacity.
• Worked together with the early Solarge team on-site.
• 2018

Project

Solarge was still a small start-up in 2018 and busy with the development of their first product. I worked together with Gerard de Leede, one of the co-founders, at Heijmans and was asked to join their team to speed up the development process.

Scope

• Develop the single Solarge panel to make it ready for official testing.
• Create new concepts and make proof-of-concept prototypes.
• Visiting potential suppliers.
• Set up stress tests and perform first tests.
• Make patent drawings.
• Make 3D renderings using SolidWorks and KeyShot for internal and promotional purposes.

Challenges

• Water or moisture cannot reach the electronics inside the solar panel.
• Final solution should be manufacturable on a large scale.
• The number of manufacturing steps should be as low as possible.
• The total weight of the solar panel should be as low as possible.
• The final solution should pass all mandatory tests to be able to be sold on the European market.

Impact

Eventually, Solarge managed to get their first two products ready for official testing, and they entered the next phase of manufacturing on a larger scale and building a factory in the Netherlands. Two patents were granted.

• Solarge was able to take their company to the next level.
• Co-inventor of a patent for the Photovoltaic panel itself. 20220059713
• Co-inventor of a patent for the entire Solar panel. 20220190773

Client & Team

• Spark Design & Innovation is a Dutch industrial design agency based in Rotterdam that helps companies create innovative products and solutions through their expertise in design thinking, engineering, and product development.
• Worked together with the innovation team.
• 2014

Project

The Center for Giftedness & Creativity, part of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, was established in 2010. The aim was to aid inventors and creatives to patent their ideas. After two years, the KFAS decided they wanted to do something with all those patents and asked a group of Dutch design agencies to bring some of them to life. Together with SpinnovBV, I was asked by the Dutch design agency Spark Design & Innovation to make a working prototype of a foldable road sign patent. The road sign should be appropriate for emergency services and two versions needed to be made: a stop sign and an arrow sign.

Scope

We were responsible for the electronics and the textile part of the road sign and Spark Design & Innovation for the casing. 

Challenges

• Incorporated electronics and textiles using industrial equipment to enable large-scale production.
• The entire product should fit in a small box that can be stored in a car’s trunk.
• Should match the description in the existing patent.
• The arrow sign should be able to point either left or right.

Impact

The protype

• Invented a way to combine an industrial embroidery machine with conductive yarns to incorporate small PCBs
• Succesfull presentation of the prototype in Kuweit
• The end result is a roadsign that is very compact when folded and stored in its casing
• Can be unfolded and installed very quickly
• Has optimal visibility 24/7
• This was the most commercially viable option of the concepts made for this project.

Role

My focus was on the integration of the electronics and the textile

• Sourcing materials.
• Design of the textile part of the prototype.
• Getting access to an industrial embroidery machine and conduct tests.
• Write the patterns for the embroidery machine.
• Integration of the PCB’s with the conductive yarn.
• Construction of the textile part of the prototype.

Client & Team

• Sanoma Learning provides digital platforms in Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy and Sweden.
• Malmberg, the largest educational publisher in the Netherlands
• International agile SCRUM team (SAFe) (5 FE, 4 BE, 2 UX, 1BA, 3 QA)
• 2017 – 2024

Project

MaxOnline is Malmberg’s digital learning environment in the browser that gives teachers full control while providing personalized learning experiences. Every day, over 150k students and 12k teachers use the platform and are dependent on the service being available and up to date.

Scope

Sanoma/Malmberg works in Product Increments (PI) of 3 months. Each PI has new goals and deliverables that need to be prepared and managed. For 26 PI’s (6.5 years), I was responsible for this.

Challenges

• Changes in features and design have an immediate impact on thousands of users (6,500+ active users at any moment).
• Different levels of education use the platform, from vocational (MBO) to secondary levels (Havo/VWO).
• Years of legacy content and features that need to stay available.
• MaxOnline platform is part of a larger Sanoma Learning ecosystem, resulting in code and stakeholder dependencies that need to be managed.

Impact

Through the years, I worked on several big projects and features – see the list below. In addition, I created significant impact by analyzing and resolving bugs. My ability to quickly comprehend problems and distill solutions by analyzing complex data and systems was highly appreciated.

• Successful migration of thousands of vocational users to MaxOnline
• As a rapid response to COVID, all Malmberg books were made available as e-books within 2 weeks
• Design and integration of the test and assessment features in MaxOnline
• Teacher-added materials
• Improved accessibility
• Migrations to Angular and Spring

Role

As Senior Business Analyst & Product Owner at Malmberg/Sanoma, managed complex stakeholder relationships and led development of their digital learning environment MAX Online.

• Managed international agile SCRUM team (SAFe) (FE, BE, UX, BA, QA)
• Managed stakeholder alignment and cross-team dependencies
• Co-responsible for team roadmap and PI planning
• Conducting user research
• Transforming ideas into solutions
• Defining functional requirements
• Creating user flows
• Creating Risk- and impact analysis for team and upper management
• Presenting bi-weekly demo to internal stakeholders