Summer School in leading Dutch high-tech region attracts 40 exceptional international talents. First edition ambitious Young Brainport Summer School starts in August.
From Saturday August 27th till Saturday September 3rd the first edition of the Young Brainport Summer School takes place in and around Eindhoven in the Netherlands. It consists of an intensive and inspiring program in which forty (inter)national top talents in the age of 15 to 18 years with excellent skills and a passion for physics and technology participate. Brainport is one of Europe’s leading top-technology regions and wants to offer talented youngsters ‘the experience of a lifetime’. In this way the region connects outstanding physicists at an early age which leads to a valuable global talent pool for the future.
The economic development agency of the Brainport region and a number of secondary schools in the region around Eindhoven started the Young Brainport Summer School. The number of applicants was high but in the end forty talents were selected. “We have used international networks of secondary schools to recruit talents,” Program Director at Brainport Development Yvonne van Hest says. “After a strict selection on the hand of criteria such as motivation, grades and references we have chosen the most promising talents from all over the world, ten of whom are from the Netherlands.”
DIVERSE PROGRAM FOR FUTURE PHYSICISTS
The Young Brainport Summer School offers top talents a diverse program. Renowned professors of Eindhoven University of Technology will introduce participants to natural phenomena and new technologies. During the week complex theories will be discussed that go beyond what the participants learn at their schools. Subsequently they will experience how theory is brought into practice during visits to several companies and knowledge institutes in the region such as Philips, ASML, TNO, PANaltytical and Huijbregts. There the talents will participate in research projects and cases that enhance their understanding of the physical world and they will learn how to convert their knowledge into new technologies. The program also has a social component. “It is important for the youngsters to relax and have a good time,” Van Hest says. “a chance to have fun and get to know like-minded youngsters better.”
Collaboration with Canadian Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
The Summer School is the result of intensive collaboration with the Waterloo region, Canada. A part of this collaboration is a partnership with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada. A prominent research institute that annually organises the very successful International Summer School for Young Physicists (ISSYP)-programme. The Canadian program mainly focusses on spreading the joy of physics but the organisers of the Young Brainport Summer School wants to take the program one step further.
“We want to show technological top talent what a terrific place the Brainport region is,” program director of Brainport development Yvonne van Hest explains. “We want to show them that this is the
place where they can fulfil their ambitions, the place where they can contribute to ground-breaking
innovations. We do this by making sure the participants have an incredible and unforgettable week. In
this way at a later moment they will return to Brainport for their studies or a job. We want to make them
our fans and ambassadors.”
