Honours Class Factory of the Future

A consortium of companies, including AkzoNobel, DSM and Witteveen + Bos, has developed a model for the ‘Factory of the Future’.

Together with the Centre for Entrepreneurship of Utrecht University and the consortium, Saxion organises an Honours Programme in which the concept is further developed and applied. We invite to participate in this programme companies and networks of enterprises from the process and manufacturing industries that are seeking radical sustainability-related transformations.

Within the Honours Programme, students in the final stage of their studies, together with young staff members from the companies, work on radical sustainability challenges. The employees of the participating enterprises and the students together follow the Honours Course and investigate further within the companies the possibilities for radical sustainability changes.   This is not only about the technical aspects of sustainability, but also about new organizational forms, new forms of communication, and radically new business models necessary for this sustainability challenge.

Cradle to Cradle
The central idea behind the programme is the Cradle-to-Cradle concept and the space it offers for innovative and business driven interpretations of sustainability. The Cradle-to-Cradle principles and, related to them, the new view of sustainability that takes a central place in the Programme  are being co-developed by Prof. dr. Michael Braungart who supports the consortium of companies.