Specialisation

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- Bachelor Sustainable Innovation

The foundation of the Sustainable Innovation program is the same for every student. In addition, you choose a specialization (track) to delve deeper into. You make your choice halfway through the first year. Each specialization consists of four technical courses that will provide you with the foundation and depth in that field.

We make every effort to help you choose a track. For example, you can find useful information on Canvas (TU/e’s online learning management environment) and in the education guide, including all relevant curricula, course descriptions and videos with advice from teachers and students. In addition, you will get help from your coach and the academic advisor. You can also use the PlanApp. In most cases, it is possible to switch tracks later on if you so wish.

Besides the specialization, you will also make choices regarding the filling of your free elective space from the second year onward. Below, we make a few suggestions that fit the track in question. You can also choose to broaden your knowledge by choosing from other TU/e programs. Difficult to choose? Feel free to ask your questions to your coach or academic advisor. We are happy to help you make your choices!

Below, the 2 specializations are further explained.

Energy
Urban Planning & Mobility

Energy specialization

This specialization (track) gives you the knowledge to understand the basic principles of processes that regulate the generation and transportation of energy. It covers the laws that regulate flows as well as their utility in the transport of energy, mass and momentum. Other relevant topics include decentralized renewable energy and smart power grids, energy shortages and innovation in developing countries, and energy cooperation.

In this track, you take courses that explain the trends in this field of work and what you can expect. Thermodynamics is also part of the specialization: you learn the ways in which energy is transported. For example, you calculate how much energy can pass through a pipeline, the level of friction and how much bending the pipeline can tolerate. But you also look at how much heat needs to be added to a power plant to keep everything working. In short, this is a very versatile track!

“You learn the basics of energy conservation, even if you don’t go in this direction in order to know how power plants work, and you get a good knowledge of mechanical engineering and what drives mechanical engineers and what their concerns are. This track has opened up the world of engineering for me.”

You will follow the compulsory courses of this specialization at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, among other places. High school level physics is an advantage for this track.

The follow-up master’s to this specialization are:

Sustainable Energy Technology (SET) in combination with the right elective package
Innovation Management (IM) with 5 tracks

Examples of compulsory courses:

Thermodynamics (TU/e Mechanical Engineering - Energy Technology):

Thermodynamics deals with the relationships between heat and mechanical energy and its conversion from one form to another. Large-scale energy systems such as power plants, turbines, combustion engines and compressors are covered. You examine their operation, efficiency and performance and you consider renewable energy sources.

Heat and Flow (TU/e Mechanical Engineering - Power and Flow):

Heat and flow play an important role in many applications in engineering. Examples include the processes in the engine of a car, a heat exchanger in a power plant, the drag coefficient of a car or a heat collector on the roof of a house. In this course, you will study the first principles of heat and fluid flow that will allow you to describe and calculate these phenomena/systems.

An example of a free elective:

Solar Heat System:

If you are following the Energy track, this course is highly recommended as you will work on a group project based on concepts within the Energy track.

Urban Planning & Mobility specialization

In this unique specialization, you will deal with issues of urban planning, logistics and mobility. You will study spatial planning and mobility as core aspects of sustainability in relation to smart (urban) mobility, sustainable mobility, smart energy networks and (trans)national resource networks. These themes are on the research agenda of the Technology, Innovation & Society (TIS) research group and include case studies and empirical research of the other SI courses. The courses in this track are largely taught by researchers from the TIS group.

In this specialization, you will try to find answers to questions such as: how should we and how can we shape our societies in a changing climate? What is the city of the future? How will we organize our transportation options?
In this track, you actually get out and about, such as to look at where a new footpath is planned and think about its practical implications. You learn to look at the city like an engineer.
Together, the different courses give you both the knowledge to look at the entirety of infrastructures and insights with which you can improve and develop this whole.
Alongside the present, you will also study history: how did people think about what they needed a hundred years ago and how has this changed? This will help you better understand why infrastructures are the way they are and how best to adapt them where necessary.
In this track, you learn to do research into the predictable behavior of people regarding the manner in which they move around. As a result, you can test different solutions to see how people will react to changes. Statistics are needed to calculate all of this and you will learn to work with them.

“It’s very interesting to see how your view of a city changes. When I see a road closure, I can now instantly see the impact it has on the flow of traffic throughout the city.”

You will take all compulsory courses at the Department of Architecture. An example of a compulsory course within this specialization:

The Built Environment - Urban Systems and Real Estate unit:
This course focuses on important aspects of urban development and restructuring processes. The central functions in a city, such as living, working, shopping, services and leisure, require optimal planning of the limited resources available and an optimized transportation system. Both the scientific and societal background of the various aspects of urban planning are presented and discussed.

Examples of courses for filling out your elective space:

Future of mobility: how to evaluate predictions and forecasts (Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences - Technology, Innovation & Society):

Many innovations are taking place in the field of mobility: smart mobility, electric mobility, automated driving, Mobility-as-a-Service and e-bikes. Consider not only technology but also the user, society and enterprise (USE) context. What roles do urbanization, data collection and climate change play in the future of mobility? These and other questions come up in this multifaceted course.
You will study important trends and future scenarios. You will learn to work with tools and methods for analyzing and critically reflecting on predictions, visions and strategies and for creating your own scenarios regarding the future of mobility from a USE perspective.

Building technology (The Built Environment - Architectural Urban Design and Engineering unit):

In this course, you learn in detail how buildings are made: from the bottom up and from the inside out. You also learn why we build in this manner.

Housing, real estate and urban economics (The Built Environment - Urban Systems and Real Estate unit):

In this course, you will study the land and real estate market for housing, including supply, demand and prices. You will be introduced to quantitative applied methods for analyzing housing demand and preferences. The course covers tools and challenges in the development and management of residential real estate.

ID Green - design perspectives on sustainability (Industrial Design - Future Everyday):

Sustainability is one of the most important topics of our time, and the landscape of sustainability is vast, diverse and complex. What is sustainability in the context of industrial design? Is there one answer to this question or perhaps not? And how can you design for a sustainable future? These are the central questions that you will face in this course. The teacher will challenge you to formulate your own answers by thinking about different perspectives on sustainability. In this way, you develop your own design route in order to contribute to a sustainable future.

Follow-up master’s include:

SUMT in combination with the right elective package
Innovation Management with 5 tracks