As managing director at the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute), I get to work on innovation and education for cities. A a mechanical engineer by background, I started my career in telecoms and strategy consulting, before I joined Delft University of Technology in 2007. I have always worked on driving collaboration between society, government, industry and academia, and have done so in wide range of domains varying from radio-astronomy and high energy physics, aviation, energy-sector, to architecture and the built environment.
From my AMS Institute perspective working closely with municipalities, resilience engineering is a very real need. We need only look around us to see the external pressures on our systems. These potentially affect the very essence of our society, the way we live, work and recreate. I believe it is these basic human needs that requires us to pursue education, research and innovation in resilience engineering.