A new generation is ready
The challenges of our time call for new ideas. And a new generation is ready to take them on.
With The Most Innovative Student of the Netherlands, INNOVATE and Quest search each year for students working on solutions for a smarter, cleaner or more social world. From all entries, promising innovations are selected. During an intensive bootcamp, the students work with organisations, companies, coaches and experts to further develop their innovation and pitch.
At Dutch Design Week, INNOVATE puts a selection of these young innovators and their work in the spotlight.
From music as language to Parkinson’s support
Meet Alice Haywood and Romy Doorn, two participants in The Most Innovative Student of the Netherlands 2026 who were awarded an exhibition spot at Dutch Design Week during the semi-final.
Alice Haywood is developing AutiMelody: an app that uses music and melodies to support communication for people with severe intellectual disabilities when words are not enough. The app uses sound during daily routines, activities and care moments and is developed in co-creation with the people who use it.
Romy Doorn is developing P.U.L.S.E., a modular care platform for people with Parkinson’s. It brings support for medication, movement, communication and daily routines together in one system. P.U.L.S.E. was developed together with people with Parkinson’s and around their daily needs.
Innovators are the new rock stars
INNOVATE believes in the power of innovation in times of transition. That is why we give a stage to people working on solutions to the challenges of our time and connect them with other future builders.
Today’s innovators are the new rock stars. By making them visible and helping them grow, we show that change is not something that will happen someday. Change is happening here.
The Most Innovative Student of the Netherlands gives a stage to new ideas from the next generation of innovators. At Dutch Design Week, we bring some of these ideas together.
