Today we visited floating farm, a company that houses twenty-ish cows on a floating building in the harbor. They specialize in sustainable infrastructure and focus on expanding such infrastructure. Their sustainability begins with the location of the cows. these cows are located, as previously stated, floating in the harbor. We learned during the presentation that this frees up lots of land for things such as housing, which is crucial in Rotterdam. We then learned that Floating Farm also has solar panels floating in the water that supplies sixty percent of the electricity used by the farm, further suggesting their lessened environmental impact compared to other businesses in Rotterdam. To wrap up, floating farm delivers their fresh milk and various dairy products by electric vehicle, and only to the surrounding area around Rotterdam.

After a short intermission, we traveled to RDM, an innovation center. We learned that RDM provides space for startups to house their creations, and work inside their buildings. We explored many innovations, one that stuck out to me was the mag lev high speed rail, where trains go underground in a vacuum and are accelerated by change electric dipoles, which can be powered by sustainable electricity. This could mainstream cross country travel in the US and cross continent travel in Europe. This could also diminish the need for inter-country airplanes which would cut down on jet fuel and fossil fuel usage. I particularly enjoyed this visit because it put into perspective how long it takes to get from concept to customer. All these startups I saw had been up and running for years upon years, and lots of them hadn’t even reached the market yet. As an engineering major with a lack of business understanding, this was a significant understanding from my perspective.

We will shortly be departing to the farewell dinner, and headed home tomorrow. I have had so much fun on this trip and have learned so much about the Netherland’s commitment to sustainability as well as concept to customer from various goods, ranging from tulips to coffee to mag lev trains.