Today was the conclusion of my two-week-long journey in the Netherlands. While it was bittersweet, I would say that the sweetness heavily outweighed the bitterness of this day. We woke up around 8 to be ready at 8:15 for our tram to the floating farm which is the company that I specifically researched before this trip. Because of this, I had been looking forward to this visit the whole trip and it did not disappoint.
What I found most interesting about the floating farm was how many aspects relating to sustainability they managed to incorporate into their design. First, they have solar panels connected to the farm in order to supply it with energy. Second, the roof of the farm collects rainwater and filters the water to store In tanks for the farm to use. Third, they have a small robot that collects the urine and manure almost immediately in an effort to reduce the ammonia that the farm releases and it helps to decrease the ammonia they produce by around 60%. These were not the only three features regarding sustainability on the floating farm, but they were the ones that stood out to me the most. The reason hearing about all these sustainable parts resonated with me so much was that I feel like I always hear about companies incorporating sustainable features, but its usually just one or two. The floating farm is clearly making an effort to make their whole operation sustainable and I think that’s one of the reasons they have been so successful thus far. After learning about the floating farm we got to try some of their products which were amazing, my personal favorite was the raspberry milk which was so flavorful.
After visiting the floating farm, we had a short break for packing and eating before we made our way to RDM, a port in the city of Rotterdam that houses innovative projects. TI wasn’t expecting much for this outing as I didn’t really know what it was, but I can confidently say it was my favorite visit of the whole trip. We walked around the facility which acts almost as an Airbnb for businesses. Many different businesses come to the facility to build and grow their companies with the help of the resources the facility offers. Hearing about how they the facility and the businesses work together was interesting, and again highlighted for me part of the concept to customer path. It was a different part of the path than we had previously learned about as we usually focus on the creation of the concept or how that gets to the consumer. At RDM, we focused on how the middle stage of working with investors and outside parties to refine the concept and get it ready to market to the consumer. This made for the most interesting tour as we learned about all kinds of different companies that are refining their concepts within the RDM facility. My favorite one was a company that uses sand from places across the world to build fake coral that natural life will grow on. This coral is being used in an effort to combat coral bleaching and climate change, and hopefully, it will be placed on a large scale in the future. Overall the trip to RDM was so insightful and we learned about so many cool companies, I felt inspired and in awe of what the businesses were creating there and I hope to see some of those companies in the US in the future.
We finished off our last day with the last supper on a boat. This was nice as we got to thank everyone who made this trip possible and have fun with our friends one last time. The burger was also fantastic. I enjoyed this trip so much and I hope to remain friends with everyone I got to know here. I learned so much, not just about the program concepts but about myself. I am 100% a different person coming back from this trip and in a good way. This trip is a memory I will always cherish and I can’t wait to tell people about it!!!
Vararwel!!!
