Putting surplus instrumentation to work for the future

Philips Engineering Solutions donates over 100 instruments to TU/e

At the end of May, Philips Engineering Solutions donated over 100 pieces of test equipment to the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The donation was motivated by confidence in the continuing role of the TU/e in educating new generations of scientists. This test equipment now goes on supporting development in the “Brainport Eindhoven”.

The instrumentation services team at Philips Engineering Solutions manages around 17,000 pieces of electronic and photonic equipment on the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. The focuses of innovation on the campus change continually – most recently with Philips concentrating more on medical devices and digital technologies. This impacts the types of instrumentation in demand. Even after ensuring enough test equipment to meet ongoing R&D needs, it was obvious there was a surplus of valuable, high-quality laboratory equipment.

Test equipment looking for a new home

Igolt Ubbens, Group Manager Electronic and Photonic Instrumentation, and his team examined the options. They soon realized that – rather than selling to a commercial broker – there would be a far better return by investing in the future of the region. That included checking with their contacts from an interwoven heritage with the TU/e. The Philips team then worked with Corine Spoor-Kolvenbag, Operational Manager at the Departments of Electrical Engineering and of Applied Physics, to identify which equipment could continue to be of use at the university.

Faith in the future

The donated test equipment, ranging from high-voltage power supplies to semiconductor parameter analyzers, was handed over in an informal event at the end of May. Instead of supporting the work of Philips and its neighbors on the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, it is now sustaining a lifeline of new talent at the TU/e. For Igolt Ubbens “it is good to know it has gone to the right place, where it can continue to benefit the TU/e and the whole region.”

Igolt Ubbens, Group Manager Electronic and Photonic Instrumentation, Philips Engineering Solutions (left) with prof.dr.ir. Bart Smolders, Dean of the Department of Electrical Engineering (center), prof.dr.ir. Gerrit Kroesen, Dean of the Department of Applied Physics (right), and a selection of the test and measurement equipment donated to the TU/e.

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