果冻传媒

Recognition. That鈥檚 what Rudi Bekkers gets most of all from the title of Best Bachelor Teacher, which he was awarded during MomenTUm. For more than 30 years, Bekkers 鈥� Professor of Standardization and Intellectual Property since 2018 鈥� has advocated imparting knowledge of technical standards and patents to students at our university and beyond.

Basic knowledge

Bekkers kicks off enthusiastically with a mini-lecture on the importance of his field. 鈥淭echnical standards and intellectual property are important basic knowledge for every engineer 鈥� although this is not often what students come to our university for because then they would have chosen to study law.鈥�

鈥淚n the business world, knowing how patents work is important. If you go to work at ASML, for example, they will ask you if you know how patents work so that you don鈥檛 unwittingly use someone else鈥檚 patent, and the company gets a million-euro claim on its hands.鈥�

鈥淪tandardization seems like a boring backroom topic, but it鈥檚 an increasingly important tool in today鈥檚 geopolitics. It determines who controls the tech markets. If you are the one setting the standard, you decide. The English have a great saying for this: 鈥業f you鈥檙e not at the table, you might be on the menu.鈥� So, you better ensure you鈥檙e at that table to have a say and decide.鈥�

Exploding batteries

Bekkers gives an example of the importance of technical standards: 鈥淚n New York City, people are killed by exploding batteries on electric bicycles every year. These batteries are faulty because they do not meet good safety standards and are often repaired in an amateurish way. People then park their bikes in their apartments for fear of theft, with dire consequences if such a battery explodes inside. With the right technical standards, you guarantee the safety of technical products.鈥�

When I wanted to focus on standardization 30 years ago, people thought I was out of my mind.

Rudi Bekkers, Best Bachelor Teacher 2024

鈥淪tandardization and patents are topics that I find extremely interesting and important. I was ridiculed when I wanted to pursue them further after completing my PhD 30 years ago. 鈥楴obody thinks this is important,鈥� I was told. So, my advice to colleagues would be not to be completely led by trends. Do what you believe in and be authentic.鈥�

Perseverance

Bekkers believed in it and persevered 鈥� with success because the importance of technical standards is high on the European political agenda. Among other things, Bekkers is a member of the High-Level Forum on Standardization, which advises the European Commission.

鈥淭here is only one academic party in this advisory body, and that is 果冻传媒. I attend all meetings with Robert-Jan Smits, president of the 果冻传媒 Executive Board. It鈥檚 exciting to be able to collaborate with all those people.鈥�

Impressive network

Thanks to his years of collaboration with other parties, such as the European Commission, Bekkers has an impressive network. 鈥淚 take the knowledge I gain there to my classes. I also ask experts from my network to give guest lectures to our bachelor students. They could be lawyers or people who work in government or business. Who can students learn better from than the experts themselves, the best in their field?鈥�

鈥淭his is how I try to connect the valorization work I do for the European Commission with teaching and conducting scientific research.鈥�

Who can students learn better from than the experts themselves, the best in their field?

Rudi Bekkers, Best Bachelor Teacher 2024

Bekkers has just returned from Rome and Berlin, where, on behalf of the European Commission, he had the opportunity to translate the gospel of his field into education on standardization across Europe. 鈥淩ight now, it鈥檚 still too fragmented. Funding has been allocated to scale this up. We also want to offer similar education at universities of applied sciences and plan to provide courses at companies ourselves, for example.鈥�

Between these trips, Bekkers arrived at MomenTUm just in time to be named our university鈥檚 Best Bachelor Teacher.

Nomination

In the nomination, Bekkers is praised for his interactive lessons in which he inspires students and ignites their curiosity. He is always looking for ways to convey his field of expertise. He is developing a new massive open online course (MOOC) with colleagues, which will be tested as a pilot next year and implemented annually for all 果冻传媒 bachelor students (approximately 3,000). This will cover technical standards, patents, and topics like ethics and sustainability.

鈥淔or my subject, I do this with video lectures of five to ten minutes. We鈥檝e already recorded a few. Soon, I will interview experts across Europe who are active in politics, public organizations, and the business world related to my field. They will share what they are working on and what drives them,鈥� Bekkers enthusiastically says.

Prize comes in handy

The 15,000-euro prize that Bekkers receives as Best Bachelor Teacher of the year will be used to purchase materials to create those videos and to cover travel expenses.

I find it a challenge to get all students on board during my lessons.

Rudi Bekkers, Best Bachelor Teacher 2024

Bekkers is happy when his enthusiasm spills over to the students. 鈥淚 teach students from all departments, which is a demanding audience. They didn鈥檛 come here for this subject, and suddenly, someone is in front of you who wants to teach you standardization.鈥�

鈥淚 find it a challenge to get everyone on board. When you then read back in the course evaluations that they consider it valuable knowledge for their future as engineers, that鈥檚 my biggest prize. That I convinced them.鈥�