Who shape tomorrow's society?

Maarten is something of a jack-of-all-trades: he can turn his hand a bit to editing, programming and design. “But I do my best work in a team, coordinating and organising.” Bringing people together is Maarten’s real strength. In physical terms he does this now between Waterloo Square and Amstel Square, on the so-called Knowledge Mile, a knowledge and innovation highway in which partners and students seek collaborations. More than 1500 students have carried out projects here in the last year.

“It’s fantastic to see a project bring about a change in behaviour”, says Maarten. “Take PET bottles: we wanted the Knowledge Mile to be the first PET-free street in the Netherlands. It’s wonderful to see how students suddenly realise just how much plastic there is in the world.”