Why we started this journey

In the course of the last decade it appeared that temperatures worldwide are rising faster than expected. Time to act! In 2017 a team of TU Delft students, moderators, one advisor and a project leader delved into the question how they could contribute to combating global warming.

The concept of ‘crowd engineering’ was born: why not try to convince bright and motivated minds worldwide to share knowledge and benefit from each other! Starting in the autumn of 2018 we strive to – within some months – launch and promote dozens of student projects, that make a difference.

Delft University of Technology – not responsible for the content of Cool Down the Planet – took the lead in launching and supporting this platform. Now we are looking for other ‘cool’ academic and business partners to take up the flag and join us.

More about our student ambassadors: read this.
More about our cool partners: read this.

Climate change seems to move faster than we are. It threatens public health, the global economy, agricultural yields, social equality and many other aspects of life on earth. Tackling climate change is a global responsibility.

Universities can play a decisive role. New knowledge and creativity is essential to countering the effects of climate change, including the development of cleaner energy, greener farming and methods to trap carbon dioxide. Our platform wants to give space to your desire to act and be part of an accountable community. So let’s share knowledge and elaborate your ideas on Cool Down the Planet.

Participation is free. We will not ask any fee from you or your university. When it comes to the funding: we’re confident that our platfom will be supported by a number of ‘cool universities’ and ‘cool partners’. Would this special status also suit your organisation? Please consider to be a stakeholder and get in touch!

I am delighted being afforded the opportunity to contribute to this interesting and promising tool!

Roelf van Til – initiator and project leader – roelf@cooldowntheplanet.com

  • How can I participate with my project or master thesis?
    First note that your project should be innovative, original, and ambitous: aimed at realizing a breakthrough in the struggle against global warming. Then register on the site and fill in on the window ‘submit your solution’.

    Short pitch. Use around 100 words to describe your thesis and give it a title. Underline the innovative quality and impact of your proposal.

    Your submission. This document goes deeper into the matter of subject and voices your distinctive approach. Length: free. Substantiate your contributions with some pictures. Add a few challenging questions to be answered by the crowd. Convert your document to PDF and upload it on the site.

    Optional: make a short video that presents you and your project.
  • Do I need permission from my university?
    Since you are and will remain the project owner, and not your university, you're free to autonomously send your submission. Still consider to share your plan with a lecturer, because it might be wise to consult now and then. Apart from that: we strive to start with launching one project per university. Receiving more projects will make us weighing other options.
  • Who's going to judge and moderate my input?
    First of all Cool Down the Planet will value your submission; just to judge if your input matches our conditions. We'll consult occasional experts so we can formulate some 'sharp' questions.There will be no fixed jury. During the process we hope to attract all kinds of know-how into the chats. Still, we are the ones to host and moderate the discussons and lead your project to the next level.
  • How long will it take to boost my project?
    As soon as your project goes live, it will be open to 'crowd engineering' during 100 days. At the end of this stage we'll ask you to formulate some learnings and finetune your thesis. Then it's time to elaborate a film script and prepare the video animation. We will use our expertise in the video market to find a sponsor. This will take another 100 days. Finally an editor-in-chief will weigh your project and might invite you to send in your thesis. We are in touch with a prominent publisher of scientific journals, who will consider publication. Give us another 100 days.

    So to answer your question: before the time has come to look for business incubators we'll spend about 10 months in strengthening and promoting your plans against global warming.
  • Will you respect my Intellectual Property?
    Yes, the IP is your's and will remain your's. As described in Terms & Conditions: "All IPR’s retained in this website remain the property of the Contributor (project owner). The Stichting (Foundation) Cool Down The Planet agrees to relinquish all ownership of IP rights. This includes copyright, right to invention and other IPR’s."

    To put it straight: we're not going to exploit your ideas and inventions for our own business. Cool Down the Planet is a not-for-profit foundation and in the next few months we hope to affiliate with some 'cool' universities, that help us to further take root and expand.
  • How can we partner with Cool Down The Planet?
    As a not-for-proft and non-subsidised organisation we are in great need of 'cool' partners. We're eager to affiliate with knowledge institutes and companies. Please consider to be part of this promising platform and get in touch!

    • OUR ACTIVITIES:
      - moderate an ever growing number of student designed projects
      - mobilize experts and 'crowd'
      - engage stakeholders and incubators

    • OUR REQUEST:
      - activate students to launch a project on this platform
      - help us find student ambassadors
      - financial support

    • OUR OFFER:
      - use this platform and give your most ambitious students a wider scope
      - be part of the socalled 'coolest universities'
      - benefit from the promotion

  • Can I become a student-ambassador for Cool Down The Planet?
    Cool Down The Planet invites you to represent your university as our new student ambassador. We aim to have one point of contact (or two at the max) at every college. Interested in joining our fast-growing global team? Please get in touch with us!

    Now we're ready with setting up a formula the next step is to involve students from different continents. In stead of working with facebook campaigns we would like to try a more personal approach. Here ‘student ambassadors’ could help us.

    A student ambassador is expected to support our initiative and assist us unroll the Cool Down The Planet tool. This means: identify local student projects that match our formula and try to get them involved. For some activities our student-ambassadors can get a modest financial compensation.
  • Which universities already have a student ambassador?
    Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA): Saad Ahmed Javed
    Stellenbosch University: Michal Venter and Martinus Loots
    Cyprus International University: Olusola Olorunfemi Bamisile
    Chongqing University (China): Ye Luo and Zhengjie Yang
    American University of Beirut (Lebanon): Hussein Zahreddine
    University of Electronic Science and Technology of China: Sandra Obiora
    University of Ulm (Germany): Daniele Gatti and Deniz Kalkan
    University of Jordan in Amman: Tareq Mahmoud Obaidat
    Xiamen University (China): Hui Ma
    Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain): Tomás Navarro
    Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania): Kamile Petrauskiene
    University of Vigo (Spain): Roi Martínez
    University of Houston (US): Brandon Santos
    KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden): Luyao Yuan and Meng Ba
    Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU): Daria Sokolova
    Delft University of Technology: Martijn Wijsman
    Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague: Diego Serrano
    Warsaw School of Economics (Poland): Lizaveta Myshko
    Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (China): Yinghan Jin
    University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz (Poland): Mikołaj Szyca
    Riga Technical University (Latvia): Eliza Kūkoja
    Sumy State University (Ukraine): Maryna Prokopenko
    Tallinn University (Estonia): Alisa Rekunova
    Abo Akademi (Finland): Jeffery Nosakhare Omorodion
    University of Engineering and Technology Lahore (Pakistan): Waleed Farooq
  • Does Cool Down The Planet target only students?
    No, we are an open platform with endless ambitions and as a consequence we don't believe in limiting our scope. That means that we're also open to idea owners without an academic background. We welcome every serious input!

    Still, being encouraged by some 'cool universities', we're inclined to engage and partner with other educational and research institutes. So in unrolling a global network we will primarily focus on students and the academic world.
  • Who owns Cool Down The Planet? What's your motivation?
    Our platform is initiated by a small organisation - New Energy TV - with full support of Delft University of Technology, Since it's online the ownership is in the hands of an independent non-commercial foundation, called 'Cool Down The Planet', based in the Netherlands.

    We think the world's universities have a responsability to take the lead in fighting global warming. We challenge students to share their breakthrough-projects, strenghten them 'online' and make them ready for implementation.

    Cool Down the Planet is eager to start this journey without any delay. As a consequence we didn't wait for the necessary resources and partnerships. Still, we need them, please give us the confidence.
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