Quarterly Participant Meeting Q1

Generously hosted by our network-partner TU Delft, the DCE network came together on March 5th for the first quarterly meeting of our 15th anniversary year. The meeting took place at The Green Village, a cutting-edge innovation living-lab at the heart of the university’s campus, where researchers experiment and envision a more sustainable future through data collection and experimentation. In this open and welcoming backdrop, members of the network were welcomed on-site by mild spring weather and the DCE team who had prepared the location for the gathering.

During the pre-programme, divided into small groups, attendees got to participate in a few demos across several locations on campus given by researchers active at TU Delft. From VR-headset experiments in the realm of AV reactions to cyclist traffic, to self-stabilising e-bikes, innovation provided the continuous thread throughout the event and provided fruitful space for knowledge exchange between researchers and members of the network.

Following this, once everyone was gathered back at the Green Village, Nicole Lolkema opened the quarterly meeting. The DCE team presented the yearly report, highlighting some of the DCE’s activities, our social media reach as well as some highlights from ACTIVE missions, the Germany strategy and Lisa Haenitsch-Saxe (RVO) presented on the Poland mission. We also extended a warm welcome to our newer members in the network, namely Movida Transport Solutions, ParkMyBike, BIKEBAZE and Transforming Mobility, the latter of which unfortunately was not present. Looking forward, we reminded attending parties on the upcoming Velo-city conference happening in Rimini in June. We also opened our jubileumjaar, which will be celebrated at the end of the year in The Hague with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. 2026 marks 15-years of DCE’s existence and successful partnership.

Importantly, we got to hear from The Transport & Mobility Institute (TMI) team from Maaike Swarte, Manager Department of Transport and Planning, and the entire team working on the topic. They presented their work on mobility that culminated in a document outlining four future scenarios for mobility futures in the Netherlands. They talked about the public-transport and bike combination, the Active Mode Lab Research and about Bike Safety, all of which incredibly important research at the forefront of innovation in cycling mobility planning. In this light, we look forward to even more productive collaborations with them and to see what they’ve got in store in the upcoming years.

The day was wrapped up at the end with a borrel and plenty of opportunity to mingle, connect, and reconnect. We thank everyone who made this day possible and extend our thanks specifically out to the team at the TU Delft department of Transport & Planning who made it possible.

We hope to see you soon,  and make sure to save the date for the upcoming quarterly meeting on May 28th, 2026!