Meet the Jury:
dr. Marko Blom

Meet the Jury: dr. Marko Blom

The SensUs Student Competition wouldn’t be complete without our very own Jury. The Jury looks at every biosensor, reads all the Team Result Documents, and assesses them on certain criteria. The jury of this year consists of 28 experts in the field of medical technologies. 

The Teams have the possibility to win two jury-based awards: the Creativity and Translation Potential award. Today we introduce you to the chair of the Translation Potential award: dr. Marko Blom! 

Why are you in contact with the SensUs Student Competition?
As a company (Micronit BV) active in the development and manufacturing of lab-on-a-chip devices, SensUs provides us with a perfect combination. First of all, it gives us an opportunity to meet with students, who are our future co-workers but also our future customers, and with other partners in the field. Secondly, we get a feel for the practical difficulties Teams are struggling with, but also for the inventive ideas they come up with.

Why did you accept the invitation to be chair of the Creativity award this year?

Being the chair of the Creativity jury is a nice bonus but the important element is the jury duty itself, being in a position to see the Team’s creative new concepts.

What does the Creativity award mean?
For me, the Creativity award is not only about novelty and inventiveness, but also takes into account the applicability. This means finding the right balance between doing something new and showing or motivating that the solution can work well in practice.

In your earlier years as a Jury member, what is the most interesting or fun thing you remember?

In earlier years, I clearly remember the buzz during the actual Testing Event, with all Teams rushing and improvising to get their measurements done. Also, the interaction during the meetings with the students, who showed a clear interest in the matter, was a motivating element for me and my colleagues running the workshop.