Masterclass and the YKE Talent Programme

On 25-11-2025, the time has come, the first Masterclass of the YKE Talent Programme! As part of the YKE Talent Programme, YKE organises Masterclasses that contribute to the development of Personal Skills of young engineers. The Masterclasses are also open to non-participants of the programme, so register soon!

Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering - David Fernandez Rivas as a guest!

Master class information

Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering

During this Masterclass, David Fernandez Rivas will discuss how Knowledge, Persuasion and Empathy can help us achieve our engineering and scientific goals. He will do this from an entrepreneurial perspective and using a number of successful inventions he has worked on.

Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering - the book

David's book Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering was published in 2022. This book acts as a practical instruction manual to kick-start innovation. Several examples are covered that, among other things, help develop a new technology or product. Thus, the book can help scientists and engineers considering starting a new company, joining an existing one, or, at the very least, learning more about the risks and benefits of entrepreneurship.

Biography

David Fernandez Rivas' research interests and expertise are in microfluidics, solar-to-fuel cells, process intensification, acoustic cavitation, sonochemistry and alternatives for transdermal drug delivery.

David holds a BSc. (2004) and an MSc. (2006) in Nuclear Engineering from InSTEC, Cuba. He also received a PhD from the University of Twente (2012) and became a professor (2021) in the Mesoscale Chemical Systems research group at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. He is also a research affiliate at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (2017) and a visiting professor at the Department of Dermatology at Erasmus MC Hospital, the Netherlands.

David is an inventor of a patent commercialised by the spin-off BuBclean (2013), of which he is a co-founder. In 2019, David received a European Research Council Starting Grant for his project BuBble Gun, aimed at microbeam penetration into soft substrates. He also founded FlowBeams, a spin-off from the University of Twente (2021), to valorise his research on needle-free injections and subsequent patents on microfluidic systems. In 2024, his FlowBeams team received the Transition Grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC). Furthermore, David has received a number of awards, including the Young Sonochemist Award from the Japan Society of Sonochemistry (2011), Pieter Langerhuizen Lambertuszoon Fonds Prize (2016), awarded by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW) and the Engineer of the Year 2021 and Prince Friso Engineer Prize from the Royal Institute of Engineers (KIVI).

In addition to his work, David co-chaired the COST Action Greenering: Green Chemical Engineering Network, which focuses on scaling up sustainable processes from the European Cooperation in Science & Technology (2019-2022). He is also a member of the editorial board of several journals, such as Ultrasonics Sonochemistry and Biomicrofluidics.

Practical information

Programme

19:00 - 19:15 Reception
19:15 - 20:30 Masterclass and subsequent discussion
20:30 - 21:30 Personal Development Plan

The Masterclass will start at 19:15. After the Masterclass, there will be space for participants of the YKE Talent Programme to work on their Personal Development Plan together with KIVI coaches. Non-participants of the programme are of course welcome to stay for a small drink.

Language

English

For more information about the programme, see the website.

Please note: In case of a no show, we are obliged to charge €150.