Elke den Ouden is founder and strategic director of LightHouse. She gained her Master's degree in Industrial Design Engineering in 1990 and subsequently joined Philips, where she has held a number of positions as advisor and manager in the field of product innovation for more than 20 years. In 2008 she was appointed as part-time professor in the Department of Industrial Design at TU/e (Eindhoven University of Technology). In 2014 she was appointed as TU/e Fellow, with the mission of further developing strategic relationships between the university and public and private organisations. Elke works with the Innovation, Technology Entrepreneurship & Marketing group in the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences. She combines her extensive experience in industry with her research in designing (added) value and developing new business through innovation in ecosystems. She has been involved in the TU/e Intelligent Lighting Institute from its early days, and is responsible for the strategy on Living Light Labs. She is also involved in the Smart Cities research programme at Data Science Centre Eindhoven, and is strategic advisor to the Smart Cities Programme.

Elke has a pragmatic approach towards the development and implementation of new tools and approaches. She is author of the book 'Innovation Design – Creating Value for People, Organisations and Society', published by Springer Science & Business Media in 2012. She is frequently invited as guest speaker at meetings, conferences and internal innovation events in companies

    

Rianne Valkenburg is founder and value producer of LightHouse. Rianne gained her Master's degree and PhD in Industrial Design Engineering, and since then has worked in innovation, always at the interface between (scientific and applied) research and business practice. Over the years her scientific career has involved positions as Professor of Designerly Innovation at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (2008 - 2017), Professor of Human Technology at Hanze University of Applied Sciences (2003 - 2007) and Assistant Professor of Innovation at Delft University of Technology (1993 - 2003).
Her practical career has involved different strategic advisory projects in her own company and as programme director for Design Initiatief (2008 - 2011), where she brought together entrepreneurs, designers and specialists to innovate together on breakthrough business solutions for the future. Through this work, Rianne has many years of experience in initiating and facilitating (open) innovation projects and networks. She is able to create transparency and structure in complex situations such as innovation, value creation and business development.
In 2019 she was appointed as Fellow at TU/e (part time) in the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences with the Innovation, Technology Entrepreneurship & Marketing group. The aim of the fellowship is to initiate, develop and facilitate cooperation between TU/e researchers and strategic partners.

Rianne practices a design-driven innovation approach, which has been designed and tested in years of experience, both as advisor and as professor. Through this combination she is familiar with new (scientific) insights in the field of innovation, and is able to translate them into practical tools and approaches that make sense in (commercial) organisations.