European Hyperloop Week | |
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Nickname | EHW, Hyperloop Week |
Status | Active |
Genre | Hyperloop, Technology, Innovation, Research, Competition |
Frequency | Annual |
Location(s) | Varies |
Country | Netherlands, Scotland, Spain or Switzerland |
Years active | 4+ years |
Most recent | Zurich 2024 |
Previous event | Edinburgh 2023 |
Next event | Groningen 2025 |
Participants | ~450 |
Attendance | ~1100-1500 (2022) |
Activity | Competitions, Conferences, Workshops, Exhibitions |
Organized by | Delft Hyperloop, HYPED, Hyperloop UPV and Swissloop |
Website | European Hyperloop Week |
The European Hyperloop Week (EHW) is the largest annual hyperloop-centered community event in the world dedicated to the development and innovation of hyperloop technology. The event features a combination of activities, including competitions, conferences, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions and social gatherings. It aims to foster collaboration between students, academia, industry, and governments to accelerate the advancement of hyperloop systems and its full-scale implementation. [1]
Following the cancellation of SpaceX's Hyperloop pod competition in 2020, teams around the world were eager to continue innovating and competing but lacked a platform to showcase their work. In response, four European student teams—Delft Hyperloop, HYPED, Hyperloop UPV, and Swissloop—joined forces to create their own competition: the European Hyperloop Week (EHW). EHW was established to provide a platform for the hyperloop community to come together to compete, innovate, network, and share knowledge. [2]
The event has grown in prominence and participation since its inception, attracting student teams, industry experts, and companies from around the world. The spirit of the event is described by their slogan: Fostering Innovation Through Collaboration. [3]
Edition | Year | Host Country | City | Date | Main partner(s) |
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1st | 2021 | ![]() | Valencia and Cheste | July 19–25, 2021 | Universitat Politècnica de València and Circuit Ricardo Tormo [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] |
2nd | 2022 | ![]() | Delft and Hilversum | July 18–24, 2022 | TU Delft and Voestalpine [9] [10] |
3rd | 2023 | ![]() | Edinburgh | July 17–23, 2023 | University of Edinburgh [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] |
4th | 2024 | ![]() | Zurich and Dübendorf | July 15–21, 2024 | ETH Zurich and Swiss Innovation Park Zurich [17] [18] [19] |
5th | 2025 | ![]() | Groningen and Veendam | July 14–20, 2025 | Hardt Hyperloop and European Hyperloop Center [20] [21] [22] |
EHW hosts a series of presentations, panel discussions, and workshops led by students, industry experts, researchers, and academics. These sessions cover a wide range of topics related to hyperloop technology, infrastructure, regulation, and sustainability. They form a platform for open-source research and networking.[ citation needed ]
One of the main attractions of EHW is the hyperloop pod competition, where student teams from universities globally design, build, and test their hyperloop pods. These competitions include three main categories as of 2024: Complete System Demonstration, Promising Subsystem Demonstration and Research Submission. The goal is to push the boundaries of current hyperloop technology and full-scale implementation, and inspire the next generation of engineers and innovators. [23]
Student teams are evaluated by a technical jury consisting of industry experts, academics and former student team members.
The event serves on one hand as a networking hub for students, professionals and companies. It offers participants the chance to connect with potential employers, partners, and investors. On the other hand, the platform generates awareness about the hyperloop concept amongst the general public. This networking aspect is crucial for fostering collaborations and driving future projects in the hyperloop industry and in adjacent industries such as railway, electronics, pneumatics and other fields of engineering.
EHW includes exhibitions where companies and organizations involved in the hyperloop ecosystem showcase their latest technologies, products, and services. These exhibitions provide a glimpse into the cutting-edge advancements and innovations in the field. [24]
The European Hyperloop Week hosts the largest knowledge hub of hyperloop-related research papers, and annually collects and publishes student team submissions for open-source access on their website. They have also organized and promoted online seminars on hyperloop-related topics. [25]
The European Hyperloop Week, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a non-profit organization run entirely by student volunteers. While leadership is primarily drawn from the founding teams, it also includes members from various other student teams. The event is funded and supported through sponsorships, partnerships with companies and institutions, and contributions from participating teams. [26]
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is a part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area and the Randstad.
The University of Twente is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. In addition, the UT was ranked the best technical university in The Netherlands by Keuzegids Universiteiten, the most significant national university ranking. The UT collaborates with Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology and the Wageningen University and Research Centre under the umbrella of 4TU and is also a partner in the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU).
The Delft University of Technology is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, The Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, and natural sciences.
ETH Zurich is a public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The Technical University of Munich is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences.
The University of the Basque Country is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community.
Imagine Cup is an annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft Corp. which brings together student developers worldwide to help resolve some of the world's toughest challenges. It is considered as "Olympics of Technology" by computer science and engineering and is considered one of the top competitions and awards related to technology and software design. All Imagine Cup competitors create projects that address the Imagine Cup theme: "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems". Started in 2003, it has steadily grown, with more than 2 million competitors representing 150 countries in 2022. The 2023 Imagine Cup World Championship was held in Seattle, United States.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), IIT Madras is also recognised as an Institute of National Importance.
Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is an international initiative that introduces entrepreneurship to young people in six continents. GEW emerged in 2008 as a result of Enterprise Week UK and Entrepreneurship Week USA 2007. Since its creation, more than 10 million people from roughly 170 countries have participated in entrepreneurship-related events, activities and competitions during GEW.
Hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportation system for both passengers and freight. The concept behind the Hyperloop originated in the late 17th century with the invention of the world's first artificial vacuum, which led to designs for underground rapid transit systems powered by pneumatics in the decades that followed. In 1799, inventor George Medhurst proposed the idea to move goods through cast-iron pipes using air pressure and In 1844 built a railway station in London that relied on pneumatics until 1847. In 2013, entrepreneur Elon Musk published a white paper, where the hyperloop was described as a transportation system using capsules supported by an air-bearing surface within a low-pressure tube. Hyperloop systems have three essential elements: tubes, pods, and terminals. The tube is a large, sealed low-pressure system. The pod is a coach at atmospheric pressure that experiences low air resistance or friction inside the tube using magnetic propulsion. The terminal handles pod arrivals and departures. The hyperloop, in the form proposed by Musk, differs from traditional vactrains by relying on residual air pressure inside the tube to provide lift from aerofoils and propulsion by fans; however, many subsequent variants using the name "hyperloop" have remained relatively close to the core principles of vactrains.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, also known as HyperloopTT, is an American research company formed using a crowd collaboration approach to develop around the world commercial transportation systems based on the Hyperloop concept.
Hyperloop One, known as Virgin Hyperloop until November 2022, was an American transportation technology company that worked to commercialize high-speed travel utilizing the Hyperloop concept which was a variant of the vacuum train. The company was established on June 1, 2014, and reorganized and renamed on October 12, 2017.
The Hyperloop Pod Competition was an annual competition sponsored by SpaceX from 2015 to 2019 in which a number of student and non-student teams participated to design—and for some teams, build—a subscale prototype transport vehicle in order to demonstrate technical feasibility of various aspects of the Hyperloop concept. The competitions were open to participants globally, although all competitions and judging occurred in the United States of America.
Keio Alpha is a student design team formed by a group of postgraduate students from Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University, Japan. In July 2015, the team accepted an invitation from Elon Musk to submit design entries for an open-source pod that would advance Hyperloop technology development, in the SpaceX-sponsored Hyperloop pod competition.
The Scientific Workgroup for Rocketry and Spaceflight (WARR) is a scientific workgroup situated at Technical University of Munich, composed mainly of its students. It was founded by students in 1962 with the goal to compensate for the lack of a chair for space technology at the university at the time. Since the establishment of such a chair in 1966, the group has conducted practical projects, starting with the first successful development and of a hybrid rocket in Germany. One rocket of this type was launched in 1972, another is on permanent display at Deutsches Museum. WARR has attained some public attention by for its projects in space elevator competitions, small satellites interstellar spaceflight concepts, and for winning all SpaceX Hyperloop pod competitions.
Hyperloop UPV is a team of students from the Universitat Politècnica de València with the aim of designing Hyperloop, a proposed future means of transport. With renewable energies, the vehicle will levitate inside a vacuum tube, being able to reach 1,200 km/h (750 mph).
Makers UPV is a non-profit community of students from the Universitat Politècnica of València founded in April 2013, whose objective is to enhance the learning experience of students by adding a practical approach based on "experiential learning", Do it yourself and the Maker Culture. Through projects, competitions and workshops taught by the students with special abilities, the community is retrofitted and grows.
TransPod Inc. is a Canadian company designing ultra-high-speed transportation technology and vehicles.
Pixxel (pik·sl) is a US-Indian private space technology company building a constellation of the world's highest-resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit along with Aurora, its in-house Earth observation platform.
Nevomo is a Polish transportation start-up founded in 2017. The company proposes a Maglev-based transportation system which can be retrofitted to existing railway tracks, and future work on a Hyperloop system.