Seats2meet’s own DeLorean: meet the Permanent Future Lab

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Samir and Jurjen in Niekée

Imagine yourself going to your first day at work. There you find 3D printers, drones, robots, virtual reality glasses, a gadget that reads your brain waves so you can control other devices just by thinking (just like jedis do), all kind of things that you read about in the news but think you will only have access to in 10 years, you name it. They are all at your disposal to use, experiment and create. This is what I found when entered the very first Permanent Future Lab in Seats2meet Utrecht CS.

I was lucky to meet and spend a day with the initiators of this futurist lab, Jurjen De Vries and Samir Lahiri. I joined them for a trip they make every month to a different place, this February they chose Roermond. There you can find a Seats2meet location inside the most interesting school I ever been to, Niekée, which I will need another blog to talk about.

Samir and Jurjen on the way to Roermond
Samir and Jurjen on the way to Roermond

I met Jurjen and Samir at the Utrecht Central Station and started my adventure equipped with a virtual reality glass, a 3D print pen and Dot and Dash, two friendly robots created with the special purpose of teaching kids (and adults) how to code. That all so we could create a Permanent Future Lab pop up in the school.

In the train on our way to Roermond Samir told me how him and Jurjen met; when he was looking for a job he started frequenting Seats2meet.com Utrecht once a week due the connections, the opportunities that come along and as he names it, the vibe. Every year in the start of summer in this particular location they recruit people for a cleaning, it was when he met Jurjen, the geek whose favorite accessory is a Google glass.

Me and Jurjen in Niekée
Me and Jurjen in Niekée

Both of them found in the passion for new technology and innovation a common ground and an opportunity. Mixing the Seats2meet.com concept of sharing knowledge and experiences with technology the Permanent Future Lab was created. There the only prerequisite is sharing your experiences and other findings with others, as they say in their website.

The first location was launched in Utrecht on October 2014. Right now they have it in 3 different cities, all in The Netherlands, and expanding. 

If you want a taste of what is going on the Permanent Future Lab there are a couple gadgets you can have in your house. One of them is the virtual reality glasses, which you can buy for 15 euros or even make it yourself. After that download apps as Roller Coaster VR or VRSE, put your phone in the glasses and watch the magic happen. I’m not kidding when I say it must be a kind of magic. Another fun app is Quiver. Print the drawings in the website, color them and watch the lines and colors gain life in your phone screen.

The Permanent Future Lab gives people not only the opportunity to experience the future, but also create it. There are a million of possibilities when you mix creative people, knowledge and resources. That is what the Permanent Future Lab is all about.