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Cool things at the Philips office

If you’ve been following me on Instagram you know that I have recently been to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I got to visit the Philips office. It was such a cool trip! I got to explore the office, met awesome female engineers, saw the adult playground (i.e. the lab) and learned about the projects they are working on.

I’ve already made of vlog about my trip – which you should absolutely watch if you haven’t, I’ll link it below! But here are my impressions from the visit:

The office experience:

I entered through a nice lobby, got to the third floor and was welcomed by very friendly people at the reception area. The banner next to them said “Philips Cambridge Innovation Labs” – that was the moment when I realised that this visit was going to be very exciting! And the awesome museum-looking stands with some historical and yet innovative machines solidified that feeling!

Nothing sparks up my excitement more than an Innovation lab! Alright, maybe delicious food has a similar effect on me, but you get my point 😉

I was visiting the department called “Connected Sensing”, which was essentially a startup within the company! They were working on medical wearable devices and prototyping for the next iteration of a product – so I got to go into the lab and witness the work in progress.

I really liked the layout of the workspace, it had a lot of natural light and the space looked very collaborative. People had plenty of space to work at their desks, but they could also talk to their neighbours whenever they wanted to bounce off some ideas. In my personal experience, open-plan offices work very well and enhance the experience at the workplace!

There were also quite a lot of conference rooms where you could meet as a team or take calls from. Oh and the cafeteria had an awesome vibe, beautiful urban view, and also had fresh fruit and coffee at all times and bagels in the morning!

This is where you can get the liquid of Gods (a.k.a. coffee)

The department really gave off that scrappy startup vibe I love but at the same time, it felt like a well-funded startup that has plenty of resources to play around with.

The people

I got to hang out with some of the awesome people from the office and I was so happy to hear that they were all serious foodies! We’ve instantly bonded over a shared love for great food and excitement about all areas of technology.

I got to speak to some of the awesome women on the team:

Anahis, who is a Mechanical Engineer, is a recent graduate and is now combining work with further studies: she was also doing an evening masters program! What a Wonderwoman ?

The Wonderwoman in front of her lab!

And Christine, who is an Intern Software Developer, is still pursuing her degree in Computer Science and Biology (what a perfect mix of subjects for a medical wearables team!!). She might also be holding a record for the number of internship cycles during which she’s worked with Philips for!

Christine at her desk, working away on the next generation of medical technology!

The company is very supportive of students joining the team as well as its employees furthering their education, which I think is amazing and really helps with innovation! I will create a separate video about intern experience and internship opportunities at Phillips, so make sure you don’t miss it – especially if you’re on the lookout or if you know someone who might benefit from that!

The projects

Many people associate Philips with light bulbs and that’s understandable because that’s where they started. However, they’re doing so much more than that, from personal care to household products! They even have products that aim at improving your sleep – what?? I need that in my life!

The department that I got to visit is specialising in medical equipment and is currently working on a medical wearable device which is meant to track patients’ vitals while they’re at the hospital. Since it’s a wearable device, patients can attach it to their body using the adhesive material. The device then takes regular readings of the person’s temperature, heartbeat and so on, which minimizes disruption to the patient’s rest, for example at night. It also lets nurses know if a patient falls down!

This is what the first iteration of the device looks like!

Listening to the employees talk about it was the coolest thing because they were so excited about this product. The work was super hands-on, I got to see Anahis was literally in the process of testing different adhesive materials.

Christine was focused on the other aspect of these medical devices – on app creation/maintenance. She was literally creating the interfaces that nurses will interact with when using these devices! This kind of stuff gets me super excited, as these women have a direct impact on what the future of health care will look like – people will be using the technologies they build now in the very near future.

With my fellow foodies ???

I can go on forever about what I’ve experienced and witnessed, but at the end of the day, an image is worth a thousand words and a video is a hundred thousand. So here’s my vlog from the office (it includes interviews with Anahis and Christine!), so that you can see it all for yourself:


It was an awesome and a very inspiring experience! If you guys are interested in exploring career opportunities at Philips, press here! 🙂

Thank you for having me, Philips! And thank you for working on such awesome and innovative products – I’m definitely adding that sleeping headband to my Christmas wishlist haha!

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