Rtn Jan Rosen

MORPETH ROTARIAN JAN ROSEN HAS AN INTERNATIONAL CAREER

With a British father and German mother and being brought up in Berlin, it was inevitable that new Rotary member Jan Rosen would have an international career and lifestyle. His father was living in Germany and encouraged him into technical education. At school, he had to learn the languages of the various foreign sectors of Berlin, including Russian. He left school at 18 to work for a chemical company. He has since lived in the UK, US, Germany, France and Holland. He only returned to the UK from the Netherlands about a year ago. He first came to the UK to study for a degree in Geography, followed by a BA Honours in Business Administration. 

His technical interest led him into instrumentation in the US. He worked on research for cochlear implants, including design, electronics, manufacturing and support. Since then, Jan has developed intelligent IoT sensors that allow the user to collect and analyse the data for better decision-making. The applications vary from water level monitoring and waste collection to a data driven agriculture. 

He is a consultant on instrumentation throughout Britain. The day before his talk, he was in Leeds and then in Derby on engine testing. 

Leisure time has included sailing, with an Atlantic crossing. He taught sailing to young people in Holland. 

Asked how he found living and working in other countries, he recommended the transport system in the Netherlands. The Dutch use a travel card, similar to the Oyster Card, for the whole country with a fixed price for all journeys. 

Most Dutch houses are below sea level, and flood insurance is unavailable in the Netherlands.  However, every household in the Netherlands pays a small fee to the Water Authority, which also covers any damage due to flooding. People pay the government to maintain the canals and pumps so that there are rarely any flood emergencies. 

Compared to some of our European neighbours, we lack infrastructure investment and require a new approach to predictive maintenance.