Maarten van der Heide
VP Product Development at Polaroid
"If I could direct the power of AI toward one goal, I’d use it to build better products for underserved communities, especially in adaptive mobility.
Today’s mobility devices often feel stuck in decades-old engineering designs, shaped more by cost-cutting than creativity. They’re usually beige, clinical, uncomfortable, and lack any sense of style or dignity. Mainstream consumer products benefit from constant innovation, thoughtful design, and beautiful user experiences, but adaptive mobility users are rarely afforded the same care.
One reason is economics: adaptive mobility is viewed as a niche market without the margins that typically attract big investments and innovation. This leaves an entire community with products that may function but rarely uplift.
If AI can accelerate innovation, reduce development costs, and help us create extraordinary products faster, let’s apply those benefits where they're most needed. Let's use AI not just to build smarter but to design with empathy, elegance, and respect, giving dignity back to those who deserve it most."
Maarten van der Heide
Maarten van der Heide runs Product Development at Polaroid, pulling together hardware, software, and a dash of old-school film magic to ship products people actually want to hold. He grew up in California, studied physics at UC Santa Barbara, and started out designing millimeter-wave gear before jumping into consumer tech. Over the past 20+ years, he’s led teams at Sonos, Spinn, and Dott, working on everything from connected speakers to micromobility vehicles. These days he’s based in Amsterdam, where he’s focused on building great product teams, tuning up development processes, and keeping a hands-on mindset when it comes to prototyping and R&D. He also runs MomentumLabs Consulting, supporting startups and scale-ups on their path from concept to production, and serves as a Fellow at Conduit Labs, exploring the intersection of technology, sustainability, and the physical world.
