The winner receives 500,000 euros to further develop and market their product or service. The runner-up receives 200,000 euros.
25 nominated startups
The 25 nominated startups come from: the Netherlands, USA, UK, Sweden, Germany, Israel, India, and Rwanda. The Netherlands is the strongest represented with 10 nominations. Following are the USA with five startups, the UK with four entrepreneurs, and Sweden with two nominees. The remaining four countries are represented by one startup each.
The Dutch nominees are:
Almer van der Stoel (44), Bambooder: Bambooder cultivates bamboo and makes the fibers suitable for industrial use, such as paint, plastic, and composite materials for the automotive, aerospace, and construction sectors. The fibers are a replacement for mineral products that have a huge CO2 footprint.
Dorus Galama (28), Circular Headphone: the high-quality headphones from Pelican House tackle the electronic waste mountain with their modular design. They provide circular headphones through a leasing model. For a small fee, the customer subscribes to the following: replacement of defective parts, collection, reuse, or recycling of broken parts. The wear-sensitive parts, such as the sound box and cables, are modularly designed and can be easily repaired or replaced. The circular business model has the potential to save up to 85% on materials and components.
Michiel Vos (47), CocoPallet: CocoPallet develops 100% biodegradable and affordable transport pallets from waste from the coconut industry for Asian exporters. Asian countries have little or no softwood to make pallets from, which means large quantities of wood must be imported from, among others, the Baltic states, New Zealand, and Siberia. Moreover, it utilizes the naturally occurring adhesives in coconut husks, making environmentally harmful and expensive synthetic glues unnecessary.
Eugene van Bouwdijk Bastiaanse (62), Ecovat: solar and wind energy make the electricity grid unbalanced, causing shortages to be supplemented with conventionally generated electricity. The storage of sustainable energy was the biggest problem. Ecovat is an underground heat storage system with very high efficiency (less than 10% energy loss over 6 months) and a large storage capacity. The construction system allows for the storage of thermal energy. This enables multiple households to operate entirely on clean energy throughout the year, reducing the use of fossil fuels to zero.
Tonnis Hooghoudt (55), Ioniqa Technologies: colorless plastic could already be fully reused, but the majority of the 50 million tons of plastic produced worldwide is colored. A large part of this disappears after use into the incinerator. Ioniqa has developed a method to upcycle mixed plastic waste into new raw materials at a competitive price.
Marieke Havermans (41), Onora: Onora produces 100% biodegradable coffins made from organic bioplastics. The coffin is price-competitive with the current particle board variant, which accounts for 70% of the market volume. During cremation, Onora emits up to 75% less CO2 than a standard coffin.
Willem Kesteloo (28), PowerWindow: the startup Physee produces the first windows with fully transparent electricity-generating glass, the PowerWindow. They capture light that would normally be reflected and convert it into electricity using solar cells in the window profile.
Daan Steller (34), REBEARTH: this fully natural agricultural product improves crop growth and soil life. This also means that the soil stores more CO2, just like the trees that are spared due to the reduced need for arable land. Due to soil improvement, farmers also need fewer chemicals, which generate CO2 during their production.
Gert van Vugt (27), Sustainer Homes: these affordable, modular homes made from sustainable wood cause 90% less CO2 emissions than conventional houses. Solar panels make the buildings energy-neutral and do not even need to be connected to the grid. The prefab units are recyclable or reusable in new buildings.
Max Aerts (25), Team FAST: this student team from the Technical University of Eindhoven is working on developing a fuel system for buses and trucks based on formic acid.
Final in September
On August 15, the organization will announce which five nominated startups will proceed to the finals. The final will take place on September 14 at the Gashouder in Amsterdam. Queen Máxima will be present, and it will be clear which startups will win awards.
Last year, the Dutchman Jurriaan Ruys won the grand prize of 500,000 euros. He managed to convince the jury with his Land Life Company, an organization that develops biodegradable incubators that allow young trees to survive in extremely dry areas, making reforestation possible.
