Picture credits: 4TU Impact Challenge
Are you ready for the grand finale of the Dutch 4TU Impact Challenge?
Eight startups from four technological universities in the Netherlands will pitch to investors, corporates, and entrepreneurs at the most business-minded hotel in Helsinki – the VALO Hotel.
Dutch 4TU Impact Challenge is ideal for those looking to meet the most promising startup founders in the Netherlands, discover the Dutch tech ecosystem, and explore the four Dutch technical universities.
What is Dutch 4TU Impact Challenge?
The four universities of technology in the Netherlands are united in the 4TU Federation to boost and pool technical expertise.
The universities are:
- TU Delft
- TU/e Eindhoven University of Technology
- Wageningen University & Research
- University of Twente
The technical universities are committed to producing high-quality engineers and researchers who can make an impact at the international level. They also aim to promote cooperation between businesses and research institutes so that society can benefit from their work.
The Dutch 4TU Impact Challenge offers the brightest entrepreneurial minds from the four technical universities a platform to develop their businesses.
The two best ideas were selected per university during the preliminary rounds held at separate universities. They also got help from a broad partner network to overcome the first hurdles of entrepreneurs.
Talking about how winning this challenge helped the company, Freek van Welsenis, co-founder of Hable One and winner of last year’s challenge, says, “The 4TU Dutch Impact Challenge 2021 was an absolute blast for us. I was amazed by the drive and vision of the other student-founders. It’s a big motivator to be surrounded by such talented people striving to make the world a better place. Winning the Challenge was the icing on the cake. Besides personal validation and acknowledgement, it generated a lot of media attention and, to this day, opens many doors for us. I might have underestimated the reach and status of our universities, but with the award in hand, we could launch our product on an international level. I’m super excited about this year’s finalists and wish them all the best of luck!”
In this context, let’s take a look at the eight finalists of the Dutch 4TU Impact Challenge 2022
Managescape
Managescape is a management consulting tool powered by AI and Neuroscience. It helps managers of medium and large companies objectively assign employees to project teams based on their unique profile (personality, soft and strong skills) and chemistry between members.
SAVR
SAVR is a subscription-based VR platform that focuses on safety training.
SizeRight
SizeRight is developing a virtual fitting assistant to tackle the most pressing issue in fashion e-commerce – high return rates due to wrong size or fit. The company’s hyper-personalised size recommendations significantly decrease retailers’ operational expenditures and carbon footprints and enhance customer experiences.
Biosphere solar
Biosphere Solar aims to provide circular solar energy by delivering open-source, refurbishable solar panels.
SHIFT
SHIFT is developing a small-scale energy system that uses the excess solar energy generated by farmers to produce green hydrogen. The farmer can use this green hydrogen locally as fuel for hydrogen-powered forklifts, tractors, boilers, and other equipment or applications outside the farm.
Aristotle
Aristotle develops data-driven and personalised cognitive training software, supporting, challenging, and engaging individuals and teams in developing their cognitive abilities.
SenseWURk
SenseWURk is developing a biosensor for sepsis detection.
Cryocop
Cryocop captures industrial flue gases (carbon/nitrogen capture) and turns them into purified products (O2, N2, Liquid CO2) to circulate in the industry. Currently, Cryocop’s technology is at TRL 3-4.