Meet the jury

Edgar Suarez Garcia is the co-founder and CTO of Revyve (formerly FUMI Ingredients), a scale-up that is dedicated to transforming microbial biomass into functional ingredients.

Revyve is currently scaling-up the production of functional proteins and fibres from brewers spent yeast, but is also actively working with several spent microbial biomasses. Edgar has worked on biorefineries and valorization of various types of biomasses (agricultural streams, algae, waste streams) for over a decade at industrial, academic, and start-up level.

“The ReThink Waste Challenge could not be a better fit to my interests and ambitions. Firstly, I firmly believe that urgent action is needed to avoid waste and to transform it into valuable products. Secondly, we need fresh ideas, creativity and innovation both, at student and corporate level. Thirdly, to achieve it, companies, universities and the government need to work together. I’m impressed with the energy and creative ideas that have been put forward by the teams. Unfortunately, only a handful of projects will be recognized as winners, but I really hope that most student teams can continue their development and become successful.” currently one of the partners and works as a European and Dutch patent attorney in the field of chemistry. In his position, he supports a wide range of clients including start-ups, medium size enterprises, and multinational companies.

“The ReThink Waste Challenge allows young students to pursue their new ideas and develop a business proposition. It is a great pleasure to help them grow and flourish. One of the nicest aspects in my work is to see start-ups with exciting new technologies grow into valuable companies.”

V.O. patents & trademarks

Huub Maas studied Molecular Sciences at Wageningen University, after which he did a PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Berne, and held a postdoc position at the University of Amsterdam. In 2005, he joined V.O. patents & trademarks, where he is

Ernst-Jan Mul is innovation manager at Renewi. Together with the innovation team, he works every day on recycling more, and recycling better. Within Renewi he has a specific focus on organic, food and wood streams, and the upcoming possibilities to make more out of residual streams. Part of Renewi’s innovation strategy is to cooperate with startups and universities to co-develop and scale these solutions.

Biobased circular products are key to reducing emissions, to keep CO2 fixed in materials rather than floating in the air, and above all, are the feedstock of choice for high value products. There are limitless opportunities in this field. But which ones to develop first? “With the ReThink Waste Challenge, I’m looking forward to be inspired by ambitious student teams, and to discover the next big innovation in this field.” chemists and engineers. We have to deal with multiple transitions, such as, an energy-transition and a raw material transition. Furthermore, raw materials are getting scarce and recycling becomes an essential part of our economy.

“The ReThink Waste Challenge is important for two reasons. Firstly, because students work together in interdisciplinary teams to innovate and create new ideas. Secondly, because they prove that waste doesn’t exist. Actually, it might be the most important raw material of the chemical industry of the future. It is wonderful to learn ideas and solutions of the various teams.” for almost two years, focusing on innovative start-ups in the Food & Agriculture and Energy Transition industries. SHIFT Invest is a Dutch venture capital fund with 13+ years of experience in impact investing aiming to bring back the balance between nature and society by investing in innovative companies.

Peter Berben is the managing director of the TKI Green Chemistry and Circularity. He has spent more than 30 years in research in industry, the last company being BASF. In that role he was responsible for developing innovative new catalysts and materials. The time period we live in is a very interesting one for young

Sophie van Weede has a background in Neurobiology and Econometrics. After starting her career in strategy consulting, she made the switch to venture capital. She has been working at SHIFT Invest, an early-stage impact investor

“This Challenge is a wonderful way to get bright students involved with entrepreneurship. We are currently facing several tremendous challenges, and I firmly believe technological innovations will play a major role in tackling these challenges. But unfortunately, technological innovations alone are not enough. A team bringing such technological innovations to the markets must also be business savvy, understand the market and be able to communicate the promise of their product to customers, partners and investors. This Challenge allows teams to think about the whole picture, the technological feasibility and the product-market fit. The WUR and SHIFT have always had a close relationship and are amazed continuously by the innovations coming out of this University. This Challenge is no exception, as the level of the proposal, and the diversity of the solutions, was very high.”