To strengthen the startup ecosystem, Amsterdam hosts many inspiring events and the TEDxAmsterdam is one of them. But this one is not just any other conference, its one hell of a conference which comprises of several mind-boggling talks and super influential speakers. At the end of the day, you’ll be forcing yourself to think about the subjects and will get inspired to make changes which are necessary for the world right now.
As it was the 10th edition of the conference, the event also included an award ceremony, where 5 astonishing Dutch startups pitched their brilliant ideas and informed us how they plan to follow a sustainable business model to save our planet earth from environmental issues like pollution, carbon footprint and global warming.
While one of them had to be chosen as a winner, but we must say all these startups are doing an excellent job toward a healthy planet and today we’re going to tell you everything about these amazing sustainable companies. Let’s dig in.
#1 MiniBrew
MiniBrew was founded in 2014 by Bart van de Kooij and Olivier van Oord in Utrecht. Till date, the startup has received a total funding of €3 million from VOC Capital Partners, Indiegogo, Hoving & Partners SA and Pieter Schoen. So how does a beer startup contributes to a better planet, well the Dutch startup has made the first robot to make beer at home which can be controlled by your smartphone via the Minibrew app and it also saves carbon footprint and also wasteful consumption of water by the brew industries. So basically, the Utrecht-based company is working towards a sustainble way to make beer, without any wastage of water and reduced carbon footprint in shipping the beer.
#2 RIF – Resilient Island Foundation
Resilient Island Foundation has its headquarters in Delft and was started by students including Melchior Bos, Stan van Stralen, Thomas Edes, Trang Phan and Sebastiaan Brouwer in 2018. They took on a UN-TU Delft study assignment and later decided to turn theory into practice by making a material difference with their Maldives Matters project. Importing and exporting resources in countries like Maldives is a challenging issue, hence, this Dutch startup helps them to grow their own crops, manage waste treatment and produce renewable energy by helping them setup projects inspired by Dutch technology inlcuding greenhouse and more to manage production locally. This will contribute to reducing the pollution in many ways including treating organic wastes, creating more jobs locally, diminshing shipments and exports, also growing the over all economy of the countries isolated due to oceans.
#3 The Great Bubble Barrier
This women-led startup was founded by Anne Marieke Eveleens, Francis Zoet and Saskia Studer in 2016 in Amsterdam. It has received a funding of €500k so far, and they claim that if we dont take an action right now, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050.
Founded with a single purpose to put an end to the plastic trash dumped in the sea, Bubble Barrier creates a barrier to stop the plastics from flowing past and also lets fishes and ships pass through the barrier. By 2025, the startup aims to remove 86,300 tonnes of the plastics from the rivers globally, espcially they want to expand to South-east Asia, where majority of the plastic pollution takes place.
#4 Terra Nova
Terra Nova is a game and discussion tool that lets people discuss difficult social themes. It is a storyline board game on an uninhabited island wherein players discuss their ideal society. During the adventure, they are challenged by moral dilemmas and they make decisions based on the situations. It was created by Lisa Hu, Litte and Sietske in 2006. Since then, Terra Nova makes complex themes negotiable and conceivable. So essentially, this startup is working continuosly towards getting the next generation care about environamental issues like climate change ans more.
#5 Physee Technologies
Founded in 2014 in Delft by Ferdinand Grapperhaus, Sam Anders and Willem Kesteloo, Physee Technologies transforms buildings into smart, sustainable and powerful ecosystems with its SmartSkin windows. These windows harness the power of the sun and gather data from sensors. The SmartSkin windows take in and redistribute solar energy and power, sense and regulate the buildings’ climate. Eventually, these windows create a sustainable and comfortable environment for you, all powered by the sun. Earlier this year, the company received €1.5 million to accelerate the development of smart and sustainable building facade solutions.
The TEDxAmsterdam Award jury comprising members from Clifford Chance, Health Holland, Aan Zee and Tata Consultancy Services. The jury award went to Minibrew and the people’s choice award was given to The Great Bubble Barrier.
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