News
WUR celebrates entrepreneurship and launches Wageningen Impact Catalyst for young startups
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and University Fund Wageningen celebrated over twenty years of entrepreneurship within WUR on Wednesday 28 August, during the Wageningen Impact Expo. Visitors had the opportunity to explore various innovative solutions from WUR entrepreneurs at different stages of pre-incubation. On this day, WUR and University Fund Wageningen also launched the Wageningen Impact Catalyst programme, which supports young entrepreneurs in the early stages of pre-incubation with funding, coaching and strategic guidance. Additionally, four awards were presented to young WUR entrepreneurs, made possible by Wageningen Ambassador Peter Poortinga.
Entrepreneurship has long held a cherished place within Wageningen University & Research, where researchers and students use their Wageningen knowledge to develop innovative solutions and bring them to market. Over the past twenty years, the organisation has increasingly supported this endeavour, including offering entrepreneurship courses and support to students, PhDs and recent graduates through Starthub Wageningen, WUR’s startup incubator and educator.
Thijs Verheul is one of the more well-known entrepreneurs with roots in Wageningen. He co-founded United Wardrobe with two fellow students. At the expo, he shared his journey as a startup entrepreneur: he developed the idea while living in Wageningen and exchanging ideas with his housemate Tim van Oerle, also a WUR alumnus and founder of Natuurhuisje.nl. His journey culminated in the sale of United Wardrobe to Vinted in 2021. With the acquisition of United Wardrobe, Vinted instantly became the largest player in the Dutch online second-hand clothing market.
Great Ideas Are Everywhere
The startups eligible for The Lizzy Grant awards may not be widely known yet, but they are actively growing their businesses. The Lizzy Grant, consisting of four awards of €5,000 each, aims to help young entrepreneurs advance their startups. Wageningen Ambassador Peter Poortinga, former CEO of Plukon and now CEO of Wageningen-based company Solynta, established the prize to give them a boost. He named the award after the chicken Lizzy from a well-known commercial, where the concept for image stabilisation in cameras came from a chicken’s head, which remains stable while its body moves around.
"Great ideas are everywhere" is the motto of the award, as well as the video. The winners of The Lizzy Grant are Mendelt Tillema of Zwamcijsje, Matthew Halley of Soualigas, Bart van Gorcum of ValueSort.ai, and Elisabeth Obeng of Afropulse. The award will help these entrepreneurs take the next step in market validation or testing.
Wageningen Impact Catalyst
WUR and University Fund Wageningen are launching the Wageningen Impact Catalyst programme to develop the innovative ideas of young entrepreneurs into validated prototypes or service concepts. This pre-incubation initiative offers support in the form of both funding and expertise from entrepreneurial alumni, philanthropic partners and other relationships. The organisers hope many will feel inspired to contribute to the programme. Lies Boelrijk, Director of University Fund Wageningen, highlights: "For early-stage entrepreneurs, finding financial support in the early idea phase is often a challenge. Securing a loan is difficult, and investors are often not yet interested. As a result, many innovative ideas do not make it. With this initiative, we aim to double the number of entrepreneurial ventures that utilise WUR knowledge to solve societal problems."
Curious about the winners of The Lizzy Grant and other WUR entrepreneurs at the expo, or want to know more about the Wageningen Impact Catalyst programme? Download the magazine with all participating startups here.
Interested in contributing to the Wageningen Impact Catalyst programme or want more information? Please contact Lies Boelrijk, Director of University Fund Wageningen, or Gitte Schober.