Shipping containers that provide communities in war zones or desolate places with fresh and sustainable vegetables. Bee hotels in urban areas that provide up to date information on the state of biodiversity. With a practical solution, the winning initiatives of the Wageningen Entrepreneurship Grant make a difference in two of the most pressing current societal issues: biodiversity loss and food insecurity. An award of €25,000 each supports these young Wageningen entrepreneurs in growing the impact of their innovation.
During a well-attended finale of the Wageningen Entrepreneurship Grant on 21 May 2025, six young WUR entrepreneurs presented their initiative to the public and a jury consisting of experts in investment and agrifood.
Fresh vegetables under harsh conditions
Jort Maarseveen won with his initiative Hippotainer from Panteleimon Agianidis (Fermentera) and Emiel Smits (Aeroponics Equipment) in the battle for the Future Resources Award. With a strong pitch, they managed to convince the jury that healthy, sustainable, and local agriculture in a shipping container is an important piece of the puzzle in the world food security issue.
The containers are delivered ready-to-use in areas where growing fresh vegetables is difficult: in areas where war has destroyed agricultural land, such as Ukraine where Jort and his partner Tijmen Blok were the first to test the container. But also, in places where the conditions for agriculture are unfavourable due to, for example, drought, frost or inhospitability.
The growing conditions in the container are constant, little space, water and fertilizer for cultivation are needed, and pesticides are also unnecessary. A container provides enough food for a small community, calculated in heads of lettuce about 1.000 pieces per week. But other vegetables, such as spinach, tomatoes or peppers are also on the menu. Local users are trained to grow different vegetables in the container, and remote support is available for additional assistance.
With the prize money, Jort and Tijmen will demonstrate the operation of their container in Mallorca for 6 months, an island on which farmers are now struggling with increasing water scarcity. In this way, they hope to find customers who want to lease their containers, allowing their startup to grow. They are also working on a first R&D container in Wageningen and hope to provide an off-grid container on solar energy in the near future.
Practical recommendations for biodiversity improvement for municipalities and businesses
Winners of the Future Planet Award, Florence van Haastrecht and Zoe van Helvoirt from BeeGrateful, won from Carina Nieuwenweg (Novya Biotech) and Michele Tufano (Eatpol). For those who regularly walk through Wageningen, the bee hotels on streetlamps from BeeGrateful are not a new sight. But less well known is that the wild bees staying in the 'Bee&Bee' provide Florence and Zoe with crucial information about the status of biodiversity in the city.
The species and numbers present in the Wageningen science-based Bee&Bees are monitored by citizen scientists ('Great Buzzers'). With this data, the BeeGrateful team creates impact reports for municipalities and business parks and makes recommendations for improving biodiversity. This is especially valuable now that the EU New Deal for Pollinators requires EU countries to have their pollinator monitoring in order by 2030 and companies must report on their impact on biodiversity in their CSRD.
More than 35 collaborations with municipalities and companies and the creation of 925,000 nesting sites for wild bees show good market potential, a key pillar of the Future Planet Award. And with the prize money of €25,000, they are taking the next step: building an app in which their community of Great Buzzers can easily enter their monitoring data, and in which municipalities and companies can check the current status of biodiversity in their area.
Public award for innovative potato cultivation
The Get Unstuck Award of €7,500, awarded by the public for the best small step that can mean the biggest growth of the startup, went to Emiel Smits of Aeroponics Equipment. With his sustainable cultivation system for potato mini tubers, he offers a high, consistent harvest in a small space and hopes to bring a change in declining potato cultivation. With the prize money from the public award, he can present his system at the most important European conference in the field of potato cultivation, Potato Europe.
Stimulating Wageningen entrepreneurship with philanthropy
The Wageningen Entrepreneurship Grant is organised by University Fund Wageningen in collaboration with Starthub Wageningen. The grant is awarded every year and was made possible thanks to a donation from AtlasInvest, the company of alum Marcel van Poecke.
It is one of the activities with which University Fund Wageningen works to strengthen entrepreneurship within the university. This is desperately needed: converting WUR knowledge into innovative startups can greatly accelerate sustainable solutions to pressing issues. But the road from idea to successful business is difficult: the vast majority of sustainable startups do not survive without funding to build prototypes and create a proof of concept. By raising more philanthropic support in the recently launched Wageningen Impact Catalyst, University Fund Wageningen and WUR hope to bridge this challenging period of growth for more WUR entrepreneurs.
