Pre-finalist 2021
The pre-finalists for the Innovation Award, the Amsterdam competition for innovative ideas that contribute to a better world, are now selected!
Visit the showcase pages to see each pre-finalists showcase their idea through a personal video.
Alice Grasveld (ACTA): The Healthy Teeth Foundation
Alice Grasveld (VU-ACTA): The Healthy Teeth Foundation (THTF): A participatory action research into oral health amongst disadvantaged children aged 4-12 in the Schilderswijk, The Hague, The Netherlands My dream is a world in wich every child can go to school, whether it comes from the townships in Africa or from poor or rich neighbourhoods in […]
Arnon Lesage (UvA): SolarFoil
Arnon Lesage (UvA): SolarFoil Plants need light to grow, and a world that requires more food needs light optimized towards agriculture. We are developing a transparent layer that can manipulate sunlight into light optimized for agriculture. Sunlight contains useful light, but also harmful UV and green light which is not so efficiently used. Our nanotechnology […]
Astrid Bijl (Amsterdam UMC): Efficiency and efficacy of the nursing process
Astrid Bijl (Amsterdam UMC): Efficiency and efficacy of the nursing process
Corentin Coulais (UvA): Edible Metamaterials
Corentin Coulais (UvA): Edible Metamaterials Metamaterials have already widely been used in physics and engineering to control how light and sound propagate. In other sectors – like the food industry – their potential has remained completely unexplored. We think that metamaterials could dramatically improve the interactions between humans and materials and to help create sustainable food sources. […]
Desi Bootsman (HvA): Mazehunter
Desi Bootsman (HvA): Mazehunter: playful learning for children with dyslexia Mazehunter is developing a digital-physical hybrid game for children diagnosed with dyslexia, that translates innovative dyslexia treatment to an attractive and addictive game environment. Research shows that the cooperation of the hemispheres together has a lot of influence on the processing of information. In people […]
Edcel Salumbides (VU): Non-invasive pre-symptomatic illness detection in farm animals
Edcel Salumbides (VU): Non-invasive pre-symptomatic illness detection in farm animals We are developing a non-invasive breath sensor for cows, for the early detection of illnesses well before observable symptoms. The automated and frequent health monitoring would enable timely and precise feed adjustments by farmers to stop disease progression. The technology is derived from the extremely […]
Felienne Hermans (VU): Hedy: A Gradual Programming Language for Children
Felienne Hermans (VU): Hedy: A Gradual Programming Language for Children According to the World Economic Forum, soon 9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills, yet today 44% of Europeans aged lack basic digital skills. In Europe, this skills gap will lead to almost 2 million unfilled vacancies for ICT professionals by 2025. To […]
Floris Roelofsen (UvA): Automatic text-to-sign translation
Floris Roelofsen (UvA): Automatic text-to-sign translation Language technology has taken an enormous flight over the last 20 years. Search engines, automatic translation, and speech recognition have become part of our everyday lives. But the focus has been, almost exclusively, on spoken languages. Sign languages have received much less attention. For instance, Google Translate already works […]
Guido Weide (VU): SoundTomics
Guido Weide (VU): SoundTomics Picture yourself as a doctor who needs to improve someone’s muscle function. The way our muscles are built strongly relates to the way they function. With neuromuscular and chronic diseases, but also with ageing, doctors are faced with the task to find treatments that prevent deterioration of muscle function or even […]
Imran Avci (VU): RAPID PHOTONICS
Imran Avci (VU): RAPID PHOTONICS: Low-cost and fast prototyping of photonic integrated circuits Did you see a picture of the first computer? It was as big as a large room. Nowadays we can carry our computers even in our pockets. This was made possible by integrating electronic components into microchips. In a similar way we […]