Videos pre-finalist 2023

The pre-finalists for the Innovation Award, the Amsterdam competition for innovative ideas that contribute to a better world.

Visit the showcase pages to see each pre-finalists showcase their idea through a personal video.

Universities
HvA UvA VU Amsterdam UMC ACTA

John van der Kamp and Boris Lancelot (VU): Lentala

John van der Kamp and Boris Lancelot (VU): Rom & Lupa designed by Lentala: school furniture for active sitting Today, children move too little and sit too much, especially a school classrooms. Prolonged passive sitting is a risk factor for poor physical health and low mental well-being. The human body has evolved to move and […]

Jonathan de Long (UvA): Mitigating drought effects on grassland productivity

Jonathan de Long (UvA): Mitigating drought effects on grassland productivity by understanding grass-fungi-drought soil legacy interactions Drought events are becoming more frequent and more intense. This results in decreases in grassland productivity and financial losses for farmers. Upon rewetting after drought, so-called drought soil legacy effects can lead to carbon and nitrogen losses from the soil. […]

Juan Cruz Tubio (VU): MycoFarming

Juan Cruz Tubio (VU): MycoFarming, domesticating fungi At the root of the Dutch farmer’s crisis, lie far too high emissions of nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen is a critical element for a plant to grow, but in excess, it’s damaging to the underground and leads to biodiversity losses. By way of developing nitrogen sensors and […]

Katinka Quintelier (VU): CALS-app

Katinka Quintelier (VU): CALS app: an app to Create, Act, Learn & Scale for sustainability The CALS-app, turns individual actions for sustainability into collective actions that have real impact. By using the power of social media, individuals, but also governments and businesses can be motivated to collaborate all on an equal level. An example is […]

Lavinia Bodale (VU): SightShare

Lavinia Bodale (VU): SightShare Imagine you’re missing out on the friendship and on the life experiences that make game nights unforgettable. SightShare is a game changing device that breaks barriers, enabling visually impaired and blind individuals to participate fully in card and board games. Thanks to the help of machine learning, the device recognizes different […]

Lukas Helmbrecht (AMOLF and UvA): LumetalliX

Lukas Helmbrecht (AMOLF and UvA): LumetalliX – spray and make Lead light up! Lead is a highly toxic substance that causes permanent brain damage, affecting one in three children globally as stated by UNICEF. The toxic lead is all around us. For example in paint, household items and even children’s toys. Unfortunately, detecting lead is […]

Mădălina Rîurean (VU): Madglove

Mădălina Rîurean (VU): Madglove- helping people get a grasp on spasticity. Over 40 million people in the world struggle with hand spasticity, creating pain and making it difficult for them to do simple daily tasks. Madglove is creating low tech, accessible, home rehabilitation solutions, to give back people their independence. Through co-creation with end users […]

Marjon van Rijn (HvA): Journey to the end of life

Marjon van Rijn (HvA): Journey to the end of life Research indicates that healthcare professionals often struggle to initiate conversations about the wishes and preferences for care and treatment at the end of life with older people. A partial solution lies in providing training for these discussions within a safe learning environment by way of […]

Matteo Mazzanti (UvA): Novel quantum logic gates architecture

Matteo Mazzanti (UvA): Novel quantum logic gates architecture with trapped ions and optical tweezers There are complex problems that classical computers struggle to solve. For example, route optimization, drug design, and material discovery all require extraordinary computational power. Quantum computers are central in the solution to this problem. However, today’s quantum computers are difficult to […]

Olivier Lugier (UvA): Nano Hybrids

Olivier Lugier (UvA): Green synthesis of hybrid core-shell nanoparticles (Nano Hybrids) Nanomaterials are extremely small materials with unique properties due to their size. They are said to revolutionize many technological fields with high societal impact, like sustainable energy, catalysis and biomedicine. The problem is that their synthesis methods are often complex and polluting, which limits […]