Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award
The Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award is an incentive award for innovative entrepreneurs (<7 years) with a focus on scalable sustainable climate-proof food systems with a positive impact on society and the environment. Candidates for the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award have proven science-based solutions that can make an important contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and provide an answer to the global climate and food security issues we face.
The winner has serious potential to innovate within this theme in the near future by introducing a solution that addresses the challenges of climate change and food systems. The winner will receive a prize of €25,000 to invest in the start-up.
Winner 2024
During the 9th F&A Next summit, Jord BioScience was crowned winner of the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award 2024, which includes a €25,000 grant prize. This prestigious award recognizes Jord BioScience’s innovative
microbial technologies enhancing crop productivity. According to the jury, the startup company stood out for its potential significant impact in the agri-food system and the benefits for its customers.
Curious about Jord Bioscience's initiative and its success?
This year's contenders
One of 10 startups, including Scope Biosciences and Rival Food, who both have been finalists in the Wageningen Entrepreneurship Grant, will be crowned with the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award 2024, marking a pivotal step in the journey towards sustainable food systems. The startups are divided into two stages: Pre-seed & Seed (early stage) and Series A & B (later stage).
Pre-seed & Seed Stage
• Scope Biosciences (The Netherlands) – provides rapid molecular diagnostics using CRISPR-Cas.
• Besso (Switzerland) – uses Artificial Intelligence powered trade compliance software, starting with the chocolate industry.
• Bolder Foods (Belgium) – introduces MycoVeg, a functional mycelium ingredient that offers creamy and stretchy textures.
• Novogaia (United States) – uses Machine Learning and metabologenomics to discover bioactive natural products from fungi.
• Number 8 Bio (Australia) - a platform that uses synthetic biology to produce microbial proteins for livestock feed.
Series A&B Stage
• Rival Foods (The Netherlands) - is the next generation of plant-based alternatives in the whole-cut category.
• CarbonMaps (France) – is an environmental accounting platform for the food industry.
• Onego (Finland) – uses Trichoderma technology to produce animal-free egg protein.
• CherryPick (United Kingdom) - offers an all-in-one app that finds recipes, plans meals, and orders groceries, while reducing waste.
• Jord BioScience (United States) –develops microbial technologies that enhance performance of biologicals products for improved crop productivity.
Procedure
From 2023 onwards, the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award has become a part of the F&A Next Heroes programme. To apply to the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award, please apply for F&A Next Heroes. If you are selected as one of the 10 ‘Next Heroes in Food & Agtech 2024’, you automatically enter the competition for the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award 2024.
About F&A Next Heroes
F&A Next is all about innovation and connecting game changing Food & Agri tech startups and scale-ups to dedicated investors and innovative corporates. Aside from the many network opportunities that are offered throughout the event, F&A Next offers the 10 most promising agrifoodtech startups a special opportunity to take the stage at the event and present themselves to the entire audience as ‘Next Heroes in Food & Agtech’. A great opportunity since our audience consist of an international and influential group of key stakeholders in the industry, including many investors, corporates and media.
Jury 2024
• Maurien Olsthoorn, Senior Science Fellow at dsm-firmenich
• Arnout Dijkhuizen, Investment Principal at Astanor Ventures
• Matilda Ho, Bits x Bites VC
• Stephane Roussel , Partner at European Circular Bioeconomy Fund
• James Caffyn, Partner at Lever VC
Winner 2023: Orbisk
Orbisk’s automatic food waste monitor has won the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award. The award-winning business developed technology that monitors the waste in professional kitchens. An AI camera identifies the weight and type of food that is discarded.
Read the news article
Winner 2022: ekolive
The Slovakian startup ekolive was announced as the winner in the first edition of the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award on Tuesday September 6th and awarded with € 25,000. They convinced the jury with their interdisciplinary biotechnological approach to clean contaminated and regenerate depleted soil, and use the byproduct of this process as an organic biostimulant in agriculture. This opens up new sources of raw materials for industrial minerals and returns used raw materials to the value cycle, while also increasing production and nutritional value in agriculture with the byproduct. With their technology, they contribute to as many as 11 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, making them just the sort of inspiring sustainable innovators the jury was looking for.
About the Award
The Sustainable Innovation Award in honour of Feike Sijbesma recognizes innovative initiatives, younger than 7 years, which focus on addressing global food system challenges related to the environment with the potential to deliver transformation at scale for as many people as possible. The Award is organized by University Fund Wageningen (UFW) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), specifically with the Entrepreneurship department StartHub and with Corporate Value Creation (CVC), as the key knowledge organisation in the domain of healthy food and living environment.
Teams of entrepreneurs and innovators, of spin offs, start-ups, or internal startups of established companies, however less than 7 years, in the field of sustainable climate related food systems can apply. Also spin offs or individuals that are not from- or not connected to WUR are eligible to participate in the Award. The recipient can be in the Netherlands, Europe or globally.
The award involves 25.000 euro to be used by the start-up for investing in its venture.
About Feike Sijbesma
Feike Sijbesma has been CEO of Royal DSM for nearly 13 years and transformed Royal DSM from a bulk-chemical company into a global leading Life Sciences & Materials Sciences company, focusing on nutrition (food), health and sustainable living (a.o. green energy). At DSM sustainability and innovation is not only a key responsibility but also a core value and a main business driver. DSM became a clear purpose driven company, being financially successful and doing well (450% Total Shareholder Return) by addressing the UN SDG’s and doing good for the world. Feike is a strong advocate for inclusion and diversity as well.
Since early 2020, Feike Sijbesma transitioned to the role of Honorary Chairman of Royal DSM of which he has been CEO between 2007 and 2020. Feike sits on a variety of Boards, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips, as non-executive board member of Unilever and as member of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Central Bank. Feike is co-chair, together with Ban Ki-Moon, of the Global Center on Adaptation. He is Climate Leader of the World Bank, focusing on carbon pricing (CPLC). He is member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and is heading the CEO Climate Leaders group. He is also member of the Advisory Board of the IMF and Co-chair of the UN Scaling Up Nutrition initiative.
Mr. Sijbesma is a recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year Award & Leaders of Change Award presented by the United Nations; received an honorary doctorate from Maastricht as well as Groningen University, Netherlands; he was listed by Fortune on the World's 50 Greatest Leaders, by Harvard Business Review as one of world’s 100 most successful CEO’s. He also received the Courage to Lead Award from the World Resources Institute. He is married and has 2 boys.