Four Wageningen Startups Win Lizzy Awards to Commercialize Green Innovations
Wageningen, Friday, 28 August 2026.
Four Wageningen University startups secured Lizzy Awards on August 26, 2026, receiving €5,000 each to commercialize pioneering solutions like transforming stinging nettles into sustainable textiles.
Bridging the Early-Stage Funding Gap
The Lizzy Award 2026 ceremony took place during the Wageningen Impact Expo on August 26, 2026, at Starthub Wageningen on the Wageningen Campus [1][2][3]. Established by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) alumnus Peter Poortinga, the annual award is designed to support academic entrepreneurs—including students, alumni, and staff—during their critical early startup phases [1]. By providing each of the four winners with a €5,000 grant, the University Fund Wageningen distributed a total of 20000 Euros to facilitate vital prototype development, market analysis, and customer research [1][2].
Four Diverse Paths to Sustainability
The four winning initiatives span a wide array of ecological and agricultural innovations. Milo Kleijnjan was recognized for OmnoMyco, a startup focused on cultivating wild mushrooms to serve as sustainable meat substitutes [1][2][3]. Marlies Willemsen-Regelink received backing for Buiten Bloeiers, an educational initiative aimed at fostering nature connection among children to counter the modern societal trend of reduced outdoor play [1][2][3].
From Wild Plants to Nanotechnology
Representing the material sciences, Iepe Bouw of the AMS Institute was awarded for The Nettle Project, which transforms common stinging nettles into circular textile fibers suitable for spinning applications [1][2][3]. In the high-tech agricultural sector, Jordi Floriach-Clark, a PhD candidate in Plant Nanotechnology at WUR, secured funding for ChemPanoptics [1][2]. This venture is developing advanced screening technology designed for the early detection and evaluation of antifungal substances in both agriculture and healthcare settings [1][2][3].
A Growing Ecosystem of Innovation
The Wageningen Impact Expo also served as the launchpad for the Ripple Fund, a new financial initiative introduced by the University Fund Wageningen to support social, community-driven startups [1][2][3]. The event highlighted the long-term potential of academic research with a keynote from Lucas Noldus, founder of Noldus Information Technology, who noted that his global software firm originally began as a curious PhD project in the late 1980s [2][3]. Attendees also toured local facilities, visiting pioneering startups such as Aardaia, Grassa, InsectSense, and BRIG BIO, as well as the Shared Innovation Kitchen [2][3].