Matchmaking session | From Barriers to Breakthroughs - Teknowlogy 2026

De TEK26 matchmakingsessie is gericht op actie: aan het einde van de matchmaking sessie worden waardevolle connecties gelegd om innovatie te versnellen en de kloof tussen technologieontwikkeling en toepassing in de praktijk te dichten.
Via een openhartige paneldiscussie en een energieke pitchronde verkennen deelnemers praktijkbarrières voor succesvolle opschaling en bepalen zij wat nodig is om deze te overwinnen — van financiering en partnerschappen tot beleid en systeemverandering.
Meer informatie: From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Call for pitches – TEK26 matchmakingsessie – NAE

Tijden	Programma 18 juni 2026, panel & pitchers
12.45-13.15	Welkom door Fanny Weinbreck en paneldiscussie o.l.v. Marjolein Helder (Plant-E) met Tim Houter (Hardt Hyperloop) Leonie van de Kramer (Certain-CARE) Elvin Karana (Foamlab B.V.)
13:15-13.55	Pitch&Match met onder meer: • Pramod Agrawal – ReMat • Myrthe van der Ven – AquaWomb • Leonie van de Kamer – Certain Care • Jacco Hiemstra – Start Loving IT • Hanneke Hermans – WUR • Zelda Zeegers – Hogeschool Utrecht
13.55	Einde

Leonie van de Kamer

Founder of Certain B.V.

Leonie van de Kamer

Founder of Certain B.V.

Leonie van de Kamer is the founder of Certain B.V., a MedTech start-up developing a patient-controlled, minimally invasive device for female stress urinary incontinence — a new option between pads and surgery for the tens of millions of women who are currently underserved by both. Through Certain, she's working to close a long-standing care gap in women's health, giving women back control over one of the most basic and intimate aspects of daily life. Beyond her work as a founder, Leonie is an outspoken voice in the conversation around female entrepreneurship and the stubborn funding gap facing women-led companies. She speaks candidly about what it actually takes to raise capital as a woman, especially in a category long overlooked by investors, and about the obstacles that too often stay unspoken. On stage, she combines hands-on entrepreneurial experience with sharp observations on what needs to change in the Dutch start-up ecosystem. Her curiosity is her most valuable working capital — and the reason she so easily bridges tech, healthcare, and business. Whether the topic is MedTech, women's health, entrepreneurship, or funding: Leonie brings energy, honesty, and a story that sticks.

Elvin Karana

Co-founder & CTO, Foamlab B.V. ; Full Professor, TU Delft

Elvin Karana

Co-founder & CTO, Foamlab B.V. ; Full Professor, TU Delft

Elvin Karana is the co-founder of Foamlab, a biotech startup on a mission to replace petroleum-based foam with a sustainable, compostable alternative grown from bacterial nanocellulose.
0 As Professor of Materials Innovation and Design at Delft University of Technology, Elvin has spent two decades pioneering the field of biodesign — where biology, design, and sustainability converge. She founded TU Delft's Biodesign Lab, developed the widely adopted Material Driven Design methodology, and launched the first International Biodesign Conference to bring together researchers, designers, and companies around this emerging field. She is co-editor-in-chief of Biotechnology Design at Cambridge University Press.

Elvin's ambition is to scale biodesign — in academia, in industry, and in society. She believes that designing with living systems is not a niche experiment but the next frontier of materials innovation, and that it needs to move from the lab bench to the factory floor and into everyday life. Through Foamlab, she is doing exactly that. Her mission is to build biodesign into a field with real, lasting impact on how we make things — and what we make them from.

Pramod Agrawal

Projectleader ReMat

Pramod Agrawal

Projectleader ReMat

Projectleader ReMat
Pramod Agrawal is a sustainability and circular materials expert with more than 25 years of international experience in textiles, materials innovation and circular economy. He is Project Leader of ReMat, a RAAK-MKB and RAAK-Public funded initiative at Saxion University of Applied Sciences focused on reinventing circular and functional mattresses for the healthcare sector. He works at the intersection of applied research, industry collaboration and sustainable product innovation. Pramod is also Founder of EuFSI (European Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation) where he advances circular solutions for textiles and materials.

ReMat Textile Platform: Where Circularity Meets Functionality
What started with reinventing mattresses has evolved into ReMat, a platform for circular and functional textiles. We bring together industry, researchers, and designers to create textile solutions that deliver performance, durability, and sustainability. ReMat transforms challenges into opportunities by developing materials and applications that meet real-world needs. From healthcare to industrial sectors, we accelerate the journey from idea to impact. ReMat is where circularity becomes functionality, and functionality creates value.

Jacco Hiemstra

Cofounder/ Quartermaster Start Loving IT

Jacco Hiemstra

Cofounder/ Quartermaster Start Loving IT

Short bio
Creative, broad-minded, and engaged coach, sparring partner, mentor and facilitator. A project, program, business, and innovation manager with vision, a helicopter view, and a practical approach with an eye for detail and meticulousness. Organizer, analyst, creative and flexible service provider, focused on the power of inspiration, commitment, connection, appreciation, creative ability, spirituality, and fun.

Short description of the pitch From Software Hell to the Computer Systems of the Future Modern high-tech and mission-critical software systems are becoming increasingly difficult to understand, evolve, and govern at system level. This leads to fragile systems, high lifecycle costs, and limited capacity to innovate. The core challenge is not a lack of tools, but the absence of system-level engineering approaches that allow software to remain modular, evolvable, and understandable while operating at scale. We’re enabling the emergence of Self-Organizing Goal-Governed Software by creating a modular lab ecosystem where real world challenges drive foundational research, allowing software systems that evolve, learn, and stay coherent at scale - giving organizations lasting control.

Zelda Zeegers

Lecturer-researcher at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences

Zelda Zeegers

Lecturer-researcher at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences

Zelda Zeegers is a lecturer-researcher at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. I do not teach technical courses within the AI programme, but in her professional practice she investigates questions related to the ethical use of AI technologies. This has led her to believe that AI literacy requires a different educational approach than technical AI education, which is exactly what makes it so fascinating. She is particularly interested in how we can help students develop judgment, responsibility, and critical reflection in their use of AI. She is curious to explore new ways of designing this kind of education and would welcome the opportunity to do so together with others.

AI Literacy
The EU AI Act requires AI literacy, but it remains unclear what this means in practice. Throughout history, societies have expanded what citizens needed to understand, from text and numbers to digital systems and media. I suggest that AI literacy may mean learning to read AI critically by recognizing its limitations, biases, and risks. This shifts the focus from knowledge and skills to judgment and responsibility. If that is true, then my question is: how do we teach judgment?

Fanny Weinbreck

CEO at Royal Cosun and Board member NWO-TTW

Fanny Weinbreck

CEO at Royal Cosun and Board member NWO-TTW

Since 2022, Fanny Weinbreck has served as Global Research & Development Director at Agrifirm. She brings over twenty years of experience in nutrition, health, animal feed, and agriculture. She previously held various senior R&D roles at companies including FrieslandCampina, combining scientific expertise with strategic vision. Her scientific background, leadership experience, and strong network make her exceptionally well suited to lead the Core Partner Board of Next Food Collective.

Marjolein Helder PhD

Chief Executive Officer of Plant-e

Marjolein Helder PhD

Chief Executive Officer of Plant-e

Marjolein Helder is the CEO and founder of Plant e, a Dutch cleantech company that develops plant-powered water sensors for nature, agriculture, horticulture, and urban green. She holds a PhD in Environmental Technology from Wageningen University and has spent more than a decade pioneering bio-electricity innovation. Helder is a frequent speaker on sustainability, climate technology, and entrepreneurship, with appearances at the OECD Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum, the World Economic Forum community, and various innovation and energy conferences across Europe. She is recognized internationally for bridging science, business, and sustainable energy solutions.

Tim Houter

Co-founder Hardt Hyperloop & NAE Young Engineer

Tim Houter

Co-founder Hardt Hyperloop & NAE Young Engineer

Tim Houter is one of the co-founders of Hardt Hyperloop, with a decade of experience translating deep-tech into real-world impact. His path began at Delft University of Technology, where he studied mechanical engineering and captained the Delft Hyperloop team that won the first edition of the SpaceX Hyperloop Competition in 2017. He co-founded Hardt Hyperloop shortly after, taking hyperloop from the first student prototype to Europe's largest operational hyperloop test facility, the 420-meter European Hyperloop Center, in under a decade. In that time, Hardt grew from four founders to a team of nearly 50, built strategic partnerships with the Dutch National Railways (NS), the Dutch Government and the European Commission, and initiated the European hyperloop standard backed by EU member states. In 2025, Tim was inducted as a Young Engineer of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering (NAE). Having experienced first-hand what it takes to scale deep-tech in Europe, he is closely engaged in the conversation on the systemic changes needed to help Dutch startups and scale-ups grow. It is Tim's passion to work with ambitious teams to create long-lasting impact.

Myrthe van der Ven

Co-founder and CEO of AquaWomb

Myrthe van der Ven

Co-founder and CEO of AquaWomb

Dr. Myrthe van der Ven has worked as a technical physician and postdoc researcher both at TU/e Biomedical Engineering and at the Obstetrics Department of Máxima MC. She received the MSc degree in Technical Medicine from the University of Twente in 2011. In 2018 she received the Ph.D. degree from the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, for her research on the evaluation of the added value of ultrasonography in clinical decision making in rheumatology. Her research interests include extreme preterm birth, electrophysiological pregnancy monitoring, simulation-based education and team training and ultrasonography. With her background in technical medicine she has a unique technical-medical perspective and the ability to develop innovative diagnostic and treatment solutions for our patients. PLS is an ultimate example of a technical medical innovation and her involvement could have a large impact on her career.

Aquawomb
With AquaWomb we are working on an innovative approach within neonatal care. We are building a liquid-filled incubator that mimics the maternal womb. This technology offers an alternative to the traditional incubator, with the aim of improving the well-being and development of babies born too early. What does this innovation mean for healthcare professionals? How can this technology contribute to a more physiological and low-stress start for premature infants?

Hanneke Hermans

Projectmanager Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University & Research

Hanneke Hermans

Projectmanager Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University & Research

Short bio
Hanneke Hermans is a Project Manager and Business Developer at the Laboratory of Phytopathology at Wageningen University & Research, where she coordinates complex research projects and collaborations across academia and industry. She brings a multidisciplinary background (MSc) in Mechanical Engineering and Agro Ecological Innovation, with expertise in agricultural systems, public–private partnerships, and international research coordination. Her portfolio spans multilateral consortia and bilateral industry projects at WUR since 2020, including East African Highland banana improvement (BMGF-funded), identifying causal agents of emerging diseases such as Avariato in hazelnut production, and coordinating cross-continental initiatives like the Oil Clips program on climate extremes and invasive pathogens in palm oil in Colombia and Indonesia, as well as research on microbial spore dynamics to improve Frosty Pod Rot control in cacao in Ecuador. Her +15 years of international experience across Europe, Asia, and Latin America have positioned her at the interface of science and practice. In her work, she is particularly focused on translating scientific insights into actionable solutions, ensuring that research outcomes effectively contribute to resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.

Accelerating Resilience: pioneering in plant resistance breeding Plant diseases destroy up to 30% of our crops—something we can’t afford in the future. Today’s breeding methods are too slow, sometimes taking decades to deliver solutions. What if we could identify resistant genes much faster, with less time and cost? In this short pitch, I’ll show how our ResistID technology is turning that possibility into reality and the barriers we faced doing so.

Deze sessie is tot stand gekomen in nauwe samenwerking met:

4TU.Federation: https://www.4tu.nl/
VNO-NCW: https://www.vno-ncw.nl/
NWO-TTW: Toegepaste en Technische wetenschappen | NWO
Netherlands Academy of Engineering: https://nae.nl/

Matchmaking session | From Barriers to Breakthroughs – Teknowlogy 2026

Leonie van de Kamer

Elvin Karana

Pramod Agrawal

Jacco Hiemstra

Zelda Zeegers

Fanny Weinbreck

Marjolein Helder PhD

Tim Houter

Myrthe van der Ven

Hanneke Hermans

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