Relement is this year’s most successful Brabant-based startup, contributing to solving an important social challenge. Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and climate policy) handed over the prize to CEO Roger Blokland and his team in front of a 700-person audience in the Evoluon in Eindhoven, as part of the annual Level-Up event.
Relement is a Dutch pioneer in the emerging industry of renewable chemistry, producing valuable and special bio-based aromatics from renewable non-edible biomass residues. An expert jury with Janneke Niessen, Ellen den Brabander, and a group of Brabant business developers had to pick the winner out of 40 nominees that were listed based on the input from the audience. The new award aims to showcase the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit in the province of Brabant.
Runners-up for this year’s Brabant40 were AgroExact and VivArt-X. Scy Dye won the audience award, getting the most votes out of almost 3,000 participants.
In her speech, jury president Janneke Niessen praised “the many companies solving a real problem, represented in the 40 nominees. Relement is a great example of this, with a concept potentially affecting the lives of a billion people. This is what impact entrepreneurship is all about.”
Start-ups
Minister Adriaansens stressed the importance of start-ups in a modern economy. “Our policy is based on four pillars: being innovative, being sustainable, supporting a strong Netherlands in a resilient Europe, and the aim to make everybody benefit within a flourishing economy. Start-ups are the basis for all these pillars. And here in Brabant, you know that this is especially true for deep tech start-ups.”
Adriaansens added that events like Level Up and the Brabant40 awards are important to strengthen the start-up ecosystem. “It enables the community to show and share the wonderful work that is going on.” The Brabant40 award is a new start-up prize supported by Brabantse Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij (BOM), Braventure, AgriFood Capital, Brainport Development, Midpoint Brabant, REWIN, Bossche Investerings Maatschappij (BIM) and The Gate.
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