The first round of GROW Green full of inspiring ideas

During Social Impact day, there were three inspiring speakers with beautiful examples from Twente. Landgoed Twickel is an appealing example with many circular challenges for both the housing sector and for the energy transition. Jacco Hulst told us about his story and experiences on the estate. Subsequently, Martin Bellers from RIBO spoke about restoration and innovation in construction. He is developing a marketplace for historical building materials but is having some problems such as the right relation between supply and demand. Before a building is demolished, it must be mapped so that you can use reusable materials again. The last pitch was from Willem Kruidhof, who deals with the local food cycle. He calls for keeping it much more local. We retain far too little of our efforts in Twente, and this could be better, to stimulate the Twente economy. By and for Twente!

Pioneering’s Circular Manifesto focused on circular solutions in construction. This event, too, was a great success thanks to the inspiring stories of passionate pitchers. Bart Breedijk from Heijmans was the first to speak. After that, Henk Lankamp from Roelofs talked about how the company adapts to the climate and contributes to sustainability and a circular economy. Timber Haaker, as part of the Saxion lectorate Business Models, explained how researchers from Saxion help companies with circular challenges, together with students.

Want to know more about these inspiring pitches? These stories will be published extensively on twente.com in the coming weeks.

The second round will be more focused around bringing supply and demand together, with the development of initiatives taking place. Do you also have a great circular idea, and would you like to talk about it? Or do you need help with developing your idea? Let us know and pitch your idea during the next opportunity! Send an email to growgreen@twente.com

Want to know more about GROW Green? Go to http://www.twente.com/growgreen