Where are AmSIA-Alumni now?

AmSIA winner 2023, Zeliha Guler (Amsterdam UMC) developed ‘wound healing implants’, a groundbreaking biodegradable implant tot mimic natural tissue and promote healing. A safer, more effective solution for women’s health!

AmSIA winner 2023, Olivier Lugier (University of Amsterdam) introduced sustainable nanomaterials, an innovative approach to green synthesis of hybrid core-shell nanoparticles through his project — now start-up— called Nano Hybrids.

Scientist Arnon Lesage (UvA), AmSIA winner in 2021 with ‘innovating agriculture for more sustainability’, is now CEO of start-up SolarFoil that develops a new type of nano foil that converts sunlight into optimal light for more efficient agriculture and horticulture.

In 2021,researcher Imran Avci (Vrije Universiteit) pitched a game-changing idea at AmSIA to revolutionize early cancer diagnosis. Her innovation, based on a powerful photonic microchip, could make early detection affordable, accessible, and part of routine  healthcare—saving countless lives worldwide.

Sem Vijverberg (Vrije Universiteit), pre-finalist in 2021 with ‘Clever solutions in times of climate change’, works on long-range weather predictions that can play an important role in dealing with climate change and challenges such as potential crop failures and forest fires.

In 2018, Jonathan Coutinho and Wouter Potters (Amsterdam UMC), won the award with the idea ‘Identifying stroke patients in ambulances’ to measure the severity of the situation of a stroke patient in the ambulance with a mobile scanner.

In 2019, the research team of Chris Slootweg and Marissa de Boer (UvA) won the award with the idea to recover phosphate waste as a resource and convert it into high value products.

In 2016, Bram Schermers (NKI) won the award with the idea ‘Improving breast cancer treatment’; a magnetic localization technology that helps surgeons find the right tissue during surgery for breast cancer treatment.

Edcel Salumbides (Vrije Universiteit) took part in the AmSIA in 2021 with ‘Gas spectrometry innovation’. A researcher developing extremely sensitive and specific spectroscopic techniques  at VU Laser Lab Amsterdam — innovations such as breathalyzers to detect illnesses or substances can become real!

In 2017, Nathalie de Vent (UvA) won the award with the idea ‘Improving neuropsychological diagnostics”; a new online infrastructure for the improvement of neuropsychological diagnostics to test whether patients have a brain disease.

Maaike van Rest (VU) was a finalist in 2014 with the idea ‘Understanding children’s perceptions’. She registered with the idea for a diagnostic instrument that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of social information processing of children.