Presenting the 28 pre-finalists of the Amsterdam Science & Innovation Awards 2025

Get to know the 28 pre-finalists of the Amsterdam Science & Innovation Award (AmSIA), the Amsterdam-based competition celebrating innovative ideas that contribute to a better world. The selected ideas offer solutions to a wide range of contemporary challenges, including (mental) health, climate, energy, nutrition, education, sports, and more. 

All 28 pre-finalists of the Amsterdam Science & Innovation Award will compete for a chance to pitch their idea in the final and win one of the three prizes of €10,000 each in the categories of Society, Health, and Environment & Climate. 

At the beginning of May, it will be announced which 9 prefinalists will advance to the finals. The expert jury, chaired by İlknur Dönmez, Director of Economic Affairs and Culture of the Municipality of Amsterdam, will decide which finalists will get to pitch during the finals on June 17 at the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam. Additionally, three finalists will be chosen by the public during the public voting campaign that starts at the end of April.

Below, you can find the innovative ideas of the pre-finalists per category. 

In the category of Society

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Tieme Janssen, Nienke van Atteveldt and Funda Jelsma:  Explore your Brain
• Quint Wiersma and Francisco Blasques: Readler
• Reshmi Gopalakrishna Pillai, Constanza Gajardo Leon, Antske Fokkens: Global answers for local problems: Empowering communities with AI-supported solutions journalism

University of Amsterdam

• Corentin Coulais, Wenfeng Liu, Bernard Ennis: Scaling up metamaterials for energy absorption applications 
• Eleni Georganta, Siddharth Mehrotra: AIdapt: Update to AI-Powered Teamwork 
• Rowan Arundel: The CCS Labour Observatory: an innovative AI-powered data source for multidimensional insights into labour dynamics in the Cultural and Creative Sector 
• Anestis Dalgkitsis, Alexandros Koufakis: Elevate: Revolutionizing the Aviation Industry with Collaborative Predictive Maintenance 
• Saurabh Khanna, Olga Eisele: The [In]visible Lab: Knowing Unknowns in an Age of Incomplete Information  
• Beyza Sumer: Handy library: Accessible Research for Deaf Signers 

In the category of Health

Hogeschool Inholland

• Margo van Kemenade: ISHA; a care robot for rehabilitation at home of geriatric CVA-patients 

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Anouk Post en Johannes de Boer: LightUp: a pill-sized camera for the early detection of oesophageal cancer 
• Moira van Leeuwen, Mohammadreza Mahaki: LesSchuh: An innovative fall prevention training shoe for older adults 
• Martin Gevonden, Cor Stoof en Eco de Geus: Top quality digital biomarkers for indexing stress in daily life 
• Felix Paulussen, Ana Alcalde Ordóñez: Novel PIRCE molecules for the treatment of colorectal cancer 
• Marvin Albers and Tom Grossmann: grabRNA: Smart RNA delivery enables novel therapeutic strategies

Amsterdam UMC

• Alon Hopman: (Loose) Hips Don’t Lie 
• Charissa Rahmee, Emanuel Nuwass, Matthijs Botman: The Train-the-Trainer Project: Local Leadership for Lasting Impact 
• Myrthe Simon: Burn Care Without Borders: An Evaluation of the Basics of Burn Care Website 

In the category of Environment & Climate

Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

• Jolanda Tetteroo, Ed Melet: From Waste to Resource: Rethinking The Removal of Asbestos-Contaminated Windows 

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• David Poole, Twan Hopstaken: Enhancing Protein-Rich Food Production with Targeted Chemistry 
• Daniel Muth and Gergely Muth: Empowering renewable energy prosumers and traders to unlock the full potential of their energy and storage systems.
• Maria Margalef, Marja Lamoree, Jeroen Kool and Julien Slagboom: FractioMate: Revolutionizing Water Research & Risk Assessment 
• Nicolas Paul Cullen: Bacteria-produced sports chalk using magnesium salts from industrial waste streams or salt mines 
• Maryam Alimardani: GreenPick: a serious VR game to promote pro-environmental consumption 

University of Amsterdam

• Nienke Leenders: Recycling of polycotton waste textile  
• University of Amsterdam, Florenz Buß, Valentin Geiger, Bas de Jong, Chris Slootweg:  BOR-LYTE: Sustainable Battery Electrolytes 
• University of Amsterdam, Douwe Winsemius, Mick Kruft, Quintus Darley: ROND Amsterdam

About AmSIA 

The Amsterdam Science & Innovation Award is organized for the 17th time by IXA, the joint knowledge transfer office of Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), University of Amsterdam (UvA), and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). Would you like to stay informed about all developments around AmSIA? Sign up for our newsletter.