UtrechtInc has been recognized in the Financial Times “Europe’s Leading Startup Hubs 2026” ranking.

While we are proud of this recognition, the real stars of this story are the entrepreneurs, researchers, and students who walk through our doors every day.

Our alumni feedback was a core part of the FT’s evaluation, proving that the support we provide translates into real-world growth.

“This ranking is a testament to the hard work and impact of our founders. It validates their commitment to turning research and ideas into scalable businesses that solve societal challenges. Incubators like UtrechtInc reflect a broader European effort to turn the region into a magnet for talent and capital, leading the way in solving the world’s most complex challenges.” Stefan Braam, Startup Incubation Lead at UtrechtInc.

This ranking is a win for the entire Utrecht Science Park. It validates our shared mission with UU, HU, and UMCU to empower our researchers and students. Together we are building businesses that solve the most pressing challenges in Health, Sustainability, and Education.

Would you like to be part of our community? Join our upcoming validation programs, applications are open now!

🔗 Learn more about our Programs

Toastie Talk 26.02 – Building the Right Team Before Raising Funding

At our latest Toastie Talk, Robert shared an honest and practical story about building a startup team from the ground up — before funding, before scale, and before external validation.

The session focused on one central theme: team building and growth in the early stages of a startup.

Here are the key lessons.

1. Start With the Right Founding Team

“Being part of an incubator meant I didn’t have to do this alone.”

Shortly after joining an incubator, a third co-founder joined the team — a software engineer from industry. That addition created a strong complementary mix: applied science, computational expertise, and industry experience.

That combination made it possible to build an MVP within about a year.

Importantly, this happened without funding.

At that stage, external investors were not interested. Even later, closing funding rounds proved challenging. But because the founding team was strong and aligned, they were able to build a product that generated revenue before raising outside capital.

Lesson: A strong founding team can buy you time and independence.

2. Using Equity as a Strategic Tool

Equity has played a central role in attracting senior talent.

After closing their first pre-seed round, they hired a director who relocated from the US to Europe. For senior roles, equity is part of the compensation structure. The company uses Stock Appreciation Rights (STARs), a structure that is less complex than traditional stock options.

They are now formalizing equity for all employees and are transparent about it during recruitment.

Robert emphasized one practical point: good legal support matters and the UtrechtInc network helped significantly.

Lesson: Equity is not just a financial tool, it signals long-term commitment and shared ownership.

3. Hiring Philosophy: Mindset Over Skillset

One of the strongest themes of the session was hiring mistakes.

The biggest errors happened when technical skills were prioritized over mindset.

At one point, they had to let their first full-time hire go after the probation month. The lesson was clear: ignoring early “yellow flags” rarely works out.

Red Flags 🚩

• Entitlement
• Lack of accountability
• Projecting problems onto the employer
• Requiring constant supervision
• Focusing on individual achievement over team success

Green Flags ✅

• Strong generalists who can adapt as the company evolves
• Problem-solving mindset
• Ability to learn
• Team recognition and shared credit
• Clear communication
• Comfort with startup risk and transparency

Robert stressed that in early-stage startups, roles change quickly. Someone hired for one function today may need to adapt significantly within nine months.

Lesson: Skills can be developed. Mindset is harder to change.

4. Building Culture Across Disciplines

The team consists of applied scientists, software engineers, and computational biologists — people who do not always “speak the same language.”

To bridge that gap:

• Daily stand-ups
• Bi-weekly sprint meetings
• Dedicated science meetings
• Transparent Slack communication

Sales updates, trial progress, and technical challenges are shared openly. With a team of around ten people, transparency is essential.

5. Remote-First and Outcome-Focused

The company operates remote-first. Team members are based in Japan, Belgium, the UK, Switzerland and Slovenia.

They worked fully remote for three years before opening a physical office. Today, they operate hybrid.

They do not track hours. Instead, they track outcomes.

Bi-weekly sprints and clear KPIs keep everyone aligned. Meetings are intentionally limited (around four to five hours per week). To structure progress, they use “autonomy levels”, similar to self-driving car benchmarks, to define what percentage of datasets can be automatically analyzed.

Lesson: Clear goals reduce the need for micromanagement.

6. The Bigger Picture

If there was one overarching insight from the session, it was this:

• A strong founding team can outperform early funding.
• Equity should be intentional.
• Mindset consistently outweighs technical brilliance.
• Transparency builds trust.
• Culture must be actively designed.

Team building is not a one-time decision, it is an ongoing strategy.

FwdFaster AI – Redefining the Future with Expert-Powered AI

The Problem

Despite unlocking impressive efficiencies and reshaping how we navigate the world, the current AI paradigm’s focus on scale, speed and optimization fails to address today’s most pressing social, political, environmental and ethical challenges. Too often, long-term societal and planetary well-being are treated as secondary concerns or left out of the agenda altogether. In this dynamic, human experts are increasingly pushed into the passenger seat. Their judgment, contextual understanding and responsibility are overshadowed by systems designed to optimize for short-term performance rather than long-term public value. As a result, decisions that shape healthcare, policy, compliance, sustainability and safety risk are becoming automated without clear accountability and responsibility.

The Solution

FwdFaster AI calls for a paradigm shift in how AI systems are designed and deployed. Instead of replacing or sidelining experts, AI can strengthen their role, supporting human judgment rather than simulating it. This requires coordinated action at the European level to ensure that technological progress remains aligned with societal values, democratic principles and the public interest. By embedding AI within expert-led processes and grounding it in shared European standards and responsibilities, we can build systems and infrastructure that are not only powerful but also trustworthy, ethical and fit for long-term impact across European Member States and beyond.

Why now?

We are at a critical inflection point. An important crossroad. AI capabilities are advancing faster than the institutional frameworks, governance structures and professional practices needed to guide them responsibly and successfully. Decisions made today will shape how expertise, accountability, and public trust evolve for decades, having a great impact on society and our economy. Europe has a unique opportunity to lead, not by racing to automate everything, but by setting a global example for human-centered, expert-driven AI. The question is no longer whether AI will be integrated into high-stakes domains, but how and where. FwdFaster AI wants to ensure that this integration happens with experts firmly in the driver’s seat, exactly when it matters most.

What makes FwdFaster unique?

FwdFaster is unique because it combines advanced AI with an expert-in-the- loop approach to accelerate high-quality evidence synthesis, improving decision-making, driving innovation and validating promising solutions across a wide range of societally relevant domains. They have started this work in a large number of European projects (7) and (inter)national collaborations with companies and societal organisations. At the same time, they are building software and platform solutions to apply these learned lessons to a wider audience. For example, they conduct collaborative “Screenathon” models enabling experts and AI to rapidly screen massive volumes of scientific literature, building structured knowledge warehouses that make insights reusable and actionable over time. All rooted in open science and trustworthy AI principles.

Meet the Founders

Dr. Frans Folkvord is a behavioral and health scientist specialized in decision-making and the societal impact of technology and AI and is active in a large number of European projects. His work focuses on how digital technologies and AI systems influence human behavior, responsibility and trust, critical insights for designing AI that aligns with public values and long-term societal outcomes rather than short-term optimization. His is an associate professor at Tilburg University, a Technical Expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) and a fanatic athlete in his free time.

Prof. Dr. Rens van de Schoot is an internationally recognized methodologist and statistician, known for his work on evidence synthesis, research integrity and responsible data use. With deep experience at the intersection of science, policy and complex decision-making, he brings a rigorous perspective on how AI should support expert judgment in high-stakes domains. He is a professor on Collaborative AI at Utrecht University and a climber in his free time.

Ir. Jonathan de Bruin is an AI architect, entrepreneur and active research engineer in the open-source community. His work has made him one of the most downloaded Python developers worldwide, with a project recognized as critical infrastructure by the Python Software Foundation. He also designed ASReview LAB at Utrecht University, an open-source AI tool for literature screening. Jonathan focuses on keeping AI effective, capable and integrated into expert workflows. When not coding or researching, he enjoys inline skating at the park.

Follow FwdFaster AI on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date with their activities and to know more,visit https://www.fwdfaster.ai

🎉 Proud moment: FD Talenten highlights three UtrechtInc founders!

We’re thrilled to share that Irati, Wido and Carina, founders who started their jouneys with UtrechtInc, were recently featured in Het Financieele Dagblad’s FD Talenten coverage, celebrating young entrepreneurial talent driving innovation in the Netherlands.

Each of these founders is building something exciting:

• Irati Beltrán Hernández, co-founder of Lumox is developing a therapy that targets tumors with unmatched precision, sparing healthy tissue, for patients who now face disfiguring surgery or have no treatment options at all.
• Wido Heeman, founder of SPCTR is developing a medical device that aims to improve patient outcomes after cancer surgery by combining light with artificial intelligence. Their goal is to lower patient stress, reduce reoperations and reduce the stress on our healthcare system by making surgical time more efficient.
• Carina Nieuwenweg, founder of Novya Biotech, a synthetic biology company, is developing scalable, fermentation-based pigments inspired by nature. They engineer yeast cells to produce high-quality colors that can replace polluting synthetic dyes and resource-intensive plant extraction.

Their inclusion among the FD Talenten speaks to the impact and promise of founders emerging from academic and research backgrounds and we’re proud to see their hard work and vision recognised on a national stage.

👏 A big congratulations to all three, UtrechtInc is cheering you on as you continue to grow and inspire!

UtrechtInc partners with ICAT (Innovation Center for Advanced Therapies) to offer full support to Life Sciences & MedTech innovators, all the way from ideation to early commercialisation!

Our strategic partnership with ICAT, creates a modular support system for startups working on next-generation medical technology and advanced therapeutics. With support from the Provincie Utrecht, our enhanced program offers an even stronger platform for life sciences & medical technology startups, helping founders bring innovative therapies to patients faster and smarter.

Located in Utrecht Science Park in Zeist, ICAT’s Open Innovation Facility welcomes startups at all stages of development, from ideas to established ventures, with access to state-of-the-art  infrastructure and field experts. This offer complements UtrechtInc’s dedicated mentorship, extensive business network expertise and guidance on market readiness, tech validation, corporate partners, matchmaking events, dedicated mentorship and an extensive business network.

What value does ICAT add to the UtrechtInc offering?

A fully equipped lab space in an open shared innovation environment; State-of-the art equipment for:

• Tissue engineering & biomaterials

• Histology & microscopy

• Cell and tissue analysis

• Viral vectors

• Cell expansion platforms

• 3D printing & Bioprinting platforms

🧠 Access to a team of experts: Regulatory, GMP compliance, Health Tech Assessment & Economics, QA, QC and Business Development.

Whether you’re building the next breakthrough in medical technology or advanced therapeutics, this collaboration helps you validate, scale and connect.

🔔 Call for Applications – Make It Matter Voucher Programme 🔔

Researchers at Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht are invited to apply for the Make It Matter Voucher Programme, initiated by Utrecht Holdings.

This voucher supports early-stage technology validation and is designed to bridge the gap between academic discovery and commercial application. The programme enables researchers to validate commercial potential, increase Technology Readiness Level (TRL), and strengthen intellectual property (IP).

Key points:

• €25,000 voucher for 12-month proof-of-concept projects
• For early-stage technologies (not regular research projects)
• Success-based repayment: only repay if commercialisation is achieved
• Open to UU and UMCU employees with novel IP and commercial potential

📅 Application deadline: 12 March

Interested in turning your research into real-world impact?

Get in touch with the Make It Matter team or visit the website for more information.