From science to impact: Meet our new Fellows

This May, Faculty of Impact welcomed its third cohort of fellows: ambitious researchers eager to turn their groundbreaking science into businesses that make a difference. Three of them, Fleur van Eeden, Florenz Buss, and Mert Orhan Astam, are working on innovations that couldn’t be more different, yet all share the same goal: creating real societal impact.

A snack for your mood
Fleur van Eeden is on a missiosn to make mental wellbeing as simple as grabbing a cereal bar. Building on microbiome research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, she is developing The Happy Bar: a fermented food bar designed to support emotional wellbeing through the gut–brain axis. With a novel probiotic strain and plenty of fiber, Fleur wants to give people an accessible, natural way to boost their mood. “Many people experience stress and low mood but don’t need clinical treatment,” she explains. “The Happy Bar offers a preventative, science-backed solution that fits into daily life.” Within two years, she hopes to see it on the shelves of health stores and supermarkets across the Netherlands.

For Fleur, Faculty of Impact provides the perfect setting to grow as a founder. She finds it inspiring to be part of a community of peers who share her ambition, enjoys learning directly from founders who have already walked the entrepreneurial path, and contributes her own expertise in science communication and curiosity to support the group.

Batteries without the burden
Florenz Buss is tackling one of the biggest challenges in the energy transition: how to store renewable power safely and sustainably. With his company BOR-LYTE, he is pioneering sustainable electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries, an alternative to conventional lithium batteries. Using both borax minerals and industrial boron waste, BOR-LYTE’s one-step, waste-free process cuts environmental impact while making energy storage more affordable and safer. “Our technology reduces the risks of hazardous battery fires and supports a circular economy,” Florenz explains. Over the coming years, the team aims to move from lab to market, and ultimately become a leading supplier for the next generation of batteries.

For Florenz, Faculty of Impact offers structured support and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that will help him bring BOR-LYTE to fruition. He values the energy of the cohort and contributes his own experience from the ACE incubator program and German business training.

Touching a new world
For Mert Orhan Astam, science is about opening up the world to those who can’t see it. Together with his team, he is developing liquid crystal polymer (LCP) coatings that can create affordable tactile displays for people with (deaf) blindness. Current electronic solutions can cost up to €25,000, Mert’s innovation could make them 50 times cheaper. These costs are also often not insured, since insurers will not pay for products they do not deem essential. So “It’s about independence,” he says. “Being able to read tactile images and graphics can transform education and communication for people with visual and hearing impairments. Otherwise, how can you teach a (deaf)blind child what a graph shows, or what depth means?”

The material and electronics technologies are there and patented. Powered by the Eindhoven-run MRE grant, Mert is running a development project with an assistive devices company, HableOne, to build his first pilot product. Mert hopes to bring his spin-off HaptonTech to market within two years.
Mert describes Faculty of Impact as essential at this stage of his entrepreneurial journey. He has already learned from his coaches how to avoid common pitfalls, validate product–market fit, and pace development responsibly. In return, he shares his own experience with peers and actively contributes to creating an engaging and supportive cohort environment.

Shared ambition
Different fields, different challenges — but Fleur, Florenz, and Mert are united by their drive to turn research into real-world solutions. Faculty of Impact helps them along this journey by providing guidance, mentorship, and resources, while fostering a community where fellows can learn from and support one another. Together, they are not just building businesses, but also growing as entrepreneurs.

Their stories remind us why science matters: because it has the power to change lives.