Blue Iceberg wins the TU/e Contest with equipment recycling
Blue Iceberg aims to recycle data loggers in the pharmaceutical industry, thereby helping to reduce e-waste and promote a circular economy.
Published on June 12, 2026
© Bart van Overbeeke
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During a well-attended final of the TU/e Contest on the campus of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Blue Iceberg was selected by the expert jury as the winner of the twelfth edition. The contest gives students the opportunity to further develop an idea into a market-ready product.
On Thursday, June 11, ten finalists pitched their ideas to a panel of experts and an audience of fellow students, professors, partners, and other stakeholders in Eindhoven’s innovation ecosystem. From this pool, one winner and two runners-up were selected.
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Recycling devices
Blue Iceberg took home the prize. The team aims to collect and refurbish loggers—devices that measure temperature during the transport of medicines. Currently, these loggers often end up in the trash, and Blue Iceberg wants to make this process circular. “We didn’t expect to win; there were so many good ideas,” said Alec Kouwenberg after the final.
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Growing into a startup
He is determined to develop his idea further into a startup. “We already had that plan before we started this competition, but now we’re even more convinced of it.” Throughout the program, he connected with various professors and partners in the Brainport ecosystem, including waste management company PreZero. “We’ve received a lot of confirmation that our idea has potential. We’re going to start with the UMCs in the Netherlands first. We already have contacts there. After that, we want to expand throughout the Netherlands and then to the rest of Europe.”
In addition to the winner, the expert jury selected the first and second runners-up. Second place went to Stacklink. This team helps highly regulated sectors make information from platforms such as Drive, Slack, Notion, and GitHub accessible and organized in a secure manner. Third place went to CUE, the current student team, Team HART. They are developing a wearable emotion decoder. This is a device that can extract the underlying layers of information from a conversation, such as tone and sarcasm. This can help people with, for example, hearing impairments or autism in social situations.
Learning and growing
The TU/e Contest provides a platform for students with promising innovative ideas. It is not just a competition, but a comprehensive program in which students learn a great deal about developing and validating innovative ideas and building entrepreneurial skills. They do this through workshops and coaching sessions with experts from the university and various organizations in the Brainport region, ranging from companies to government agencies and research institutions.
The participating teams’ ideas ranged from AI solutions to smart healthcare tools. All teams paid close attention to the impact on society. Many had also already spoken with potential customers and collaboration partners. The jury found this to be unique. “They are working passionately on solutions for very specific problems. I see the entrepreneurial mindset,” said jury member Kati Brock, program manager (digital) services at DAF.
A flurry of awards
The program kicked off in February with a record 200 participants. In May, the finalists were selected, and the first prizes were awarded by TU/e partners. Even after the finals, the organizer, TU/e Innovation Space, remains involved with the teams to provide guidance and encourage them to take further steps toward launching a startup.
All winners at a glance:
- Winner: Blue Iceberg
- First runner-up: Stacklink
- Second runner-up: CUE (team HART)
- Impact Award: Sunken Robotics & MoveMie
- Partners' Choice Award: MoveMie
- Best Poster Award: StuRent
- ASML Makers Award: LEVNET
- EAISI AI Incentive Award: Team GAIA
- AI Award (by Braventure): Dual Guard
- Sparking Innovation Award (by Bosch): ARC
- Grow@Twice Award: Sunken Robotics
Challenge-based learning
TU/e challenges students—through initiatives such as the TU/e Innovation Space and the TU/e Contest—to think about technological innovations and creating impact. This aligns with the principle of challenge-based learning, which the university is increasingly embracing. Students learn not only through theoretical knowledge but also by solving real-world problems.