IO+ Week: AI for good in an annual competition
Our weekly overview offers an overview of the most interesting stories around key innovations every Sunday.
Published on November 16, 2025
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
This week, we celebrated the finals of the AI Pitch Competition: eight pitches from eight startups that are trying to make the world a little better with AI. AI for good is what they call it. Over the past few months, we published several articles in preparation for the finals (read them all here to see how they plan to tackle the major challenges of our time), but last week was the climax.
FABBS, MedAI, EviSafe, UTF, ArtVista, Avendar, Vendacity, and DataSpeak... This year's AI Pitch Competition highlighted some of the most innovative AI solutions and offered eight startups the opportunity to present their ideas, network with market leaders, and accelerate their growth. The FABBS team, which won the Gerard & Anton Gouden Peertje award last summer, emerged as the winner.
Watch all the pitches here (video)
Read the news item about FABBS, this year's winner, here
Read the article about the other finalists here
AI Pitch Competition 2025
But of course, there was more to experience last week.
WATT MATTERS IN AI
Only about 10 days to go until our Watt Matters in AI conference kicks off. A day full of inspiring lectures, presentations, and discussions about how we can reduce the energy consumption of AI systems.
All information and a registration link can be found here: WATTMATTERSINAI.EU
A selection of other highlights from this week:
- Ironic Biotech: Making iron absorption as easy as drinking water
- Report: Space sector generates €1.2 billion for the Netherlands
- Energy efficiency: the challenge for AI
- The Netherlands presents AI strategy to create global rules
- An autonomous manufacturing industry: how the Netherlands remains competitive
- Einstein Telescope as a catalyst for Dutch deep tech
- Decline in university enrolments causes concern
- Why the innovation ecosystem actually needs fewer startups
- COP30 kicks off: how climate technology can make a difference
- Hippotainer: Fresh food to every corner of the world
A podcast every day
We keep saying it: every morning at 6:30 a.m. (on weekdays), a new podcast is waiting for you. In it, our AI colleagues Oliver and Shelby discuss the two most interesting topics of the day. This makes the IO+ Daily the ideal way to fill your head with optimistic news from the world of innovation and technology. Tomorrow too.
Our other newsletters
Thank you for reading this newsletter. But we have more to offer. Signing up is very easy, for example, via the option block on the IO+ homepage.
But you can also just click on your favorite newsletter below:
- IO+ Daily (1,200 members)
- Mauro's Green Corner (monthly, 13,800 members)
- Elcke's Saturday Data Dive (monthly, 20,550 members)
- Elcke and Mauro's BIO+ Bites (monthly, 29,300 members)
- Bart's Saturday CHIPS (monthly, 16,300 members)
Enjoy this Sunday and don't forget that a new episode of IO+ Daily will be waiting for you tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. Be prepared before you get on your bike!