I Will Award for Heerlen start-up Blockheating

Six promising finalists recently competed for the 'I Will Award 2020' from Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). Since 2012, this award has been presented every two years to young entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainable innovations. The jury was ultimately most impressed with start-up Blockheating from Heerlen. CEO Jeroen Burks received the prize, an amount of 15 thousand euros.

About Blockheating

In 2025, the IT sector is expected to account for 20 percent of global electricity consumption. Most of that electricity is converted into heat while that heat is not used. Blockheating wants to change this, by using the residual heat from data centers to heat greenhouses and other buildings. This will result in direct savings for both the data center and the user of the heat (e.g. horticulturalists).

Read here the background article on Blockheating that previously appeared on Kiempunt Limburg.

Face-to-face

More than a hundred companies hoped to have a chance at the "I Will Award 2020," but only six were chosen for the grand finale. Under the watchful eye of an online audience, after several face-to-face pitches in a real boxing ring, Blockheating was declared the winner. With the €15,000 prize, the Limburg-based company can take the next step in its development.

Public Award

The competition for Blockheating was varied: mediating the upcycling of waste streams from the fashion industry, an online assessment program for people with brain injuries, a virtual reality platform that reduces pain and anxiety in outpatients, upcycling waste streams from the food industry into new products and colorful covers for scary IV bags. The latter innovation named 'Fuusje' was awarded the audience prize of € 2,000.

Source: RSM