The HortiScience Innovation Center (HIC) has officially opened the HIC Venture Studio in Bleiswijk. It is the world’s first venture studio fully dedicated to horticulture. With this milestone, the sector gains a powerful new engine for innovation and entrepreneurship.
During the festive launch, it became clear how science and entrepreneurship converge in the studio to make the greenhouse horticulture sector future-proof.
A venture studio is a breeding ground where new startups are systematically built: ideas are developed, tested, and shaped into fully-fledged companies with shared expertise and resources. This model has proven successful in other sectors as a way to accelerate innovation—startups emerging from such studios tend to grow faster and deliver greater returns.
Loet Rummenie, Director of HIC, explains: “What makes this venture studio unique is that entrepreneurs retain ownership of their companies and collectively participate in each new business. This gives them a direct incentive to share knowledge, networks, and expertise, while benefiting from shared infrastructure and guidance. In this way, we ensure that innovations reach practice faster and truly create value for the sector.”
The HIC Venture Studio focuses on the following six innovations themes: the energy transition, resilient cultivation systems, circular horticulture, autonomous growing, automation, and future-proof work. These themes guide the innovations and startups that emerge within the studio.
The establishment of the HIC Venture Studio was made possible with support from regional partners, including the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague (MRDH) and the Municipality of Lansingerland.
Lennart Onvlee of MRDH highlights the importance of collaboration: “The HIC Venture Studio strengthens the innovative capacity of our region. By connecting entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions, governments and companies, we accelerate the development and implementation of sustainable solutions for greenhouse horticulture. This initiative creates new opportunities for growth, employment, and international visibility—exactly what our region needs right now.” MRDH supports the project as part of its agenda for a strong economic climate.
Rummenie emphasizes that collaboration is at the core of the venture studio: “We can only build these startups successfully if we combine knowledge and networks. That is why we are very pleased with our first two partners: Catalyze Group, which helps attract non-dilutive funding, and EP&C, which supports the development of strong IP strategies for the new companies.”
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About the HortiScience Innovation Center (HIC)
The HortiScience Innovation Center (HIC) is a powerful breeding ground for pioneers in greenhouse horticulture. Startups and innovative companies work together here to build the future of the sector, supported by cutting-edge expertise in cultivation systems and technology from Wageningen University & Research and Delphy Improvement Center, the entrepreneurial networks of YES!Delft and StartLife, and the Municipality of Lansingerland as an active connector and facilitator. Together, they create a fertile ecosystem where ideas can grow into future-proof solutions.
