The winner of the first ever Aureus Prize is Juunoo, a Belgian startup disrupting the construction industry and office spaces in Greater Region with their proprietary interior walls technology.
Their disruptive circular business model makes tearing down walls a zero-waste affair. The winner will now join startups of the University of Luxembourg Incubator’s Accelerator for their USA investor roadshow planned for May 2022.
Aureus Prize is funded by Aureus Foundation in partnership with the University of Luxembourg Incubator, Orea Capital Pulse Foundation and Vlerick Business School. The prize was announced by Luxembourg’s multipreneur Mr Norbert Becker at an award ceremony hosted at the residence of the Ambassador of Belgium, Mr Thomas Lambert.
Boosting the startup ecosystem
In his opening words, the Ambassador welcomed the Belgian and Luxembourg business and startup community and highlighted the long-standing business relations between the two countries: “Entrepreneurs are optimists by nature. That is why we need more of them. The Aureus Prize provides a perfect incentive for this. Keep going!”.
Nobert Becker stated: “Luxembourg should support such partnerships and events to boost the startup ecosystem at the University of Luxembourg”.
Prior to the award ceremony, the University of Luxembourg Incubator hosted a startup delegation from Belgium consisting of promising startups from the Vlerick Business School and Pulse Foundation.
4 startups - DGenious, Juunoo, Stampix and Qviro - were chosen as finalists for the Aureus Prize by the jury consisting of Luxembourg and Belgian investors. Startups of the University of Luxembourg Incubator – EduGamiTec, Food4All, HoneyVerse, Magrid, and NIUM - also presented their projects to the investors and guests from the Belgian delegation.
Scaling faster in Luxembourg and the USA
The Rector of the University of Luxembourg, Prof Pallage highlighted the importance of the business ties between Luxembourg and Belgium. He welcomed “the dreamers to the Incubator of the University” and highlighted that “the entrepreneurs are the key and future of our economy and society”.
Winner of the Aurues Prize and CEO of Juunoo, Chris Van de Voorde stated: “I'm very proud that Juunoo was selected as the winner. This will allow us to scale faster in Luxembourg and the USA. It was a great experience, where I've met some very inspiring people and their insights. Really loving the result driven mentality, because only by doing we will create impact.”
With Aureus, we pursue a direct and long-term impact for startups in Luxembourg and Europe.” Olivier Van Regemortel, President of the board of Aureus Ars & Scientia asbl
“The Aureus Ars & Scientia (Aureus) immersion prize in collaboration with the Accelerator of the University of Luxembourg is a fantastic reward for young entrepreneurs to develop further their company internationally. We are looking forward to continuing with this Prize next year in partnership with the University of Luxembourg Incubator,” he adds.
“We are extremely grateful for the support of Aureus Ars & Scientia,” said Dr Pranjul Shah, Responsible of the University of Luxembourg Incubator, “The launch of Aureus Prize is a great start to our collaboration and we will look towards expanding it over the coming years. Onboarding Belgian startups in our Accelerator provides an avenue to bring an international perspective for our startups”.
