We have now reached the first half of my EYE exchange in Spain.
For those that don’t know me already: Nice to meet you! I’m Bas and I am a young entrepreneur from the Netherlands. I just finished my studies in biotechnology and I am working on a cleantech startup that makes use of microalgae to purify wastewater.
So far, I have really been enjoying my time here. My Spanish has certainly already improved! It has sometimes be difficult to integrate 100%, due to the language barriers here, but so far I think it’s going pretty well!
This first half of the internship has been going quite intensely. We have already visited a key stakeholder in the area for my technology, called Promedio (A large water utility company) and we are currently drafting a proposal for a 1 year cooperation project in which my technology will be piloted at one of their facilities. Next to this, we are in touch with the CIAAE, which is a large research institute, to collaborate on a large project in the near future, to use my technology to remove- and recycle nickel from wastewater. These opportunities have greatly clarified the state of the sector in Spain and the pathways in order to start collaboration.
At the same time, I have begun to set up some very primitive algae production systems in Spain to prepare for these projects and maintain healthy algae in order to scale up. Meanwhile, operations in the Netherlands continue with the rest of my team, whom I remotely coordinate.
From the side of Innogestiona/Greennotech, I have drafted a salesplan for their innovative car charging system and are now preparing to enter the market with this. Also I have been working on two other projects, the design and concept for a sustainable, smallsize, affordable woolwashing infrastructure in Spain to decrease dependence on China and India and increase local, sustainable, job- and industrial opportunities in Spain, as well as a project for the usage of smallscale robotics for the removal of some very damaging invasive aquatic plants.
In all honesty, I felt a bit overwhelmed the last month or so due to the large workload related to JiTiBa, we have won some prizes and had a lot of preparation and writing to do for several projects and grants, which took up a significant share of my time. I feel personally that I could have spent significantly more time on Innogestiona/Greennotech’s projects. My goal is for now to finish this final paperwork and focus more on the Host’s side during this latter part of the