🏫Students Turning Science into Business with OPUS Cactus 🌵

We are happy participate in this year’s Science, Business & Policy Lab, part of the MSc Science and Business Management program at the University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen-RUG).

OPUS Cactus® is headquartered in Campus Groningen, Netherlands. Conveniently located in Zernike Campus, a hub where startups, established companies, and academic research converge with the next generation of talent.

Over the coming weeks, a team of 8 MSc students from diverse backgrounds in biology, science, and engineering will be working on a case study for OPUS Cactus®. After some time and deep research to narrow down their focus, they will concentrate on how to best valorize the bioprocess of turning Opuntia cactus into animal feed at scale. Their final report will not just be for academic credit, but may directly inform our business decisions moving forward.

A huge thank you to the student team — Brend Bosma, Evan Beernink, Gjalt Lens , Guus Borger , Jan Groeneveld Sousa , Jasper Smit, and Marrit Willegers, and especially to Prof. Maarten van den Nieuwenhof-Schilstra for facilitating this collaboration.

This collaboration is another reason why we are proud of our strategic location at Zernike Campus. Here we have quick access to research collaborations, fresh talent, and an ecosystem where science and business work side by side. We look forward to the insights this talented group will bring and the real-world impact their work can create.