Welcome to Amsterdam Synapse
Get ready for a high-energy founder experience hosted by the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship. Amsterdam Synapse is part of our global Synapse series, designed to spark insight and connection between students and leading entrepreneurs.
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Saturday, May 3, 2025
11:00AM – 2:30PM
Liz Lange Lecture Hall
Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship
Overview
Get ready for a high-energy founder experience hosted by the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship! Amsterdam Synapse is part of our Synapse Programs — a series designed to connect students with leading entrepreneurs and innovators from across the globe. Whether you’re curious about climate tech, AI, or launching your own venture one day, this event is built to spark insight and authentic connection.
This hybrid event will feature:
- ⚡ Live panel sessions with visionary founders
- 💬 Small-group breakout rooms where you can ask direct questions
- 🍽️ An in-person roundtable lunch with the one and only Bob Van Lujit (for those on campus!)
Why this event is special:
Amsterdam Synapse isn’t your typical speaker panel — it’s an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure-style founder experience.
During each breakout block, you’ll have the opportunity to freely move between virtual rooms, each hosted by a different founder. Want to ask Jacqueline a quick question about climate investing, then hop over to David’s room to hear about carbon tracking software? You can. You decide who to engage with, when, and for how long.
Whether you’re joining online or in person, there’s a place for you in the conversation.
BLOCK 1
Building Tech for a More Sustainable World
11:00 – 11:40AM (ET): Panel Session
11:40 – 12:00PM (ET): Breakout Rooms
Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt
Marieke is the founder of Open Food Chain, an open-source Web3 traceability solution, and a Global Board Member of the World Agricultural Forum. With 25+ years in AgTech across 50+ countries, she’s built a career driving digital innovation in agriculture. From startups to the UN, her work focuses on using tech to build smarter, more transparent food systems. See her profile!
Jacqueline van den Ende
Jacqueline is the visionary CEO of Carbon Equity, transforming climate investment by empowering everyday people to invest in the future of a net-zero economy. See her profile!
David Sigley
David is the co-founder and CTO of Coolset, using cutting-edge technology to help companies automate their path to decarbonization and track their environmental impact. See his profile!
BLOCK 2
Structuring the Internet of the Future
12:00 – 12:40PM (ET): Keynote Speech
12:40 – 1:30PM (ET): Roundtable Lunch
Bob Van Lujit
Bob van Luijt is a technology entrepreneur, technologist, and new media artist from the Netherlands. He is the co-founder of Weaviate and the chairman of the Creative Software Foundation. In March 2016 Van Luijt started the open source vector search engine Weaviate. He has published and lectured about (open-source) software business models and the positioning of broadly applicable infrastructure software (e.g., databases and search engines). During a presentation for TEDxUniversiteitVanAmsterdam he shared his ideas about how the evolvement of language impacts ideas in software development. See his profile!
BLOCK 3
AI in Sustainable Systems
1:30 – 2:10PM (ET): Panel Session
2:10 – 2:30PM (ET): Breakout Rooms
Jelle Prins
Jelle is the co-founder of Cradle, a biotech company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate protein engineering, Jelle is a visionary tech entrepreneur who helped build Uber, Booking.com, and Catawiki’s original apps, led government tech projects, and now pioneers AI-driven biotech innovation at Cradle. See his profile!
René Gompel
René is the CEO and co-founder of Coolgradient, a trailblazing startup using AI to slash energy and water waste in data centers, René is passionate about driving sustainability in the backbone of our digital world. See his profile!
Thank you for your interest in Amsterdam Synapse — we’re thrilled to ignite global entrepreneurship right here at Brown!