Wrapping Up 2025: Laying the Foundations for What’s Next
The final months of 2025 were intense, energizing, and deeply formative for Foamlab. Between October and December 2025, we immersed ourselves in three different but complementary ecosystems: a startup bootcamp, an international pitching event in Brussels, and Europe’s most important gathering for bioplastics in Berlin.
Together, these experiences sharpened our thinking around scale, policy, and market fit, and reaffirmed why we are building what we are building.
Industrial Biotech Bootcamp: From Lab Logic to Industrial Reality
The Industrial Biotech Bootcamp, organized by Planet B.io and Biotech Booster, was an eye-opening experience. It pushed us to step beyond material-first thinking and examine industrial constraints, scale-up challenges, and entire value chains more critically.
Over the course of four modules, we covered a full spectrum of topics: from understanding customers and finding the best product-market fit, to technology roadmapping, IP strategy, finance, and funding, and, just as importantly, team dynamics and pitch training.
Some of the most valuable insights included:
Tech roadmapping from the front end: Start from the ideal end outcome and work backward. This inverted thinking is essential for robust techno-economic analysis and aligning step-by-step development decisions with long-term goals.
Operational viability is key: A solution is only truly sustainable if it works across the entire value chain.
Adoption depends on acceptability: Even the most profitable and innovative technology can fail if end-users don’t accept it. Customer perception drives roughly 70% of adoption.
Team dynamics shape outcomes: Identifying what elevates the team versus what holds it back is crucial, both during due diligence and for the company’s future.
The bootcamp culminated in a pitch competition in front of real investors, showcasing the remarkable progress each startup achieved in just eight weeks. It’s incredible how a focused, supportive network surrounded by the right people, expertise, and mentorship can accelerate growth so quickly.
Sharing this journey with other industrial biotech startups and entrepreneurs was equally rewarding. A big shout out to AKIN Solutions B.V., Beyond Bioplastic, BioFire, Inovatif Biyoteknoloji Kimya ve Saglik Ltd. Sti., MycoSafe, Resilient Bio B.V., SHIKIMAX, Polyzyme and BioFashionTech B.V.: the chance to discuss common challenges and learn from one another added immense value to the experience.
A heartfelt thank you to the organizers, coaches, lecturers, and investors for their guidance, time, and feedback.
Pitch Perfect, Brussels: Sharpening the Story
Thanks to the Industrial Biotech Bootcamp, we arrived at Pitch Perfect 2025 in Brussels well-prepared, with a polished pitch deck and a clear story to tell. Pitching in the heart of the EU policy landscape highlighted one thing immediately: clarity always beats complexity.
Our challenge wasn’t simply explaining how our bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) foam works, but why it matters:
Why our BNC foam?
Why right now?
Why Europe?
The feedback we received helped us refine our narrative around performance-driven sustainability. Rather than positioning our foam as just a “nice sustainable alternative,” we emphasized how our BNC foam enables new design possibilities and functional advantages, combining high performance with genuine sustainability.
This experience reinforced a key lesson: innovation only thrives when it’s communicated effectively, aligned with the right stakeholders, and framed in a way that highlights tangible impact starting from today.
European Bioplastics Conference, Berlin: Alignment, Scale, and Systems Thinking
For the first time, we attended the European Bioplastics Conference 2025 in Berlin, immersing ourselves in the European bioplastics community and making our presence, and our BNC foam, known.
Opening message
The time for bioplastics is now—but only if we move coherently.
Speakers emphasized the importance of alignment across actors and value chains, the strategic need for a permanent Brussels presence, and the value of clear, consistent messaging at the EU level to help shape policies and regulations that support bioplastics.
While packaging remains the largest market segment for bioplastics, what caught our attention most was the Bioeconomy Strategy Review (published in November 2025) and its explicit ambition to develop new lead markets, notably biobased construction products and biobased textiles, both of interest for Foamlab. Even though these strategies are not legally binding, they send strong signals that influence funding, partnerships, and long-term market direction.
On the technical side, discussions around biodegradability were refreshingly nuanced. A key takeaway: biodegradability is still not fully captured in standard LCA methodologies, and trade-offs between durability, performance, and end-of-life remain largely under-explored. This reinforced the importance of application-specific design over one-size-fits-all claims.
From Sourcing to Sustainability: Performance Still Wins
Across multiple speaker sessions, one theme came through clearly:
High performance is the strongest adoption lever.
Whether it was cellulose-based films outperforming conventional packaging, next-generation biobased polymers offering superior barrier properties, or biobased coatings enabling new functionalities, the message was consistent:
Drop-in solutions accelerate adoption;
Total cost of ownership matters more than material price alone;
Scalability must be addressed at three levels:
System level: infrastructure and end-of-life;
Application level: equal or superior performance;
Market level:secure supply and realistic economics.
It was encouraging to see how closely these discussions resonated with our own product development roadmaps.
Over the two days, we exhibited our BNC foam samples and were thrilled by the visitors' reactions. Seeing disbelief on faces when people realized it wasn’t polystyrene was incredibly satisfying! Beyond showcasing our materials, the conference provided countless insightful discussions and new connections, strengthening our ties within the European bioplastics ecosystem.
Looking Ahead
As we close the chapter on 2025, we do so with a strong sense of momentum. The past months have been about learning, listening (and expanding as a team!), preparing us to take the next steps with confidence.
The months ahead will be about building and bringing ideas to life. Something new is taking shape, quite literally, and we’re laying the foundations for the next phase of our journey. More on that soon!
For now, we want to wish everyone in our community, network, and extended ecosystem a joyful holiday season and a fantastic start to the new year.
A big thank you to each and every one of you who has been part of our journey so far. We’re excited about what’s coming and we’d love for you to stay connected. Follow our journey, share your thoughts, or reach out if you want to explore new collaborations in 2026.
The Foamlab team
