From improving surgery to creating algal biofactories to making AI better diagnose disease, this year’s 30 Under 30 Europe list in Science & Healthcare is full of innovators across a wide variety of fields.
By Alex Knapp, Katie Jennings and Kate Gammon
Artificial intelligence is the current thing right now, but when it comes to impact, the technology’s biggest potential isn’t in better chatbots, but in healthcare diagnostics. Take Rochelle Niemeijer’s company, Nostics, for example. It’s using a combination of a miniature chemistry lab and AI-powered diagnostics software that can not only diagnose a urinary tract infection in minutes, but also quickly identify its cause, enabling doctors to make better treatment decisions. Her next hurdle is getting regulatory approval for its device—then it’s on to diagnosing other infections.
“This product will be a game changer,” Niemeijer says. “We hope to be a breakthrough technology.”
Niemeijer, 28, is just one of the members of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in Science & Healthcare using innovation to make the world better. For nearly a decade, Forbes has highlighted young scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs for our annual 30 Under 30 Europe Science & Healthcare list, with the help of nominations from the public.
To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30 as of March 7, 2023, and never before named to a 30 Under 30 list. Candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Sona Chandra, cofounder and president of PangeAI and alumna of the 2020 30 Under 30 Europe list; Sabina Wizander, partner at venture firm Creandum; Linda Partridge, biological secretary of the Royal Society; and Jonathan Dickinson, senior VP and general manager, Europe, for pharmaceutical company Incyte.
Niemeijer isn’t the only innovator on the list working with artificial intelligence. There’s also Ghazi Sarwat Syed, 29, an IBM researcher working on next-generation computing hardware more suitable for AI applications. Benedikt Schneider, 22, and Leander Maerkisch, 27, cofounded Floy, which has developed AI technology that assists radiologists in assessing medical images.
Other list makers are working to make doctor’s lives easier. Rachel Mumford, 26, and Shun Pang, 29, cofounded Anima, which has developed a suite of productivity tools to help doctors and nurses better manage patient care. Pravesh Gadjradj, 29, studies surgical techniques and has successfully gotten guidelines changed to improve the outcomes of lumbar disc surgeries. And Cedric Bogaert, 27, cofounded myNEO, which uses neural networks to guide doctors in determining the best cancer therapies for a given patient.
Members of the list are also working to develop more environmentally friendly technologies, as well. Mingyang Wei, 29, is developing materials for solar cells that could lead to them being more efficient at converting power. Then there’s Alexandre Reeber, 25, whose company Core Biogenesis is developing growth factors that could accelerate production of lab-grown meat and other biotechnologies. Speaking of biotechnology, Stefan Grossfurthner, 27, and Ludovico Mitchener, 26, cofounded Phycoworks, which is developing strains of algae that can transform carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into sustainable chemical products.
This year’s list was edited by Alex Knapp, Katie Jennings and Katharine Gammon. For a link to our complete Under 30 Europe Science & Healthcare list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 Europe coverage, click here.
