Student startups: Hanne Kierulf 

Journalist: Tobias Waage Bremnes 
Photographer: Jørgen Berg Yndestad 

What is this new column about?

Climate change, food shortages, an ever-aging population. Plastic pollution, the degradation of nature and the energy crisis. Norway and the rest of the world are facing many challenges, and to solve them, we depend upon new technology and new, creative ideas.

This semester, Tuntreet collaborates with StartUpSmia to make this column. In every issue, we will meet students who dare to think outside the box and explore innovative ideas that might change the world. Maybe the column inspires YOU to explore and develop your ideas!

What is StartUpSmia?

Maybe you have a marvellous idea you would like to evolve? Or maybe you simply find entrepreneurship interesting? In either case, you can contact StartUpSmia, and they would be happy to guide you!

But who are they really, and how do they help?

As a student, you might have popped in at Vinmonopolet in Ås a two-three-I-don’t-really-remember-anymore number of times. Then you will have gone past BIT, which is where StartUpSmia is located. It was founded last year by Eva Nagelhus, with the goal of helping students advance their ideas to reality.

“The advantage that StartUpSmia provides is that we have personal experiences with the same processes that we are guiding the students with”, explains Espen Hinsch.

Hinsch is a councillor at StartUpSmia and is passionate about entrepreneurship. He has a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and innovation from here at NMBU. Not only has he studied the field, but he also has his own experiences with developing, pitching and applying for financial support for projects. An example is that he went from creating a student enterprise to a stock company called HappyNorwegian AS. Now you know what to expect if you choose to further develop your ideas.

You may contact StartUpSmia regardless of your field of study, be it biology, economics or something entirely different. Just send an email, explaining a bit about your idea, to espen.hinsch@nmbu.no.

Who is Hanne Kierulf?

One of the people that have contacted Espen with an idea they would like to develop, is Hanne Kierulf. At the moment, she works on her master’s in urban agriculture here at NMBU. She already has a master’s from Kunsthøyskolen and has worked as a nurse. For a long time, Hanne has been fascinated by the processes of nature and how humans have disturbed them.

“To solve many of the global challenges we are facing, I think we need to think in a new way, and maybe redesign our ways of living”, says Hanne.

She wants to develop a product that plays on the same team as nature, and which can make a positive impact in the world. Therefore, she sent an email to StartUpSmia before the summer break. Shortly after, she was contacted by Espen. He has successfully guided her through the process. Even if everything is new to Hanne, Espen praises her for how skilled she is. Though they have only known each other for a short time, one gets the impression that they are already quite the team.

What is the product?

Hanne brings forth a prototype and shows us a model of the product she has developed. The product is Planteøya (the Plant Island), a floating plant concept for fresh water. Through capillary forces, the soil will absorb water to ensure that the plants in the plant island always have access to water.

“It works in the same way as when one puts a bowl of water underneath a plant pot”, Hanne explains.

In other words, her product facilitates the cultivation of plants in areas which were formerly inaccessible, in a manner that requires little maintenance.

The idea came to Hanne all the way back in 2018. She wanted to try to grow salad at her cabin in Aurskog. As she would not be there the entire summer, she needed to find a way for the plants to water themselves. She then built boxes that she left to float on a lake. When she got back after the summer, the salad plants had grown big and luscious. Since then, she has been repeating the project yearly.

To her surprise, this product did not exist on the market yet. That is why she contacted StartUpSmia. Hanne envisions a great potential for Planteøya, and remarks that it might also be used for growing food crops in developing countries, cleaning water and to establish islands for pollinators.

The next step

To the question about her plan moving forward, Hanne answers that she wishes to continue developing Planteøya and to possibly write her master’s thesis about it. To her, it is important to have a thorough and secure system. Therefore, she wants to do research on whether the product will affect the water, keeping in mind things like nutrient runoff. Furthermore, she is considering applying for support from Innovasjon Norge (Innovation Norway), who give out 26 million kroner yearly to projects started by master’s and doctoral students.