Rotterdam, 22 September 2026. Albert Maas, CEO and founder of Avular, has been awarded the Changemaker Award 2026. The prize was presented by Michiel Muller (Picnic), Maarten van Dijk (SkyNRG, winner 2025) and Saskia van Roode (nlgroeit) during Changemakers 2026, the annual event of nlgroeit at the Van Nelle Fabriek in Rotterdam. The day also marked nlgroeit's tenth anniversary, in front of a room full of entrepreneurs.
Albert Maas received the award for building, from Eindhoven, what he believes Europe is missing: a robotics industry that is not dependent on American or Chinese technology. Avular develops its hardware, software and AI in house. It is a slower and more expensive route, but it is what keeps the company independent.
His entrepreneurship started at TU/e with a race car that the head of his programme predicted would end up a useless go-kart. Today Avular works from its own 6,500 m² headquarters at Strijp-T. Together with Heijmans, the company put Europe's first self-driving, emission-free asphalt roller on the road. As development partner of SGL, Avular also works on robots that drive across golf greens at night, using UVC light to fight fungus without pesticides. His own benchmark still lies far ahead: "For me it only really starts to make an impact when there are millions of robots in the field."
How the winner was chosen
Entrepreneurs nominated one another. From those nominations, former winners and a delegation of the nlgroeit board made a preselection, which was put to the jury. The jury selected the top three: Albert Maas (Avular), Sam Rohn (Eddy Grid) and Laurien Meuter (Tiny Miracles). All three took the stage live on 22 September in front of a room full of entrepreneurs. The winner was decided by a combination of votes from the audience and the judgement of the jury.
The jury consisted of Maarten van Dijk (SkyNRG, winner 2025), Pieter Waasdorp (director of Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Economic Affairs), Michiel Muller (Picnic), Kees de Jong (nlgroeit, winner 2023), Jelle Maasbach (financial journalist, including for BNR Nieuwsradio) and Saskia van Roode (managing director of nlgroeit).