How Lignitec is reshaping building materials after winning the 2024 Entrepreneurship Awards
When Lignitec won the post-launch category and the green village award to test at the green village of the 2024 Entrepreneurship Awards, their mission was already clear: reinvent wood-based materials for the future. Now, almost a year later, the company is entering an exciting new phase by starting their scaling up from lab-scale prototypes to real-world applications. And with their test installation to go live this year at The Green Village, things are about to get very real.
For co-founder Thomas Liebrand, the journey started with a simple frustration. While studying Building Technology in Delft, he explored 3D printing with so-called wood filaments. But those filaments, he discovered, contained 60% PLA, still a type of plastic. “It looked like wood, but it wasn’t,” Thomas explains. “If we’re going to talk about sustainable materials, plastic doesn’t belong in wood.”
Outside of 3d printing, similar challenges could be seen, for example with wood composite panels, widely used materials in the built environment, where natural materials are generally combined with synthetic adhesives.
This sparked the core idea behind Lignitec: to create truly wood-based, fully biodegradable panels, no synthetic glues and no chemical waste. Instead, they’re developing a composite of natural wood fibers bonded with bio-based adhesives. The goal is to replace traditional panels like MDF, plywood or HPL, which currently rely heavily on formaldehyde and other toxic binders. These materials may look harmless but at the end of their life cycle they need to be thrown away classified as chemical waste.
Lignitec isn’t just solving a technical challenge, they’re tapping into a growing market demand. From eco-conscious consumers to forward-thinking furniture makers, there’s increasing scrutiny on what’s actually in the materials being used. “End users are starting to ask: ‘What kind of glue is in this?’ And when the answer is formaldehyde or isocyanates, they’re no longer okay with that.” With formaldehyde set to be banned in the EU by 2030, the timing for a clean, circular alternative couldn’t be better.
Thanks to their Green Village test location voucher, Lignitec is preparing to install their first scale test panels on-site in Delft. A full-size mock-up, featuring a traditional slatted wood aesthetic using their new fiberboard, will be mounted and monitored this year. This test follows the success of smaller model of the pannels, including a prototype table made with Lignitec materials, still proudly standing at The Green Village and made in their office at Yes!Delft.
Throughout the journey, Lignitec has collaborated with TU Delft’s Building Technology students, integrating their designs into both mock-ups and in the future their real test setups on a larger scale. This hands-on academic collaboration brings a fresh design perspective and ensures the solution is not only sustainable but also architecturally compelling.
This year’s Green Village pilot will be a major milestone for the team. “Once the panels go up, it’ll definitely be a reason for celebration,” says Thomas. With real-life performance data, market-ready products, and rising industry awareness, Lignitec is going to make a lasting impact in construction and beyond.
With the entrepreneurial story of what Lignitec has accomplished since last year’s awards, we’re already looking forward to see what’s next for them. For this year the 2025 Entrepreneurship Awards will take place on November 20, 2025.
We are curious what new ventures will follow in Lignitec’s footsteps. For Lignitec it is showing how the post-launch voucher and the testing facility at The Green Village is helping them further advance their business.
Category: Entrepreneurship Awards