Interview with Heleen Goorissen: Guiding R&D and Sustainable Innovation at NoPalm Ingredients
We’re thrilled to welcome Heleen Goorissen as Head of Research & Development at NoPalm Ingredients. She joins us at a pivotal moment as we scale from pilot to demo factory and prepare for market entry in 2026. With a track record of turning biotechnology into sustainable industrial production, she brings deep expertise in innovation management, fermentation and sustainability. Her leadership will strengthen our technology platform and ensure the innovation pipeline delivers on customers and market needs.
We asked Heleen a few questions about driving NoPalm Ingredients’ next chapter of growth.
You have 25+ years of experience in biotechnology, from academic to industrial R&D. What shaped your expertise?
“I’ve always focused on turning biotechnology into real-world impact. At Groningen University, I built my foundation in microbial metabolism, which is the core of yeast-oil production. At NIZO, I translated these microbial processes into food applications and gained a lot of experience and insights in the food industry and the potential to use fermentation to valorize by-products and side streams. Later at Corbion, I grew from Competence Manager to VP Global R&D, where I led teams and scaled biotechnology-based innovative processes for sustainable products globally.
This taught me how I can connect science with commercial success and sustainability goals, and how to drive strategic innovation and scale up. During my time at Avantium, I was able to embrace sustainability as an opportunity to deliver truly impactful technologies and orchestrate value chains to become successful as a startup.
One thing that really stood out to me is how developing new of its kind sustainable processes and products requires interdisciplinary collaboration. Bringing process, product, and application development under one roof, and creating a space where biologists, technologists and engineers can learn from each other, is the environment I aim to foster at NoPalm Ingredients.”
Sustainability clearly runs through your work from founding a Tiny Food Forest to serving as Regional Ambassador for Biodiversity and leading the ESG strategy of Avantium. What unique perspective do you bring to our R&D team?
“My background in microbiology gives me a deep connection to NoPalm Ingredients’ core technology: fermentation. But what truly defines my approach is linking scientific development with sustainability performance. It's what makes my work feel both professional and personal.
Over the years, I’ve integrated tools like circular-by-design thinking, biorefinery concepts, byproduct valorization, and life cycle assessment into R&D decision-making. By combining conceptual process design with prospective LCA insights, I help teams pinpoint the steps that drive the greatest environmental and economic impact. This means we focus our efforts on the developments that can truly make a difference.”
What are the critical technological challenges in creating sustainable palm alternatives?
“We need a platform that is cost-competitive, low-impact, and scalable. Therefore, we need to harness the full creativity and expertise of our team. It’s about continuously evolving our technology platform. Think about optimizing our production strains for performance, making our process flexible to different feedstock so we can co-locate with partners, and ensuring our oils and fats meet regulatory standards and customer requirements.
By strengthening our strain and fermentation knowledge alongside smart processing, we’ll keep unlocking new feedstocks and expanding our product range.”
As NoPalm Ingredients enters a critical scaling phase, how will your leadership guide R&D to deliver both short-term progress and long-term innovation?
“Being a start-up naturally means our team is compact. To deliver on our big ambitions, we must work with external parties to advance our developments: making use of subsidies, academic collaborations, partnerships and learning from others will remain an essential part of R&D.
We’ll structure our innovation across different time horizons (short, mid, and long term) to balance quick wins with bigger breakthroughs. With both our pilot line and future demo factory, we can rapidly validate and implement technical solutions.
My goal is to embed sustainability thinking into every aspect of R&D, bringing forward even more impactful products and shaping NoPalm Ingredients’ innovation funnel and R&D organization to maximize its full potential.”
How do you ensure that your team balances scientific precision with the speed needed in a startup environment?
“This is a constant challenge in a start-up environment. With first-generation technology, perfection isn’t the goal, the driver is speed to market. What matters to me is demonstrating the potential of technology and our ingredients and defining a clear path forward. Achieving this requires a multidisciplinary approach and steady, step-by-step progress. A focused innovation funnel and a structured decision-making process are also essential to guide development effectively.
I plan to introduce creative and practical ways to make space for meaningful discussions and collective decision-making. For example, we could organize a regular “Science Café” where we share and discuss scientific insights to deepen our knowledge and understanding. In parallel, we will continue strengthening and expanding our R&D capabilities, particularly in areas such as data science, design of experiments (DoE), and method validation to ensure scientific rigor”