Matthew de Roode
Matthew de Roode is an enthusiastic innovator with a market mindset. He has an educational background in chemistry and bioprocess engineering (BSc in Delft, MSc in Amsterdam, Ph.D. in Wageningen).
His passion for market-driven innovation started when working as an innovation manager for Sara Lee Household & Body Care, where he worked on a diversity of products that you will find in the supermarket. He still finds himself re-arranging “his products” more neatly when the shelf is a mess. During this period he was also trained as a LEAN coach and mastered different management tools to enrich his ideas. His introduction to the food segment started when working for NIZO Food Research as a project manager processing.
Since 2012 he is innovation manager at Sensus (part of Royal Cosun) where he is responsible for the innovation strategy from field to fork. As a side step, he worked for Cosun HQ as a corporate development manager, a role that brought him in even closer contact with the dynamic world of startups and scale-ups. He has a broad network in the academic world and (food) industry and is not afraid to use it.
In his spare time, he collects antique chemistry books and comics. He also plays the accordion, the hurdy-gurdy, and tries to master the ukulele.
Skills and field of expertise
- Market-driven innovation
- Food industry & technology
- Household & Body care industry & technology
- Thinking outside the box & connecting the dots
- Management and innovation tooling
Offer
I understand and love “tech-talk”, but also have learned to speak and adore “marketing-talk”. Thus I am able to give substantiated feedback on your technological proposition but will always encourage you to explore the customer need, the business model, and the business case.
Interest
I have no preference for startups from a specific sector, but my background is in the technology realm and my experience is in food and household & body care.
Favorite quote
“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.”
Mark Twain
