Kirsten Steinbusch (1980) is Program Director of the €338M Dutch National Growth Fund programme Biobased Circular, where she leads a national effort to accelerate biopolymer and biobased materials innovation across the entire value chain—from sustainable feedstocks and conversion technologies to design, recycling, and market deployment. With more than two decades of experience in biotechnology, bioprocess development, and circular value-chain innovation, she works at the intersection of science, industry, and policy to enable large-scale sustainable production systems.
Kirsten previously co-founded and scaled two biotechnology companies, DAB.bio and ChainCraft, advancing fermentation and process-intensification technologies from concept to pilot and demonstration scale. Before entering industry, she spent nearly ten years at Wageningen University conducting and leading research on anaerobic conversions and mixed-culture fermentation.
She is a fellow of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering and serves in advisory and supervisory roles to support the transition toward a circular, biobased, and climate-neutral economy.