Benny Vossen, current master student in Business Engineering (Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management - ULB) and Laura Famelaer (VUB), aka The Conceptors (their team codename) have won the belgian finale of the Henkel Innovation Challenge.

Their surprising product, Syoss Phoenix Repair, a shampoo that accelerates hair regrowth for people who have had to go through chemotherapy, won the challenge against 10 other belgian student team.

Syoss Phoenix Repair helps patients who had to have chemotherapy to surpass the emotional aspect of the disease by boosting rapid regrowth of hair. First results are visible after one week. The shampoo can also be used preventively. "Our idea" explain Benny and Laura "is based on a technique called "bacteria bricolage" and synthetic biology. We programme a bactery to inject small quantities of testosterone under the scalp to accelerate hair regrowth." Benny and Laura give special thanks to their team mentor (an Henkel manager was assigned to each student team).

Jean-Baptiste Santoul, General Manager of Henkel Laundry & Home Care Benelux, creator of this challenge praised the winners: "The winning team presented a really innovative project combining consumer’s needs, health and new technologies. The international finale should be really interesting!»

The international finale will take place in Poland from the 25th to the 28th of April. 20 European, Asian and American teams shall compete for the votes of an international jury of senior managers from Henkel.

To know more about the Henkel Innovation Challenge, follow their Facebook page