Ingmar Nopens holds a MSc in Bio-science engineering in environmental technology and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences. He is a former full professor at Ghent University leading research in mathematical modelling in the context of resource recovery from water streams. He is an expert in circular economy and digitalization and has a broad interest in system optimization. End of 2022 he joined C-Biotech as managing director, leading the efforts to develop and industrialise sustainable, biobased materials for the construction sector using industrial hemp as biomass. He also leads the business unit on phytoremediation of PFOS by means of industrial hemp combined with soil additives. The mission of C-Biotech is to decarbonize the construction sector and contributing to the challenge of net-zero as well as cleaning up polluted soils and restoring degraded soils.