#YoungTalent: Where are they now? Propeaq

Interview with Toine Schoutens from Propeaq

The way that light impacts on people’s health and performance is underestimated. The Propeaq glasses’ light influences the production of hormones that regulate your sleeping and waking rhythms, your digestion and your body temperature, for example. And that means the glasses can counter the adverse effects of jetlag, irregular working hours and the ‘winter blues’. But it is still early days for medical applications of Propeaq.

“Top athletes continue to be great advertisements for us. Over fifty participants at this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, including many Dutch longer-distance and short-track speed skaters, used our light therapy glasses. And, together, they won a total of thirteen medals. Obviously not only because they were wearing Propeaq glasses. But our glasses were clearly shown to add value by enabling athletes to avoid the effects of jetlag. That’s why we’re regularly contacted by athletes and sports federations who are interested in what we can offer. Right now, for example, we’re in talks with the Chinese Olympic Committee. And we’re also working on new plans and ideas outside the elite sports world. And we just need a few of them to succeed for our growth to accelerate enormously. From autumn this year, Propeaq glasses will be for sale at ten European airports to travellers wanting to reduce the impact of jetlag. We’re also close to signing deals with a few major airlines that want to offer Propeaq glasses to their business class passengers and frequent flyers. As well as that, we’re setting up pilot projects in various countries with businesses whose employees work irregular hours. We previously ran such a project at Holland Casino, which has now provided Propeaq glasses to its staff. The Radboud hospital in Nijmegen is also looking into whether Parkinson patients suffering sleep problems could benefit from using our glasses. And if those results confirm what we’re anticipating, I’ll jump sky high.”