Jan Westra

Dr. Jan Westra works at Priva as a strategic business developer, mainly for research and development projects in horticulture and indoor growing technology. Another part is looking into what startups can bring for Priva and Priva for them. He graduated M.Sc. at the TU Delft in 1985, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Refrigeration and Indoor Climate Control (HVAC). Subsequently, Jan did PhD research at the same department, culminating in a thesis in 1990. After TU Delft Jan Westra worked for more than five years at an HVAC consultancy firm in Rotterdam. In 1996 Westra joined the Priva company. Partly for the development of equipment for water treatment for greenhouses, partly for directing research projects with universities and colleges. Examples: University of Ghent, KU Leuven, Wageningen UR, University of Twente and TU Delft. Jan Westra is a specialist in the field of urban agriculture or vertical farming, where the horticulture and building worlds come together. On behalf of Priva he is involved in many initiatives in this field worldwide. Priva operates in three markets: horticulture and building management systems plus vertical farming. In these fields, he contributes in business development and researching new techniques. An endeavor by Priva is the Sustainable Urban Delta concept, tying food, energy, recreation and other functions together in the most sustainable way. Jan contributes to this program.