Jaap Schut, Ph.D.

Jaap Schut, Ph.D., is CEO & Founder of 4E Innovation Consulting, as well as Adjunct Full Professor at NC State University (Wilson College of Textiles). Jaap has 21 years of experience in innovation: 8 years as global innovation consultant, 8 years as new business developer/strategic marketeer in the chemical industry, and 5 years as polymer materials researcher.

At NC State University he is giving guest lectures (on innovation strategy, new product development, technology scouting and selection, the circular economy, and bioplastics), and is assisting students as a dissertation advisory committee member.

In his current role as mentor and innovation consultant, he assists startups and corporate clients with: their innovation strategy in the commercialization of novel materials/products to answer unmet market needs across a variety of industries; building business cases; doing customer discovery; market and competitive research; sharpening value propositions; pitching to VC firms.

As VP New Business Development and Sr. Consultant (for PACE Business Partners, stationed in Amsterdam and Chapel Hill) he has served many global top 20 chemical company clients in the USA, Europea, Middle East, and Asia, across a wide range of industry value chains, end markets, and applications, incl. medical devices and packaging, human and animal healthcare, cosmetics, smart (food) packaging, fibers, composite materials, smart cities, and plastic waste & recycling.

Prior to being a consultant, Dr. Schut has worked in the chemical industry in The Netherlands, for Fujifilm commercializing membrane technology, and for Momentive/Hexion commercializing novel specialty chemical building blocks.

Jaap obtained his Ph.D. degree in Polymeric Materials and Composites from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon, France and his M.Sc. degree in Polymer Chemistry from Groningen University in The Netherlands.

He holds 2 patents and (co-)authored 13 publications in the fields of: bioresorbable polymer for medical devices and drug delivery systems, thermoset-thermoplastic polymer blends, organic coating primers, and fiber reinforced composites.

He hails from The Netherlands, but has been living in Chapel Hill since 2015 with his wife and two children.