AI Tournament at Interclean 2026: young talent meets the future of cleaning

Amsterdam - April 2026

Last week, RAI Amsterdam became the scene for something special. At Interclean Amsterdam 2026 - the world's leading trade fair for the cleaning and hygiene industry - 80 international students from Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences took part in the Interclean AI Tournament, an energetic competition where artificial intelligence meets real-life cleaning challenges.

FacilityApps is proud to be a sponsor of the tournament, which was organised by our CEO Dirk Tuip together with colleagues from the Facility Data Standard and Interclean Amsterdam. In the weeks leading up to Interclean, Dirk and a mentor team prepared and coached the students, challenging them to rethink an industry that is often overlooked but essential to everyday life.

Sixteen teams developed AI-driven concepts in the fields of hospitality, healthcare, offices and public infrastructure. On the main stage, the eight finalists presented ideas ranging from AI-driven quality control with image recognition, smart hotel communication tools with QR codes and AI translation, to drones for cleaning in hard-to-reach hospital areas. After an intense day of presentations, Team 8 won the competition with their drone concept for hospital environments, followed by Teams 4 and 11.

"This tournament IS the example of how we are connecting young people to our cleaning industry, while at the same time showing what the power of AI can do for cleaning." - Dirk Tuip, CEO FacilityApps

The energy, creativity and ambition the students brought to the stage confirmed something we at FacilityApps deeply believe: the future of cleaning is smart, data-driven - and it belongs to the next generation.