Gothenburg open for climate innovation

Gothenburg, Sweden – An app that lets you buy leftover food, restaurant menus showing the climate effect of what you’re eating, and a service giving you easy access to bicycles in cities around the world. These are some of the proposals that emerged in response to a recent call for ideas for how the citizens of Gothenburg can contribute to lowering CO2 emissions in their daily lives.

Great international interest was sparked in the Climate-KIC community when Gothenburg City recently issued a call for an innovation competition to minimize the climate impact of its citizens. . Highly innovative solutions emerged and 11 of these will be presented during the Open Innovation Day on 6 October, arranged by Business Region Gothenburg and the City of Gothenburg, together with Climate-KIC and Johannesberg Science Park.

“We’re excited about this new bottom up driven innovation which ensures practical citizen engagement that will help the City of Gothenburg to comply with its climate targets. This is our second Open Innovation Day which Climate-KIC Nordic has arranged for Nordic Cities. The first in Copenhagen demonstrated that showcasing good ideas, followed up by coaching and matchmaking with investors and buyers, results in quick the implementation of low-cost climate solutions. We hope for a similar positive outcome for Gothenburg.” Susanne Pedersen, Climate-KIC Director, Nordics

Responses to the call came from 8 countries and resulted in a total of 37 applications. All the ideas shared the joint aim to reduce the climate effect of daily chores and consumption.

They ranged from solar cells on rooftops and campaigns supporting commuting to work with electric bicycles, to platforms allowing citizens to share their skills and competencies. An online grocery store which doesn’t use plastic wrapping was also proposed, and a platform with tailored advice on how to reduce  individual CO2 emissions.

“During the Open Innovation we will hear about 11 ideas that can help the citizens of Gothenburg to be more climate awareclimate-smart. It’s not the first time that a city has invited innovators and business to help tackle its climate challenges, but it is likely the first time the focus is specifically on ideas that can help the city and its citizens in minimising their individual climate impact says Environmental Councillor of Gothenburg, Ulf Kamne (MP). 

The 11 best contributors will present their idea and receive direct feedback from a panel including representatives from the City of Gothenburg, GU Ventures and Climate-KIC. This will be watched by an audience of interested parties, representatives from the city, and potential investors. Chalmers Ventures, Climate-KIC’s regional partner for green entrepreneurship, will also be there to look for ideas they can potentially pursue.

“The Open Innovation Day is an exciting forum for meeting innovators and entrepreneurs, as well as potential users and customers within the city and its business sector. Everything has a focus on being smarter and more sustainable with resource consumption,” says Håkan Axelsson, Chalmers Ventures.

Note to editors:

 The stakeholders called for innovations that can solve the following four challenges, and here are the contributions that have been selected within those categories:

Easy and attractive ways to make low carbon choices

• ClimateSaver, Sweden – a web-app helping citizens reduce their GHG emissions through advice and challenges
• Sunmapper, Denmark – an interactive map showing the potential for solar panels on existing rooftops
• Ducky, Norway – an online engagement platform designed to quantify, visualize and communicate everyday climate activities

Circular and sharing economy

• NullMull, Germany – an online grocery store, allowing food producers to avoid plastic packaging and satisfy the demand of consumers
• Too Good To Go, Denmark/Norway – an app that saves good food from being thrown out by allowing users to buy leftover food from cafés, hotels and restaurants
• iHOW, Norway – the AirBnB for sharing skills. A web/mobile platform to unlock the value in its citizens’ knowledge

Efficient and sustainable transport

• Shared Grocery Shopping, Sweden – a system for combining ride sharing, grocery shopping and doing favors for others
• Pendela, Sweden – a unique and innovative campaign that encourages and supports commuting by e-bike

Sustainable and active leisure hours

• Cyclodeo, Sweden – HD videos and crowd-sourced content recorded from a cyclist perspective
• Donkey Republic, Denmark – a global bike sharing service. With the ease of a few clicks on your phone you can get access to a bike
• Carbon Cloud, Sweden – a web tool generating climate labels for restaurants. By adding recipe information, menus with information on carbon footprints can be printed

Programme

Date: Thursday 6 October
Place: Burgårdens Utbildningscentrum, Skånegatan 20, Lokal Aniara, Gothenburg
Time: 9am-4pm
Contact: Lars Bern, Responsible for Innovation Development, Business Region Gothenburg,
Phone: (+46) 31-367 61 24
Email: lars.bern@businessregion.se

More information

Do you want to know more about the call process up until the Open Innovation Day? Read more here (in Swedish).

Read more about the event on Climate-KIC’s web page here.

About Climate-KIC

Climate-KIC is the EU’s largest public private partnership addressing climate change through innovation to build a zero carbon economy. We address climate change across four priority themes: urban areas, land use, production systems and decision metrics and finance. Education is at the heart of these themes to inspire and empower the next generation of climate leaders.

Climate-KIC is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.