Meet ClimateLaunchpad 2021 winners

Delft, 29 October 2021 -SMDPower Solutions from India, Entomo Farm from Zambia and Qaptis from Switzerland win the eight edition of ClimateLaunchpad, a global green business ideas competition which awards the world’s most innovative climate entrepreneurs.

Over 2,136 climate tech start-ups from 55 countries applied for the 2021 edition of ClimateLaunchpad, the global green business ideas competition. After months of intense Boot Camps, training and coaching, 70 finalists made it to the Global Grand Final that took place online from 27 to 29 October.

Overall winner, SMDPower Solutions from India is about AI driven IoT designed for existing air conditioners to cool a room sensibly. The team aims to reduce wastage of electricity. With the prize money from ClimateLaunchpad we are going to install an initial batch of 250 air conditioning units in a business in Mumbai, our beachhead market. We will reach the market through air conditioner technicians, as they already have connections in the market. We aim to get to 1 million sales in four years’ time,” said founder Vishwesh Bhat. Read about his story in this blogpost.

Runner-up Entomo Farm is from Zambia. Their idea is to turn food waste into a sustainable, organic and inexpensive livestock feed and fertilizer for small and medium scale chicken, fish and pig farmers, by farming the Black Soldier Fly for its larvae. “Before I applied, I knew my business could make a difference in terms of climate change, but I didn’t know to what extent. ClimateLaunchpad was eye-opening and enlightened me to the greater impact I could make in the reduction of CO2 emissions and water usage,” said founder Priscilla Musenge. Read more about her story in this blogpost.

Winner of third place is Qaptis from Switzerland with their innovation that transforms conventional trucks into low-emission vehicles with a plug-in carbon capture kit.

In a video message broadcast on Friday, EIT Climate-KIC’s Chief Executive Officer Kirsten Dunlop had an inspiring request to everyone: “Help us to understand how to expand and how to spread, how to partner and how to embrace new opportunities from different locations and regions and working across the world. Please do join our mission to work together to support climate entrepreneurs and to help everyone to grow and build ecosystems that are valuable for climate impact”.

The ClimateLaunchpad programme, powered by among other things Europe’s main climate innovation initiative EIT-Climate KIC, offers aspiring cleantech entrepreneurs in 55 countries a pathway to business success and global impact in the fight against climate change. This year, the programme attracted more than 2,000 green start-ups from all over the world who competed in six Regional Finals across all continents.

These entrepreneurs are unlocking the world’s cleantech potential with breakthrough solutions in emissions reduction and climate adaptation that can revolutionise the way we consume, move and live.

A total of 680 teams completed the online and hybrid learning curriculum this year. Winning teams of National and Regional Finals were invited to compete in the Global Grand Final, resulting in 70 teams pitching in semi-finals. The Top 16 teams that came out of the semi-finals were selected to pitch in the final round during the Global Grand Final.

The three global ClimateLaunchpad winners were chosen by an expert jury that looked at the business potential of the finalists’ idea as well as the social impact, job creation, climate impact and the quality of their pitch. They were categorised in seven main themes: Adaptation and Resilience, Circular Economies, Urban Solutions, Clean Energy, Sustainable Mobility, Food Systems and The Next Big Thing.

All start-ups in the top 16 will get direct access to the ClimateLaunchpad Accelerator programme for climate positive start-ups.

More detailed information on all finalists and their start-ups can be found on https://globalfinal.climatelaunchpad.org/

 

Note to editors:

For more information about ClimateLaunchpad, the Global Grand Final, press and interview requests, please contact:
Anne-Sophie Garrigou
Corporate Communications Manager, Media Relations at EIT Climate-KIC
Anne-sophie.garrigou@climate-kic.org

About ClimateLaunchpad

ClimateLaunchpad is the world’s largest green business ideas competition. Its mission is to unlock the world’s cleantech potential that addresses climate change. A green future demands thousands of innovations challenging current business models and skilled and impassioned entrepreneurs to drive these innovations forward. The competition supports aspiring and promising cleantech entrepreneurs with training, coaching, access to networks and links to early-stage accelerator programmes. ClimateLaunchpad operates on a global scale with programme activity in 56 countries. ClimateLaunchpad was established in 2014 and is part of the Entrepreneurship offerings of EIT Climate-KIC.
www.climatelaunchpad.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/climatelaunchpad
LinkedIn: ClimateLaunchpad

About EIT Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is the EU’s climate innovation initiative, working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon and resilient world by enabling systems transformation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, it operates from 13 hubs across Europe and is active in 39 countries. EIT Climate-KIC was established in 2010 and is predominately funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. As a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), it brings together more than 400 partners from business, academia, the public and non-profit sectors to create networks of expertise, through which innovative products, services and systems are developed, brought to market and scaled-up for impact.
www.climate-kic.org

About the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

The EIT strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body which is an integral part of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports the development of dynamic pan-European partnerships – EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities – among leading companies, research labs and universities. 
Together with their leading partners in Europe, the EIT Community offer a wide range of innovation and entrepreneurship activities across Europe: entrepreneurial education courses, business creation and acceleration services and innovation-driven research projects. 
https://eit.europa.eu

 

 
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