Eighteen start-ups from eleven countries have made it to the finals for the ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ presented by the Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) – the German Energy Agency. The companies were selected by a highly qualified international jury from more than 500 candidates from 66 countries for their convincingly innovative ideas and visions for global climate protection and the energy transition. The finalists will present their business models on 20 March at the first ‘Start Up Energy Transition Tech Festival’ in Berlin, which brings together company representatives from all over the world. The jury, which is composed of renowned representatives from nine countries, will then announce the winners in the six award categories. The award ceremony will take place on the same day as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) evening event. BETD is organised by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as well as the Federal Foreign Office.
Five finalists are from Germany, three are from France, and two are from India. There is also one start-up from each of the following countries: the UK, Finland, Spain, Bangladesh, Australia, Brazil, Kenya and Nigeria. The ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ forms the foundation for building an international network focused on innovations in the global energy transition.
‘We are extremely happy with the popularity of our project and the many fascinating ideas and business models that have been submitted from around the world. It just goes to show how incredible the innovation dynamic of the global energy transition is,’ said Andreas Kuhlmann, Chief Executive of dena. ‘We want to use this project to give these committed start-ups a voice in the climate debate. This fits well with the German presidency of the G20 and with the ambitions Germany has or should have for shaping this energy transition.’
In addition to the final pitches from the nominated start-ups, international prominent stakeholders will speak at the Tech Festival on 20 March. Actual challenges of the global energy transition will also be thrashed out in workshops with business partners.
18 finalists for the ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ in 6 categories
The ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ will be given in the following six categories:
1. Urban Energy Transition
The Urban Energy Transition category includes the following nominees:
- Sunew Filmes Fotovoltaicos Impressos S. A. (Brazil): With their very thin, highly flexible, translucent and insulating properties, the ultra-thin photovoltaic modules from Sunew Filmes represent the next generation of this technology.
- Beebryte – Building Energy Intelligence (France): BeeBryte has developed a cloud-based software solution that optimises energy consumption.
- Glowee (France): Glowee is developing a new kind of lighting system that is based on bio-luminescent micro-organisms, which makes it a particularly natural and sustainable form of lighting.
2. Cleantech against Climate Change
The Cleantech against Climate Change category includes the following nominees:
- Aurelia Turbines Oy (Finland): Aurelia produces efficient micro-gas turbines. The company wants to use the high efficiency of these turbines to make sustainable changes to power generation.
- Electrochaea GmbH (Germany): Electrochaea offers electricity grid operators a storage solution based on the power-to-gas approach, which makes it possible to balance out fluctuations in the electricity grid.
- Hydrogenious Technologies GmbH (Germany): The Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier technology is a solution to securely and reliably store hydrogen.
3. Future Production & Manufacturing
The Future Production & Manufacturing category includes the following nominees:
- CAALA GmbH (Germany): CAALA calculates the energy requirements of buildings in the early planning phase in real time. A life cycle analysis including eco-balance and costs is simultaneously created and graphically displayed.
- AEInnova (Spain): HEAT-R is a system for the intelligent use of waste heat whose different modules can be connected to a variety of heat sources.
- Sicoya GmbH (Germany): Sicoya has developed cost-effective, energy-efficient and scalable optical transceiver chips for server connections, which can be mass produced.
4. Mobility meets Energy Transition
The Mobility meets Energy Transition category includes the following nominees:
- Thermal Energy Service Solutions Private Limited (India): based on ‘Thermal Energy Storage’ technology, the company has built an electrically operated cold transport solution based on the ‘Plug&Chill’ system.
- Blue Inductive GmbH (Germany): Blue Inductive is developing a wireless super charger for e-cars and mobile robots that provides a completely automatic solution to the battery charging problem.
- EP Tender (France): EP Tender is a mobile auxiliary battery that increases the range of e-cars and is mounted on a small trailer hooked up behind the car.
5. Platform und Communities
The Platform and Communities category includes the following nominees:
- ME SOLshare (Bangladesh): With its micro-grid, SOLshare provides energy in regions of Bangladesh that were not yet connected to the electricity grid, enabling local users to trade the electricity.
- Citizengage (India): With its platform, Citizengage offers a network for sustainable waste management by networking the stakeholders involved and analytically preparing the generated data.
- Greensync (Australia): The newly developed platform from Greensync acts as a marketplace that coordinates interactions between grid operators, electricity producers and owners of regenerative energy sources.
6. Special Prize: Sustainable Future For All: Startup SDG 7
The Special Prize category: Sustainable Future For All: Startup SDG 7 (special award for projects that contribute to the seventh sustainable development goal (SDG 7) of the United Nations: affordable and clean energy for all) includes the following nominees:
- SunCulture (Kenya): SunCulture has developed solar-operated watering systems that due to their small size can even be transported on mopeds – tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized farms.
- Enterprise Project Ventures Ltd – Inspirafarms (United Kingdom): InspiraFarms manufactures modular cold storage units in which food products can be stored. The cold storage units are powered by solar panels and function without being connected to an electricity grid.
- Cold Hubs (Nigeria): Cold Hubs is a modular ‘Plug & Play’ cooling system that can be operated with solar energy beyond existing electricity grids and provides farmers with the opportunity to use a pay-as-you-store system.
More information on the finalists for the ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ can be found at www.startup-energy-transition.com/newsroom.
The database of the top 100 candidates will soon be available at www.startup-energy-transition.com.
Start-ups and investors at the Tech Festival
Start-ups have the opportunity to meet potential customers and investors at the Tech Festival at the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin on 20 March. An exhibition will showcase successful start-up founders whose innovative activities are contributing to climate protection. Prominent keynote speakers and panels complete the programme. Speakers include Felix Zhang (Envision Energy, manufacturer of wind turbines), Peter Terium (Innogy, provider of electricity from renewable energy sources), Christopher Burghardt (Uber Technologies, provider of services), Dr Jeremy Leggett (Solarcentury & Solar Aid, solar energy companies), Jules Kortenhorst (Rocky Mountain Institute, organisation for research, consultancy and public relations work in the field of sustainable development), Dirk Ahlborn (Hyperloop Technologies, high-tech start-up), Prof. Stephan Reimelt (GE Germany & Austria, digital industrial companies), Philipp Schröder (Sonnen GmbH, manufacturer of battery storage), Lisa Besserman (Startup Buenos Aires, networking organisation), and Claus Wattendrup (Vattenfall Europe Innovation GmbH, energy group).
More information on the Tech Festival can be found at www.startup-energy-transition.com/tech-festival.
Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD)
More than 1,000 prestigious participants from 70 countries are expected at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD), held concurrently with the Tech Festival. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Foreign Office are organising this annual conference as a way of bringing together experts from the fields of politics, science, industry and civil society. In this way, they hope to foster international cooperation in climate protection, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. The guests at the BETD will have the unique chance to learn about the business models of the energy transition’s future architects at the Tech Festival. It means that, around 20–21 March, Berlin will become the centre of international debate on the future of the global energy transition.
More information on the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue can be found at www.energiewende2017.com.
International support for the initiative
Over 100 collaborative partners from more than 25 countries support the initiative. They include the International Energy Agency (IEA); the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); the internationally renowned Rocky Mountain Institute/Carbon War Room alliance; the European Climate Foundation (ECF); the international incubator Hub:raum; Climate-KIC; KIC Inno Energy; and a number of key industrial associations from Germany. Key initiative partners include the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ); the foreign trade agency GTAI; the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability; the German Chambers of Commerce; the KfW Group; Deutsche Welle; and the consultancy DWR eco.
International ambassadors of the ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ include Patricia Espinosa, General Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); Philipp Schröder, Managing Director at sonnen GmbH; Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and JumpStarter; and Dr Jeremy Leggett, founding director of Solarcentury and founder/Chief Executive of SolarAid.
Corporate partners include the Chinese energy company Envision Energy; the innogy Innovation Hub company; the French electric power provider Enedis; Vattenfall Germany; the French electric power company EDF; the E.ON innovation support programme :agile accelerator; the wilo company; the grid operator State Grid Corporation of China; and the biggest Austrian electric power provider Verbund.
Press contact:
Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena), Stella Matsoukas, Chausseestrasse 128 a, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)30 726 165 657; fax: +49 (0)30 726 165 699; email: matsoukas@dena.de; website: www.dena.de
DWR eco GmbH, Doreen Rietentiet, Albrechtstrasse 22, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)30 609 819 500, Fax: +49 (0)30 609 819 509, email: rietentiet(at)dwr-eco.com, website: www.dwr-eco.com
