The German Energy Agency (dena) has published an international list of the top 100 energy transition start-ups (#GET100), and sent it to the heads of state and government of the participating G20 countries as a contribution to the upcoming summit in Hamburg. The 100 start-ups listed are those which received the best accolades from the international jury at the ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ presented by dena. They are distinguished by their innovative ideas for worldwide climate protection and the global energy transition.

‘#GET100 shows the kind of innovative power that the global energy transition can unleash. It also makes it easier for key players from politics and industry to forge contacts with international start-ups,’ says Andreas Kuhlmann, Chief Executive of dena. ‘Start-ups, plus an increasing number of other innovative companies, have a key significance not just for the success of the energy transition, but also for new, sustainable initiatives for industry and new jobs. The #GET100 start-ups provide particularly successful examples of this. We would like to invite all the participants at the G20 summit, in their discussions on the future of energy, to respond to the clarion call sounded by this list – that is, for a committed struggle against global climate change.’

The Start Up Energy Transition Award 2017

By the beginning of the year, more than 500 start-ups from 66 countries had entered the first international ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ presented by dena. An international jury decided the winners of each category from the entries submitted. The award was presented in front of an international audience on 20 March 2017, as part of the evening event of the ‘Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue’ (BETD) energy transition summit. It was divided into six categories:

• ‘The Urban Energy Transition’: for contributions to digitalised, sustainable cities
• The ‘Cleantech against Climate Change’ category: for technologies that reduce greenhouse emissions across sectors
• ‘Future of Production and Manufacturing’: for digital solutions in industry
• ‘Mobility meets Energy Transition’: for sustainable mobility concepts
• ‘Platforms and Communities’: for the expansion of platforms
• ‘Sustainable Future For All: Startup SDG 7’: a special award for a project that makes an outstanding contribution to the seventh sustainable development goal (SDG 7) of the United Nations: affordable and clean energy for all

The Start Up Energy Transition Award forms the bedrock on which to build an international community focused on innovations in the global energy transition. The Award will also be presented in 2018.

More information about the Start Up Energy Transition Award and its many partners can be found at www.startup-energy-transition.com.

International support for the initiative

Over 100 collaborative partners from more than 25 countries supported the initiative. They included the Interna-tional 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; plus a number of key industrial associations from Germany. Key partners of the initiative included 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; plus the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Foreign Office.

In terms of patrons, the project was initially supported by the former Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel and the former Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and later by Federal Minister for Eco-nomic Affairs Brigitte Zypries. The international ambassadors involved with the ‘Start Up Energy Transition Award’ include: Patricia Espinosa, General Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); Adnan Amin, Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA); Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and JumpStarter Inc.; Dr Christoph Beier, Vice-Chair of the GIZ Management Board; Pati Ruiz Costa, Director of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda; Connie Hedegaard, Chair of the international environmental protection agency, the KR Foundation; Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute; Maria Krautzberger, President of the German Federal Environment Agency; Dr Jeremy Leggett, founding director of Solarcentury and founder/Chief Executive of SolarAid; Rachel Kyte, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All; Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, Chair of the Munasinghe Institute for Development; Prof. Ortwin Renn, Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies Potsdam (IASS); Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); Philipp Schröder, Managing Director of sonnen GmbH; Dr Christoph Wolff, Managing Director of the European Climate Foundation; Ewald Woste, Industrial Advisor for EQT.

Corporate partners included 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 Austrian Association of Energy Providers; and the Chinese energy company State Grid.