We hope your 2017 was as good & green as ours. A few of our highlights: we went global, the awesome amount of 1,000 ideas entered our competition, and we had 105 ass–kicking finalists rocking our Global Grand Final. To end the year in that same green & festive spirit, we decided to plant a… Read more »
You think you lost? Think again. Imagine working your behind off during a start-up or business ideas competition. Long hours, little sleep, dazzling to-do lists, tons of brutally honest feedback and at times that fuzzy feeling of being somewhat overwhelmed. That’s what joining a competition like ClimateLaunchpad can be like, especially with the intense Boot… Read more »
After participating in ClimateLaunchpad, Positive Energy enrolled in an accelerator programme in Berlin. Since then, things have been moving at high speed for the Turkey based start-up.
Our Global Grand Final in sunny Cyprus in October was a blast. Tickets were sold out, there were 105 finalists from 35 countries competing, we saw top speakers, had cocktails on the beach and enjoyed a bloody fantastic vibe. Many, many thanks to Chrysalis Leap – our Cypriot partner – for their ultra smooth hosting of our… Read more »
ClimateLaunchpad presents the next generation of cleantech entrepreneurs ready to fix climate change. Limassol, 19 October 2017 – Start-up Bio Alkanol Gel from Kenya won ClimateLaunchpad’s fourth edition. Their business idea is based on their technology to obtain liquid fuel from waste materials. Second prize goes to MeduSOIL from Switzerland; they developed microbe cement. Vienna… Read more »
Limassol, 19 October 2017 – Start-up Bio Alkanol Gel from Kenya won ClimateLaunchpad’s fourth edition. Their business idea is based on their technology to obtain liquid fuel from waste materials. Second prize goes to MeduSOIL from Switzerland; they developed microbe cement. Vienna Textile Lab from Austria came in third with their scalable process to colour… Read more »
“It’s gonna be big, get ready for scale and it’s not going to end tomorrow”, keynote speaker Danny Kennedy on fixing climate change Sunny and vibrant Cyprus today set the perfect stage for our Global Grand Final with the historic location provided by Carob Mills in the middle of Limassol the best possible spot. In… Read more »
Just a quick note to let you know we’ve finalized the program for our Grand Final in October in Cyprus and that tickets are going fast: make sure to secure yours. How about the President of Cyprus joining us for the awards ceremony, and the CEO of Climate-KIC, Kirsten Dunlop, as the chair of the Grand… Read more »
ClimateLaunchpad 2015 finalist ready for further international scale-up September 25th, 2017 – Former ClimateLaunchpad Finalist Sympower raised €1M from Enfuro Ventures and Angel Investors. Smart energy start-up Sympower offers a cloud-based aggregation platform that provides cost-effective reserve services to the electricity grid. The raised capital will fund its global scale-up. Reducing CO2 emissions Balancing the… Read more »
And why that won’t save you by Frans Nauta, founder ClimateLaunchpad In my opinion pitch technique is kind of hyped-up. I’ve seen people give terrible –terrible – pitches, seen them make every mistake in the book. But they did it in front of customers that had real problems, a real pain. And you believe me:… Read more »
2015 Finalist Brill Power (formerly known as ionQube) is going strong. During the competition they scored high points with our jury because of their innovative energy storage technology for batteries.
Our climate-fixing season is coming along nicely. With applications in Australia still coming in, we’re already at a record high with 907 business ideas entered. Will we make it to the glorious 1,000? It’s gonna be tight, but we’re counting on our Aussie friends to bring it home. #CLP1000 With National Finals happening all over… Read more »
2017 Austrian National Finals winner Elena Yaneva talked to us about what happened since she discovered ClimateLaunchpad. Here’s what she had to say. Having an idea is the only requirement “Ricarda Schmidt from [sic!] Students’ Innovation Centre, the official organizers of ClimateLaunchpad in Austria, handed me this flyer. In big letters it said: ‘Got a… Read more »
Over the years I must have seen more than a thousand start-ups, most of them in cleantech. One of the patterns I discovered is a phenomenon I call ‘Saving the Planet Star Wars Style’. It sounds cool, but can in fact mean the beginning of the end for many promising entrepreneurs. Let me explain. Great news:… Read more »
by Frans Nauta, founder ClimateLaunchpad When you see loads of start-ups you start to discover patterns. I’ve probably seen over a thousand start-ups by now, most of them in cleantech. One of the patterns emerging is Founder Narcissism, which is especially prevalent when a start-up is working on an idea that feels like it will… Read more »
Using nothing but sunlight, Desolenator turns polluted or salty water into enough drinking water for a small family. Water heats up on the solar panel until it’s boiling. Salt and heavy metals like arsenic are filtered out, the result is clean drinking water. We thought it was high time to catch up with what they’ve been up to recently.
Fixing climate change, one startup at a time – that’s what we do. But you know what? That’s actually under-promising. How about we do over a hundred at a time, all together in one location for two glorious days? That’s the ClimateLaunchpad Global Grand Final for you. Save the date and join us in Limasol, Cyprus on October… Read more »
by Frans Nauta, founder ClimateLaunchpad Founders often ask me: Do you think my idea is good? I tell them all the same thing: It doesn’t matter what I think. There are only two things that matter: whether YOU believe your idea is good, and whether you can find customers that want to buy your product…. Read more »
We prepared a fresh blog on why every start-up needs a stellar advisory board in place ASAP – and how to go about it. Read it here. Also: we discovered our work is really starting to pay off. It appears the green wave is getting oil barons seriously anxious about their riches. On top of all… Read more »
by Frans Nauta, founder ClimateLaunchpad Crucial resources that can turn your venture into a success are talent and networks. Get ready to convince the smartest, most knowledgeable and best-connected people to join you in your quest to revolutionize the energy system and the world. You not only need these people on your team, you also… Read more »
Remember a few weeks ago we posted some tips on how to win ClimateLaunchpad? To tell you the truth, winning is overrated. The real win is so much bigger: learning to build a business and finding paying customers. That’s what we offer. And it all starts with an entrepreneur and a solid belief in his… Read more »
by Frans Nauta, founder ClimateLaunchpad Once you join ClimateLaunchpad, of course you want to win. That’s how it works for me too if I join a competition. But you know what? Winning is overrated. The biggest benefits of joining ClimateLaunchpad are not about winning. At all. The real prize is that you get to build… Read more »
Delft IMP came in second during the 2015 Dutch National Final and finished in the Top-10 at the Grand Final. What they do? They figured out how to produce highly efficient catalysts, a technology that enables the transition from an oilbased economy to a biobased economy.
You’re about to enter ClimateLaunchpad or have already done so. And of course you are as serious as we are about tackling climate change. So you’re not in it just for the ride. You want to win this thing and be on your way to create global impact. Right? We’ve seen hundreds of green business… Read more »
We’re delighted to see the amount of ideas flowing in from all over the world. But there can never be too many – so keep ‘m coming. The first submission deadline is coming up in Spain on April 2. Check the deadlines for other countries on our website. Apart from that here are the green… Read more »
At the start of the year, the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) presented a handful of innovative and sustainable green technologies that are set to make a change in today’s world. In fact, the annual tech conference takes pride in its own initiatives to make CES greener every year. Despite some politicians’ anti-green stance, clean energy… Read more »
Don’t know about you, but most newsletters are so long that I just never get to the end. So we thought we’d change ours. Short & sweet, we’re gonna share the good stuff with you. The good-, great- or must-reads we come across on cleantech and entrepreneurship. Trends, insights, policy, funding, how to’s. Etcetera. Of course I’ll also… Read more »
Cambridge based Cambond won third place in ClimateLaunchpad’s 2014 Grand Final with their formaldehyde-free glue from biomass. It is used to make wood panels like MDF or plywood, a $500 billion a year industry.
You’re considering joining ClimateLaunchpad, but not quite sure yet if it’s the way to go for you. That’s fine, we’re not trying to win you over here. We just want to help you make the right decision. Your only concern should be: will you or your business idea profit from joining? Before getting into that,… Read more »
Over 750 promising sustainability ideas to battle in the 4th edition of ClimateLaunchpad February 15, 2017 – ClimateLaunchpad kicks off the fourth edition of its successful green business idea competition in Amsterdam, welcoming Serbia, Azerbaijan, France and Germany as new participating countries. With interest from Argentina, India, Kenya and Australia, ClimateLaunchpad is no longer a… Read more »
