By Catherine Early. (This article originally featured in our event magazine the CLP Daily #2) Start-ups provide an important source of inspiration to politicians looking for new policy ideas, says Diederik Samsom. With a senior role in the European Commission as head of cabinet for first vice-president Frans Timmermans, Diederik Samsom has recently witnessed first- hand… Read more »
(Image via Openclipart) BY LUCY WOODS (This article originally featured in our event magazine the CLP Daily #4) One inescapable difference between ClimateLaunchpad 2020 and previous years has been the monumental challenge of hosting an international event almost entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic is scary, confusing, and fraught with anxieties… Read more »
Celebrating 5 years of ClimateLaunchpad in Ukraine — the challenges, the achievements and the start-ups ClimateLaunchpad has been fueling the growth of Ukrainian green startups since 2016. As the national lead in Ukraine, Greencubator has organised five national selection cycles and boot camps, and held four National Finals in most creative settings – from one… Read more »
Positive leadership paying off for Nigerian ClimateLaunchpad team This is Tosin Ajide’s second year running ClimateLaunchpad in Nigeria, and, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition is still growing stronger. “It keeps getting better every year. This year we had over 300 applications!” says Ajide. Just like the rest of the world, climate change has had… Read more »
Has peak oil arrived and what are the impact and opportunities for cleantech Peak oil. It has been a topic of heated conversation for decades. The traditional definition describes it as the theorised point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which it enters into terminal decline. In 1962,… Read more »
Bridging the gap between corporate need and locally sourced potential If there is one woman in Pakistan working relentlessly to encourage Pakistani public and private spaces to take a more integrated sustainability approach, it is Hira Wajahat. Hira is National Lead for ClimateLaunchpad and Programme Manager at consulting firm Stimulus. Her aim is to bring… Read more »
This week, six years ago, ClimateLaunchpad saw its first light of day in this world. We have been growing ever since. Time to take a closer look at regional differences. What does it take to create impact with a cleantech start-up on one continent or the other? What stories can be shared from across the… Read more »
Our competition has been running on a global scale for several years in a row now. Being the curious lot we are, we figured it is time to take a closer look at regional differences. What does it take to create impact with a cleantech start-up on one continent or the other? What success stories… Read more »
We all feel the impact of the current situation. Regional differences aside we are all affected, all of our lives are affected and all economies are affected. We got in touch with two of our alumni to find out how they and their start-ups are dealing with COVID-19. Pedro Silva Humbert from ECO2Blocks (2018 global… Read more »
Pakistan joined ClimateLaunchpad in 2019 and created a huge success with over a 100 applications by green start-ups from across all regions. Our National Partner Stimulus created quite a buzz around their National Finals and attracted a lot of corporate leaders and sustainability experts. Hira Wajahat, Project Lead Stimulus: “What we created here was an… Read more »
Guest blog written by Cassie Pierce A growing concern for sustainability has transformed how companies are designing their products and marketing them to an increasingly green public. But these initiatives are just the start, as many have also begun making adjustments behind the scenes with regards to their supply chain — and rightly so, given… Read more »
The EIT Climate-KIC entrepreneurship offerings: innovation for global climate action Stimulating the energy and enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to lead the charge with new climate-positive business models is a powerful way to address climate change across sectors and systems. That is why EIT Climate-KIC identifies, supports and invests in (aspiring) entrepreneurs in every stage of innovation:… Read more »
When our founder Frans Nauta recently returned from leading our Boot Camp in Karachi, Pakistan, he reported: “It was quite something: great entrepreneurs, great atmosphere. And great participation by female founders. Over 50% of participants were women, and they totally rocked.” We decided we needed to find out more about this. Participation by female founders… Read more »
Australian start-up, The Compost Depot, is on a mission to reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfill. They set up a community worm farm/compost depot in Melbourne for locals who cannot compost their waste at home. As they want to grow their impact they applied for and were granted $200 000 from the… Read more »
This is not your average start-up competition We are not a pitching event. You know what I am talking about… Those competitions that lure you in with the promise of gigantic sums of award money. You enter them just to pitch your business and if you somehow impress the jury, you become an award winning… Read more »
Take a deep dive into the economics of a green future with ClimateLaunchpad trainer Ron Bloemers During a sold-out MELT Innovatsioonifoorum in Tallinn, Estonia, our very own trainer Ron Bloemers delivered the opening keynote: ‘The cleantech revolution is here to stay and what it takes to accelerate it’. With 25 years on his belt in… Read more »
“Missing out on women is missing out on solving climate change.” “When I started working with cleantech, the lack of women involved surprised me,” says Frans Nauta, Project Lead of ClimateLaunchpad. “We know that fixing climate change takes tens of thousands of ideas, experiments, initiatives and businesses. We need all talented and resourceful entrepreneurial potential… Read more »
ClimateLaunchpad trainer Ron Bloemers shares the basics of cleantech start-up training. We sat down with our Boot Camp trainer of the first hour: Ron Bloemers (founder and managing partner of cleantech business accelerator Start-U-up in Amsterdam). His 25 years of hands-on experience with cleantech, renewables and start-ups is of unparalleled value to our participants. Today… Read more »
‘ClimateLaunchpad is about creating successful start-ups that will tackle climate change.’ An interview with ClimateLaunchpad trainer Elena Messiou. In 2016 Elena Messiou became one of our Boot Camp trainers. High time for a chat with her about her experience and insights. How did you get involved with ClimateLaunchpad? “One of our other trainers is… Read more »
The value of a shared founders dream An interview with Israel Griol Barres, one of our ClimateLaunchpad Trainers Israel is the StartUPV business accelerator manager in Spain and an experienced lecturer, trainer and mentor. His specialities are innovation, business models, business strategy and entrepreneurship. He first got involved with ClimateLaunchpad in 2014 as a… Read more »
You create the biggest impact if you create the largest business. An interview with Hans Westerhof, ClimateLaunchpad Trainer and Project Lead. Hans Westerhof has been part of ClimateLaunchpad ever since the early days back in 2014. As Project Lead and as one of our Trainers. We interviewed him on his preferred module in our infamous… Read more »
An interview with Mike Goodfellow-Smith – ClimateLaunchpad Trainer ClimateLaunchpad Trainer Mike Goodfellow-Smith is a long time environmental sustainability practitioner and entrepreneur. He began his career as a social entrepreneur with a mission to address climate change and is now studying for a PhD. He’s been one of our Trainers ever since the start in 2014…. Read more »
An interview with Chrétien Herben – ClimateLaunchpad Trainer We had a chat with Chrétien Herben, one of our Boot Camp Trainers. He told us about his favourite training module (Market Segmentation), discussed the power working together with peers and he explains the balance between being open and stubborn. You were involved in creating our Boot… Read more »
An interview with Paris Thomas – ClimateLaunchpad Trainer “Being a ClimateLaunchpad trainer is an amazing job. I get to meet and work with so many smart, motivated and energetic people. It’s sheer joy. Our participants are a brave lot, during the competition I see them go through highs and lows, conquer stuff they never had… 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
