June 26-28 2015 – The ClimateLaunchpad Boot Camp in Estonia kicked off with a meet and greet dinner on June 26th, at the small sailors’ village Käsmu by the Baltic Sea. At that inspirational spot all teams had an opportunity to introduce their innovative ideas by using modeling clay. That way the 10 selected teams had a chance to give a good visualization of their business idea, potential clients and value proposition. After this playful exercise, the teams got some free time to mingle with the mentors: Ron Bloemers and Emilie van Rappard from Climate-KIC, Indrek Kelder (a cleantech investor from Smart Cap), and Kati Nikopensius (experienced coach and a COO of Ocean Visuals).
The Boot Camp continued with a powerful morning the next day at an old power substation with life lessons from Arnold Schwarzenegger:
Trust yourself; Break some rules; Don’t be afraid to fail; Ignore the naysayers; Work like hell and Give something back!
The intensive learning day was wrapped up with a relaxing boat tip on the sea and some individual mentoring at the sauna, where THE DEAL was found for many.
The Estonian hottest solutions for climate change include:
1. ReLaDe is developing a detergent free system for laundry machines. Their ground-breaking solutions helps to reduce the use of detergents as well as
water pollution.
2. Travel Light aims to make plain travelling easier by reducing the weight and number of luggage people are travelling with. Instead, Travel Light offers a brilliant solution to rent the items you need at your destination airport.
3. Sympower is aggregating home heating for electricity network flexibility. Instead of industry level demand side aggregation, Ecogrid is a unique player in Europe doing it on a household level, enabling to save energy and reduce household utility bills.
4. Reverse Resources solves the huge problem of textile waste in Asia. They offer a platform that enables fashion brands to know their waste and turn it
into additional products.
5. PCO Solutions offers air purification units to industrial enterprises to reduce volatile organic compound and charges on emitting VOCs. The gas
purification unit is compact, low-maintenance and economically viable, having received interest already from the printing industry.
6. PostPal is a delivery service for online stores that offers fast, cheap and green delivery by eliminating middleman courier companies.
7. Creatomus is a web-based solution that enables end-users (home buyers) to choose and customize their future home. It is an easy and fun-to-use browser application that allows future owners to visualize the home of their dream but also keep it affordable by displaying the construction costs and monthly energy usage back to the user in real-time.
8. VeggieRadar’s platform makes agricultural produce easily accessible. It enables gardeners and farmers to sell or give away their produce. The consumers can easily search for fresh produce in the preferred location range and book the produce in real time.
9. Eco Coins offers new virtual currency to reward eco activists for their actions.
Their platform creates a user-environment that stimulates eco-friendly behavior.
10. RING is a virtual warehouse and an information centre that promotes the reuse of material leftover.
These teams continue to develop their business idea before the Estonian final on August 12th in Tallinn.
The ClimateLaunchpad program is organised in Estonia with the help of sponsors and partners like Estonian Development Fund, KPMG Baltics, Marble Invest, the Ministry of the Environment, Tehnopol Science Park and Pakri Science and Industry Park.
Marit Sall, ClimateLaunchpad Estonia
