31 March, 2021 – A huge $50,000 development grant, has just been announced for this year’s national ClimateLaunchpad competition, and cleantech start-ups using emerging technology across Australia are encouraged to enter.
ClimateLaunchpad is the world’s biggest cleantech and green business competition and this year a $50,000 development grant will be awarded for an emerging tech idea coming out of the Australian leg of the competition. The grant is supported by Humanitech, an Australian Red Cross initiative putting humanity at the centre of technology, thanks to funding from the Telstra Foundation
“We truly believe there is enormous opportunity in harnessing the transformational power of technology for good,” says Alastair Pryor, Humanitech’s Lab Manager. “Climate change is the major humanitarian crisis of our time, so it makes sense for us to support and amplify technologies with the greatest potential to mitigate or help us adapt.”
Chris Lee, CEO of Climate-KIC Australia, the organisation running the Australian leg of the competition, says the time is ripe for investing in emerging technologies to combat climate change in Australia. “We punch above our weight in the cleantech space,” says Lee.
In last year’s competition, three Aussie start-ups made it through to the Global Grand Final. “We have enormous cleantech talent in Australia – and this major prize will be hugely beneficial for bringing some of that emerging technology to market, and ultimately make real climate impact.”
Previous Australian ClimateLaunchpad entrants such as green shopping app Greener, organic waste recycler Localcycle, circular economy consultants Coreo, solar thermal PV tech company Sunovate and sodium-ion battery builders Elevenstore have successfully used ClimateLaunchpad to launch their ideas into the world.
Applications for this year’s competition, which includes a 3-day bootcamp, training and mentoring, are now open and close on April 22. Participation in the program is completely free of charge.
“I strongly encourage anyone with a cleantech idea to enter ClimateLaunchpad,” says Lee. “If you have an emerging tech idea to tackle climate change then we want to help you get it off the ground.”
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For media interviews contact:
Jessica Hyne | 0487 152 057 | jessica.hyne@climate-kic.org.au
Interviews are available with:
- Christopher Lee – Climate-KIC Australia CEO
- Alastair Pryor – Red Cross Humanitech Lab Manager
- Previous ClimateLaunchpad entrants – please contact for details.
“We truly believe there is enormous opportunity in harnessing the transformational power of technology for good. Climate change is the major humanitarian crisis of our time, so it makes sense for us to support and amplify technologies with the greatest potential to mitigate or help us adapt.”
Alastair Pryor
Lab Manager, Humanitech
About ClimateLaunchpad
ClimateLaunchpad is the world’s largest and most successful cleantech and green business ideas competition. Running in over 50 countries, its mission is to unlock the global potential for cleantech to address climate change, and help to fast-track ideas into businesses. Climate-KIC Australia runs to the program in Australia to provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs, students and researchers to connect to a global network of investors, accelerators and market opportunities. Globally, ClimateLaunchpad has generated more than 6,700 ideas, resulting in more than 8,000 jobs created within 1,900 new companies.
The program is run in collaboration with EIT Climate-KIC, the EU’s major climate innovation initiative.
About Climate-KIC Australia
Climate-KIC Australia is a knowledge and innovation community that aims to inspire and enable climate action by being a catalyst for systemic change, through innovation. Born out of a collaboration with EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private partnership focused on climate change, Climate-KIC Australia specialises in supporting on-the-ground innovation to catalyse system change. We establish links between research, business, entrepreneurs, investors and government to drive transformational projects that unlock change at the speed and scale the climate challenge needs.
About Humanitech
Humanitech is a think+do tank convened by Australian Red Cross with the support of Founding Partner the Telstra Foundation. Humanitech seeks to shape the future by harnessing the power of technology for good. Humanitech forms collaborations to develop insights into the social implications of frontier technologies and create or amplify solutions with the greatest potential for social impact. Humanitech wants to see technology serving humanity by putting the needs of people at the centre.
