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.”