For the fourth year in a row, Swedish entrepreneurs have been awarded in one of Europe’s largest innovation competitions for climate impact, Startup 4 Climate. The winners of this year’s competition, startups Cemvision and Novige, convinced the jury with fossil-free, circular, and energy-efficient cement; and a combined wave-, sun-, and wind power solution, respectively. The winning companies will receive SEK 1 million each and coaching from the jury.

Read the full story here: https://startup4climate.com/press/

Startup 4 Climate, the energy transition’s answer to Dragons Den with four times as much prize money as Robinson, has attracted a record number of contributions and an unprecedented interest from the public ahead of this year’s edition of the competition. Now the jury has named seven out of eight finalists with submissions covering everything from fossil-free cement, fusion energy and organic batteries, to AI for buildings. Climate gaming also gets a chance after the game Climatopia received the most votes out of 8,200 in The People’s Vote.

The eight finalists will now proceed to the final round on November 15, where they will pitch their innovations to the jury. Here you can find Johanna Mossberg from the Swedish Energy Agency, angel investor Jane Walerud, professor Lina Bertling Tjernberg, Stefan Krook who founded GodEl and Kivra, and Johan Lindehag CEO of the energy company Ellevio.

To the Shortllist

Note: All votes in the People´s Vote have been run through a secure e-mail verification tool. 684 email addresses were discarded in this process. The winning submission received 1087 votes.  

It is fantastic to see how many people are engaging with the voting process on our website. We have now passed a milestone by exceeding 5000 votes, and will now hand over 25 000 SEK to Doctors Without Borders and their solar panel project in Sierra Leone.

But the People’s Vote does not stop here, it stays open until 24th of September! Pick your favourite by clicking “vote now”.  You can only vote one time. The contestant who gets the most votes will win a spot on the finalist shortlist and will get to pitch their idea to the jury at The grand finale November 15th. 

Vote now !

Anna Quarnström is Startup 4 Climates competition manager. She reveals everything you need to know about the challenge in this  interview with Feminvest podcast. Learn about previous winners, the prize, what it takes to win, how to apply and much more . 23 minutes within the episode, Anna joins.

👉 Listen here: 

Yesterday evening female entreprenur network Feminvest gathered their EXPAND members for an evening of mingling and exciting networking opportunities. Startup 4 Climate was there and talked about our most urgent initiative to date.  We sincerely hope that we will see more female entrepreneur applicants this year. ✨ Thanks for having us! 

Feminvest – Accelerating female ownership

The energy company Ellevio Energy Solutions AB doubles its shareholding in the young energy technology company Flower Technologies,
which specializes in flexibility and support services in the electricity system. The market for new energy services is growing
explosively, and Flower has had strong growth during the year.

Read the full article here:

Our jurymember and angel investor Jane Walerud participated in Under 15 podcast. Hear her story and learn why you shall apply to Startup 4 Climate innovation challenge.
Listen to the episode here.

Professor Lina Bertling Tjernberg, one of our jury members participated in the Under 15 podcast. Listen and learn more about energy transition, energy supply and electricity grids. 
Listen to the episode here. 

According to Ingmar Rentzhog, Swedish founder of We Don’t Have Time and climate profile, we need plenty of strong measures to reach the climate goals.

– We need a whole bunch of different measures to reach the goals, but the energy transition is of course a very important key. In Sweden, energy use is expected to double by 2045 which means it’s vital to make sure that all the energy we use is clean. The energy transition will also create plenty of new jobs. Just look at Norrbotten and Västerbotten, two regions that have been struggling with depopulation and closures for a long time. 100 000 new jobs are currently being created thanks to the transition from fossil to clean energy, says Ingmar.

He also emphasizes that even those who don’t have in-depth knowledge in the energy business should cast their vote in the competition. Why? To learn more!

– There is so much going on in green tech and energy tech and Swedish companies are at the forefront. This is where it is happening right now, and investors are flocking to sustainable innovations. The companies are quick to act, often a lot quicker than the politicians. By casting your vote, you will get a crash course in Swedish energy innovations. Additionally, you yourself get to influence and drive the transition.

As an example of contemporary energy innovations, Ingmar mentions the company TwinWind that has developed offshore twin turbines as a company that’s worth keeping an eye on.

– It is an innovation that reduces installation costs as well as the impact on the surrounding landscape, while simultaneously drastically increasing energy production. I am also becoming more and more curious about innovations that help us save energy. It is always good to be able to save in times of crises.

In international media, Ingmar is known as both “eco warrior” and “Mark ZuckerVert” (vert=green in French). He sees his celebrity status as a double-edged sword when it comes to the green transition:

– Sometimes it feels as if the famous face obscures the view of everything that is happening behind the scenes. But at the same time, I realise that well-known faces draw attention which is obviously a good thing. So yes, the more well-known people that highlight the green transition the better.