#21toWatch sees surge in tech solutions for climate challenges
The #21toWatch awards which are open to the inspiring People, pioneering Companies and ground-breaking ‘Things’ across Cambridge and the East of England, have seen a surge in nominations for climate tech companies over the past year.
This is unsurprising as according to the TechNation 2020 report the UK saw a 21% increase in investment for climate tech, and agriculture companies, reaching a record $798m. While East of England climate tech companies received a 34% increase in investment to $59m.
Cambridge-based PR and communications company cofinitive, which leads the #21toWatch programme, has noticed a trend in the number of submissions for Climate and CleanTech companies over the past year and there is no sign of that slowing down.
Events like Cambridge CleanTech Venture Day, held last momth, highlight the importance of the CleanTech community. Covering everything from self-healing concrete and solar energy technology to zero emission diesel engine replacement and zero emission delivery operators – the range of pioneering technology is impressive and reflected in this year’s #21toWatch submissions.
Here we are pleased to feature three of the entries on the current longlist who are transforming how we live, work and travel, for the better.
People: Robert Edwards
Robert is CEO and co-founder of Solar Polar , which works to empower developing countries with sustainable cooling solutions. With more than ten years’ experience as a design engineer, product designer, and project manager, Robert has developed a number of unique patentable products and managed several key projects under the Energy Entrepreneur’s Fund (EEF) for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in the UK.
Company: Oomph EV
Oomph is designing and developing a customer centric ecosystem to deliver rapid mobile EV charge where people need it. The company believe that as we are not constrained by a fixed infrastructure, EV vehicles should not be either. Oomph is designed to manage range anxiety and help people transition to EV, also to be a quick and easy solution for the emergency scenario. Delivering renewable power to EV drivers via an EV vehicle is a simple and clean solution.
Things: AgriGrub
The team at AgriGrub were amongst the first to grow Black Soldier Fly larvae in the UK and have a specially developed strain trained to eat waste. While there are other companies in the UK which build technology to support the insect industry, AgriGrub is the only company which uses organic waste as a feedstock (waste fruits and vegetables from Tesco’s supply chain). AgriGrub is also targeting scale, to make a substantial difference to the climate crisis by processing 6 million tonnes of food waste by 2030.
Gemma Dorling , Project Lead for #21toWatch, says of the submissions: “We are delighted to see a range of sectors represented once again in the #21toWatch long list. With the build up to COP26 it is no surprise that we’ve seen an increase of CleanTech and AgriTech companies”.
She continued: “It is also so exciting when we reach out to companies to tell them they have been nominated. Once they’re over the initial shock and see the impact the list has made on previous participants, they actively engage with the programme. It is very humbling to know that we are helping them on their journey.”
CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS
Closing date for submissions is 14 th January 2022 and the shortlist will be announced in February. A panel of independent judges will determine the Top21 who will be unveiled in a unique event on 3 rd March 2022.
You can make your nomination or submission for #21toWatch and find out more about the programme at www.cofinitive.com/21toWatch and by following #21toWatch on social media.
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