Climate-KIC firm BVG launches €95,000 competition
Climate-KIC and Berlin’s public transport firm BVG have teamed up for the Open Innovation Slam 2014 competition.
This year, Climate-KIC’s interactive Europe-wide idea and start-up Open Innovation Slam contest focuses on the smartest ideas and solutions to save energy and reduce the carbon footprint of urban public transport systems.
Berlin’s transport sector accounts for about 4.8 million tonnes of CO2, roughly a quarter of the city’s CO2 emissions.
The most innovative and powerful idea to make this more energy efficient will win a place in one of the European locations of the Climate-KIC Accelerator – the world’s largest climate-specific start-up accelerator – worth up to €95,000.
Innovative ideas can be submitted and will be presented for comments here by 14 September 2014. After that, internet users can vote to decide which ideas move on to the final.
Climate-KIC and BVG invite start-ups, researchers, practitioners and students to submit their ideas to make urban public transport more energy efficient, develop them further with professional support and win a place in the Climate-KIC Accelerator.
After the initial online selection, a jury of experts will select the ten best teams for Climate-KIC’s Venture Weekend in Berlin from 17 until 19 October 2014. The finalists will receive three days of expert mentoring, business coaching and networking with experts to further develop their ideas. On the last day, the teams will pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts and the overall winner will be announced.
Over one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union originate from transport, with 84% of that coming from road transport alone. More than 10% of all CO2 emissions in the EU come from road traffic in urban areas.
Potential emission reductions could come from improving the efficiency of vehicles through changes in design, materials, or technology; increasing energy efficiency by synergies of different technologies; promoting non-fuel technologies; or improving operating practices of vehicles.
