Climate-KIC announces 2014 Venture Competition finalists

Climate-KIC has announced the shortlist for its 2014 Venture Competition, with the winner due to be announced later this month in Spain.

A total of 18 clean tech start-ups have made the final list, and the finalists will now be assessed by a jury of experienced entrepreneurs, financers and businesspeople. The three winners will share €65,000 to help further develop the next generation of disruptive clean technologies and services.

Speaking about the Venture Competition, Hero Prins, director of entrepreneurship at Climate-KIC, said: “The Venture Competition is designed to spur innovation by giving the clean tech start-ups of the future the funding and support they need to succeed commercially.

“This is the fourth year of our competition, and our previous winners have gone on to achieve considerable commercial success – tadoº, a winner in 2012, recently raised €10m in Venture Competition funding and is now rapidly extending the rollout of its intelligent home heating service around the world.”

The finalists, who represent ten countries across Europe, include PlugSurfing, an app to facilitate the mass adoption of electric vehicles; Reduse, a new technology that removes printer ink from paper so it can be reused multiple times; GrowUp Urban Farms, an aquaculture and hydroponics system that supports sustainable farms in urban environments; and ReVibe, a new technology that transforms vibrations into electricity.

The European finals will take place in Valencia, Spain, on 30 and 31 October 2014. The competition forms part of Climate-KIC’s annual Innovation Festival, which brings together Climate-KIC partners, students and entrepreneurs, as well as European policy makers and business market leaders. The festival focuses on developing and commercialising innovative climate change products and services.