Climate-KIC climate champions win Venture and Innovator awards at INNOVEIT
Climate-KIC are proud to announce that two of the three EIT Awards were won by Climate-KIC climate champions last night (25 April) at INNOVEIT.
INNOVEIT is a two-day innovation forum organised by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which this year gathered more than 350 entrepreneurs and innovators from across Europe.
The EIT Awards promote innovation and encourage entrepreneurship by putting the most innovative ventures, entrepreneurial graduates and innovation teams emerging from the EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) in the spotlight and to create role models to drive future change.
Three awards were presented, highlighting the most successful start-ups, the most innovative projects and the best young entrepreneurial talent that Europe has to offer.
The EIT Venture Award, which celebrates breakthrough innovations and exciting start-ups, was given to Florian Schneider, a Netherlands-based entrepreneur who is co-founder of Climate-KIC start-up Nerdalize, which heats houses with computer power. He said:
‘I’m very proud that Nerdalize has been recognised in the EIT Awards, and would like to thank Climate-KIC for their support and coaching. As part of the project’s accelerator programme, we have built a network, gained access to customers and potential partners, and seen our system piloted in five homes – now we’re ready to scale-up production.’
The Innovators Award, for developing an innovative product, service or process with an outstanding potential for positive societal and economic impact, was given to Norbert Kuipers, a Dutch national who worked with Climate-KIC to develop a system for using waste and renewable heat for clean water production and indoor air control. He said:
‘Waste heat plays a significant part in rising global temperatures. This project, called WE4CC-II, worked to find a way to harness this waste heat to produce high-quality water and humidity control, which can substantially reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This EIT Award will bolster our credentials as we look to further develop and market the technology.’