SAN FRANCISCO, 9 February 2017 – Clean technology innovators and entrepreneurs from seven countries, namely India, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey were today honoured at the 2017 Cleantech Week in San Francisco.
The Cleantech Week, hosted by the Cleantech Open (CTO), is a confluence of the cleantech industry and climate movement that aims to create new business opportunities by cultivating partnerships within the cleantech innovation space.
This was part of the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) for small- and medium-sized enterprises and top entrepreneurs from the U.S. and around the world to celebrate the progress, achievements and successes of clean technology innovation.
The GCIP is a joint initiative of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and is conducted in partnership with CTO. It takes a competition and accelerator approach to select the best cleantech entrepreneurs across seven countries and support them in developing their innovative technologies into full-fledged market-ready products. Selected startups in each country participate in a rigorous and competitive national acceleration programme that trains, mentors, promotes, and connects them to potential investors, customers and partners.
This year’s Global Cleantech Innovation Award winner, Green India Building Systems and Services Private Limited (GIBBS) of India, has developed a geothermal heat exchange air-conditioning system that brings up to 60% energy savings and 100% water savings compared to conventional building cooling systems.
Two runner-up teams were Eko-Geste of Morocco with an integrated platform solution for household waste collection and recycling, and Baoberry of South Africa with a nature-based, ecologically engineered water-purifying solution.
Global category award winners were: iCEE from Malaysia and Atomberg Technologies of India in the energy efficiency category, Green Team from Pakistan in the waste-to-energy category, and Thevia from South Africa in the green building category.
The 2016 GCIP national winners, including Neutrinos of Malaysia, SSUETIANS of Pakistan, and NG Biotech of Turkey, also presented their innovative solutions to investors and the business community.
Philippe R. Scholtès, UNIDO Managing Director, who congratulated the participants via a video message, said: “The continued expansion of the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme family affirms and strengthens our vision of building an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem for clean technologies around the globe. This will allow the programme to further unite and connect a diverse range of partners to accelerate clean technology ventures, that they may achieve their greatest potential impact. I am confident that our joint efforts will support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, including those that relate to clean energy, inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and innovation.”
The 2016 GCIP accelerator cycles conducted in the seven countries received a total of 1,261 applicants, and 236 semifinalist teams participated in the accelerators.
For more information, please contact:
Takeshi Nagasawa
UNIDO Senior Porgramme Management Expert
email
Alois Mhlanga
UNIDO Industrial Development Officer
email
Source: Unido.org
