Today marks the launch of the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator – an EU wide acceleration program that aims to support 30 climate focused startups with over EUR 400K in grants and a state of the art program. The accelerator is run by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Impact Hub Vienna along with an international consortium of partners and is backed by EIT Climate KIC.
Cities face an enormous challenge in becoming resilient, healthy places to live while reaching net-zero-emissions in just a few short years. There is no more time to wait and wonder, we must act now!
The Clean Cities ClimAccelerator is an acceleration program for startups developing solutions focused on the transformation towards climate neutrality, across all city systems – from mobility to waste, from energy to health, and the built environment. The program looks for start-ups with the capability to contribute with their solutions and services to a systemic change needed in cities. The focus is on the ecological and societal challenges faced by cities and the chance for the start-ups to develop a proof-of-concept with potential clients.
The accelerator offers a 9 month mentoring and coaching program with international experts, and up to EUR 25K in grants per startup – applications are open until May 16th on:
The program is designed in 3 stages:
– Validation: 1st stage will focus on helping start-ups refine and develop their specific unique selling point and business model: the program offers a virtual boot camp, one-on-one mentoring, up to € 5.000 funding for each start-up, workshops and exposure to our global network and events.
– Collaboration: The 2nd stage brings additional funding up to € 20.000; start-ups will engage with demand-owners, support from experts, mentors during workshops and various activities move with a well-formulated business model to real customers. They dial in on solving a real problem by one of our challenge owners and continuously develop their proof of concept.
– Impact: Start-ups are ready to pitch their business cases to investors or launch it to customers. We offer workshops on valuation, investor strategy, financial structuring, deal-making, strategic partnering and access to EIT Climate-KIC Investment Program and Investor Marketplace.
The accelerator is built on the ecosystems developed within the Deep Demonstration of Healthy, Clean Cities of the City of Madrid and the City of Vienna and is focusing on actual challenges of the respective cities.
From across the continent, start-ups will get to solve and have impact on challenges proposed by the strategic partners of the program: Ferrovial, Wien Energie, Wiener Linien, Wiener Lokalbahnen, Wiener Wohnen and ZubiLabs & La Pinada, among others.
The Clean Cities ClimAccelerator is open now for application and invites EU start-ups on the journey towards healthy, clean cities with a carbon neutral future.
More information:
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Applications open until 16/05/2021, 23:59h CET
About Universidad Politécnica de Madrid: UPM is the 1st Spanish-Speaking Tech University and the 75th Tech university in the world. UPM has a strong commitment with the SDG´s and is working to have a climate-neutral campus by 2040. University Impact & Entrepreneurship at UPM (I&E UPM) is an area created to stimulate the innovation process in the technology ecosystem. I&E UPM has created and developed an “open technological ecosystem” linked to the development of products/processes based on technologies, with about 300 high technology startups created and more than 122 million euros raised funds in last years. Under this brand, the University carries out activities that include training for entrepreneurs and incubation and acceleration of start ups.
About Impact Hub Vienna: It is a recognized home for innovators and has served as a launchpad for numerous impact initiatives and enterprises across Europe. Its community grew to over 1.000 active members, and more than 500 impactful startups were supported in over 40 incubations, acceleration and investment programs together with partners on various impact topics such as education, health, responsible & sustainable consumption, biodiversity, rural development and many more. On a global level, the United Nations officially acknowledges Impact Hub for “helping to extend the efforts directed to tackle the SDGs via entrepreneurial solutions”.
About EIT Climate-KIC: It is a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon, climate-resilient society. Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, we identify and support innovation that helps society mitigate and adapt to climate change. We believe that a decarbonised, sustainable economy is not only necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change, but presents a wealth of opportunities for business and society.
