The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual awards scheme designed to find the most promising, innovative and locally led start-up social and environmental entrepreneurs in countries with developing and emerging economies.
An international jury of experts selects enterprises which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability while contributing to a greener economy
Making the world clean and green, one idea at a time.
The Cleantech Open Global Ideas competition is a hunt for the most promising clean technology ideas anywhere in the world. One national winner from each country will then compete, in November, against the winners from other countries at the global finals in California.
This is your chance to join a major national project that can really make a difference.
The Cleantech Open is more than just a fun competition, more than just cool technology, more than just smart entrepreneurship.
Together, we’ll find, fund and foster the most promising cleantech ideas in the world - ideas that address today’s most challenging economic, environmental and energy challenges.
We’re looking for anything from revolutionary ways to generate clean energy, to better ways to filter water, to ideas about how government policies on climate change can foster new businesses.
And we’re not just looking for good ideas - we’re looking for concepts and technologies that can become great businesses that will reward entrepreneurship and bolster your country’s economy.
Signing up for the Ideas Competition
Contestants register through this easy, three-step process at:
Each idea needs to fit into one of these six categories:
1. Air Water & Waste - Ways to cut pollution
Entries focus on improving resource availability, conservation and pollution control. Air covers services, instruments and equipment related to emission control, treatment or reduction technologies. Also included are creative approaches to greenhouse gas reduction, such as carbon conversion and sequestration. Water covers treatment, storage, monitoring, recycling and conservation technologies. Waste covers waste management equipment; sorting; resource recovery processes; pollution prevention, control and treatment technology; and, waste reduction through innovative recycling processes and the creation of new recyclable materials such as bio-based plastics.
Examples:
• Storm-water, flood control and rainwater harvesting
• Smart irrigation
• Water filtration and disinfection
• Advanced filters and filtration (air or water)
• Carbon and GHG monitoring and control
• Carbon capture sequestration and storage
• Waste cleanup and remediation
2. Energy Efficiency - More efficient methods and devices
Entries include technologies that can significantly reduce wasted energy and help lessen the need for additional power plants.
Examples:
• Industrial process improvements
• Natural gas monitoring and control (industrial or residential)
• LED lighting
• Advanced lighting controls
• HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) solutions
• Natural gas controls
• Smart/User-friendly energy management systems
3. Renewable Energy - Replacements for fossil fuels
This category includes innovations that use, enable and accelerate the migration to renewable energy. Renewables encompass technologies that use waste streams to directly produce energy.
Examples:
• Thin film solar manufacture
• Concentrating solar photovoltaic
• Bio-based fuels
• Hydropower
• Advanced fluid-flow designs
• Wind power technologies
4. GreenBuilding - New kinds of buildings or materials
Reducing the environmental impact of building construction or operation through improved design or construction practices, new or innovative use of building materials and new hardware or software applications is the goal of this category. Technologies are applied directly to the built environment.
Examples:
• Insulation materials
• Cement alternatives
• Indoor air filtration systems
• Disaster relief and modular housing
• Low VOC carpeting and flooring
• Water saving toilets, showers and plumbing
• Recycled materials for use in building material
5. Smart Power, Green Grid, Energy Storage - Better ways of carrying/storing electricity
This category encourages creating links between information technologies and electricity delivery that give industrial, commercial and residential consumers greater control over when and how their energy is delivered and used. It includes improvements in all forms of energy storage, from battery technology for consumer-scale products to chemical, metal, biological or other approaches to storage of utility-scale energy, as well as methods for controlling or increasing the efficiency of energy storage or energy transmission.
Examples:
• Wireless metering and use of real-time pricing information
• Network architecture for power management
• Hydrogen storage
• Battery form factor improvements
• Advanced fuel cell membranes
• Power storage
• Transmission efficiency
6. Transportation - Greener cars, buses, trucks or planes
This category encompasses transportation and mobile technology applications that improve fuel efficiency, reduce air pollution, reduce oil consumption or reduce vehicle travel (not limited to automobiles). Technologies are applied directly to transportation systems or vehicles.
Examples:
• Fleet and route management systems
• Logistics management
• Carpooling solutions
• All electric vehicles
• Flex fuel engines and applications
• Drivetrain conversion kits
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who is behind the Global Cleantech Open Ideas Competition?
A: The competition is organized by the Cleantech Open (www.cleantechopen.com). Through its annual cleantech Business Competition and mentorship program (the world’s largest), the Cleantech Open has helped hundreds of clean technology startups bring their breakthrough ideas to fruition since 2006, and helped its alumni raise over $150M and create thousands of green-collar jobs.
Q: What is the mission of the Cleantech Open?
A: The mission of the Cleantech Open is to find, fund and foster find, fund, and foster companies with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges.
Through this mission, the Cleantech Open encourages the development of clean technology companies that foster a healthy, natural environment - companies that provide environmental benefits in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution reduction and resource protection and conservation. The Ideas Competition is the first step to help entrepreneurs build a successful cleantech business.
Q: Who can enter the competition?
A: Anyone looking to turn their clean technology idea into a thriving business can apply. Entrants can be sole proprietors, teams or early-stage companies. To be eligible, your entity must have received less than $500,000US in external private financing. Grant funding and any money from friends and family are excluded from this $500,000 limit.
Q: What is Sustainability?
A: Sustainability is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Source: Brundtland Commission, 1987).
Cleantech Open’s Sustainability Program strives to highlight the relevance of and promote the philosophy of sustainability throughout everything Cleantech Open does. We ask competitors to have a positive impact on the environment and the broader community, and to make this part of every phase of development - not just for the end-use application. Your idea should deliver products or services that have a net positive environmental impact.
Q: How many prizes are there and what is included?
A: There is one national winner for each country who will receive press recognition for their award and go on to compete at the global pitch competition in San Francisco on November 17.
The global winner will receive at least $100,000US worth of startup services and have access to seasoned advisors in the essential areas that will help ensure their ideas can be translated into a business. The Cleantech Open advisor community includes specialists in business plan development, intellectual property protection, marketing, PR, sustainability and fundraising. Starting with a plan to leverage their Global Cleantech Open award, the advisor team will develop a plan specific to the global winner’s needs.
Q: What does it cost to enter the competition?
A: It costs nothing to enter the Global Cleantech Open. All incidental costs, such as producing a video or traveling to the Awards Gala, are however the responsibility of each contestant.
Q: What is cleantech?
A: Cleantech has been described by Clean Edge, a clean technology research firm, as “a diverse range of products, services, and processes that harness renewable materials and energy sources, dramatically reduce the use of natural resources, and cut or eliminate emissions and wastes.” The terms “cleantech” and “green tech” are often used interchangably to describe products, services and practices that are environmentally friendly.
About the Youth Interactive Portal for Enterprise (YIPE)
The Youth Interactive Portal for Enterprise (www.yipekenya.org) is an online service providing business skills training, information on how to access finance, business ideas & opportunities and advice on how to register a business to Kenyan youth entrepreneurs.
The portal is the first of its kind in East Africaspecifically targeting the youth with free information and resources aimed at ensuring business sustainability. On a wider scale, the portal also provides valuable information to students, corporates, financial institutions, NGOs, government policy makers as well as development agencies seeking to promote economic empowerment. For more information, visit www.yipekenya.org, and follow @yipeorg on Twitter.
About Cleantech Open
The Cleantech Open (www.cleantechopen.com) finds, funds, and fosters entrepreneurs with ideas, technologies, and products that address today’s most urgent energy, climate and economic challenges. Through its one-of-a-kind annual business competition, ideas competition and entrepreneurial development programs, the Cleantech Open has helped hundreds of clean technology startups bring their breakthrough ideas to fruition since 2006, and helped its alumni raise over $150m and create thousands of green-collar jobs.
About Global Entrepreneurship Week
With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week will encourage youth to think big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark. From November 15-21, 2010, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Tens of thousands of activities are being planned in dozens of countries. Global Entrepreneurship Week is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK. For more information, visit www.unleashingideas.org, and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.
Just this week, my mailing list service run by an American startup went literally belly up. There I was wondering why I couldn't send out my newsletter when I received an email saying that due to the financial meltdown the company (which incidentally went to great lengths to get my custom in the first place) had to close IMMEDIATELY.
Just like GTV there was absolutely no notice given.
I have also previously had the misfortune of having both my broker and bank also go the titanic way.
So is this what is to be expected as a normal occurrence?
"The best time to be spotting the signs of mounting risk is before the juggernaut goes off the road." - Business Daily, Feb 24, 2009
Unfortunately, very often we witness rapid expansions of our banks, brokers and even supermarkets. However, there is also the excuse we tell ourselves, that if they run out of liquidity, they will be propped up, preety much in the same way the US government is propping up American industry. However, while Kenya is grappling with financial crisis of its own, I think we need to re-assess that supposition.
Postscript: Finally, it seems that Kenya's new Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is hearing the cries of "UNGA" from Kenyans. Yesterday, while introducing a new budgeting mechanism, Mr. Kenyatta said that the days of large Kenyan delegations flying across the globe are over. More importantly he said that the government should in turn be more accountable to the people of Kenya. As the Daily Nation editorial says: "Uhuru is a new broom; let him sweep clean". We at Yipe couldn't agree more.
