Start-Up Energy Transition Awards

Start Up Energy Transition Award

Supporting our innovation agenda, our annual Start Up Energy Transition (SET100) Award, in cooperation with the German Energy Agency (dena), is an international competition for start-ups and young companies worldwide who are creating innovative solutions and building agile organisations to accelerate the energy transition. 

SET brings together the most outstanding international start-ups in the field of energy transition with key stakeholders in the energy sector including investors, industry leader incumbents, media and government.

Start Up Database

The start-up database is built from the SET100 lists, our annual compilation of the 100 best start-ups of the Start Up Energy Transition Award. It contains the most innovative and promising start-ups that make the energy transition a fundamental component of their innovation. Use the database to discover, connect, and fuel the growth to net zero.

Access the database

Download all SET100 Lists

Start Up Energy Transition Awards 2024

The 15 SET finalists, selected from over 430 applications and 75 countries in spring 2024, presented their ideas to an international jury of experts at the SET Tech Festival on 19 March. The five winning start-ups each received € 10,000 in prize money and were announced live from the WECC at the SET Award Ceremony, held as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue’s (BETD) official Evening Reception.

Winners of the 2024 Start Up Energy Transition Award:

Cling Systems, Swedenwww.clingsystems.com
Cling is developing a digital infrastructure and a global service network to accelerate the circular economy. Its Circular Asset Management System (CAM system) provides solutions for the entire value chain, including trade, traceability and transport.

Roam, Kenyawww.roam-electric.com
Roam electrifies motorbikes and buses, focussing on the East African market. The start-up is striving for a future in which all Africans have access to a sustainable, non-fragmented public transport system.

Magnotherm, Germanywww.magnotherm.com
Magnotherm technology is based on solid magnetocaloric materials, magnets and water, and has the potential to revolutionise cooling worldwide. It increases efficiency by up to 40 per cent and completely eliminates refrigerant gases, thereby avoiding direct greenhouse gas emissions.

SolCold, Israelwww.solcold.co
SolCold is developing a sustainable, self-cooling coating that utilises sunlight to reduce the interior temperature of buildings or vehicles without consuming electricity.

VIDA, Germanywww.vida.place
VIDA is a map-based geodata software that contributes to achieving the SDGs, in particular SDG 7. It enables users to channel investments, assess sites and monitor impacts in order to implement solar energy solutions.

Start Up Energy Transition Awards 2023

The 15 SET finalists, selected from over 400 applications and 63 countries in spring 2023, presented their ideas to an international jury of experts at the SET Tech Festival. The five winning start-ups each received €10,000 in prize money and were announced live from the WECC at the SET Award Ceremony, held as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue’s (BETD) official Evening Reception.

Winners of the 2023 Start Up Energy Transition Award:

Energy Dome S.p.A., Italy, www.energydome.com 

Unlocking utility-scale, long-duration energy storage: Energy Dome’s CO2 battery enables dispatchable renewable electricity to make the net zero energy transition possible. The battery is based on a thermodynamic process that uses CO2 to store electricity cost-effectively.

Navalt Solar & Electric Boats Pvt Ltd., India,  https://navaltboats.com/ 

Navalt is an ecological marine tech company that specialises in the manufacturing of solar electric vessels. The start-up is already an industry leader in the global solar market. With its innovation, the young company is helping to accelerate the complete electrification of shipping.

Heatrix GmbH, Germany, https://heatrix.de/ 

Heatrix’s wants to competitively replace fossil fuels in energy-intensive industries by converting renewable electricity into storable, high-temperature process heat. No carbon-neutral, cost-competitive and easy-to-integrate solution currently exists. Heatrix’s solution has the potential to decarbonize the majority of high-emission industries.

Hyperion Robotics Oy, Finland, https://www.hyperionrobotics.com/ 

Hyperion Robotics designs, engineers and manufactures sustainable concrete structures, helping clients save time, money and embodied carbon. By bringing together 3D printing technology, automation and circular economy principles, Hyperion enables material usage savings of 75 percent and cuts construction’s carbon footprint by up to 90 percent.

Oorja Development Solutions India Ltd., India,  https://www.oorjasolutions.org

Oorja is pioneering a community-based, inclusive Pay-Per-Use model to deliver solar farming services to smallholder farmers, in turn helping them transition durably away from fossil fuels.

Start Up Energy Transition Awards 2022

"These great examples of smart energy solutions make me optimistic about the future, despite the current crises. There are so many good ideas on how we can become independent of fossil fuels and transform our global energy system. Now we need to implement them as quickly as possible. We are doing our part with SET, together with the World Energy Council, by bringing start-ups together with funders and established companies to turn original ideas into reality."

Andreas Kuhlmann, dena Chief Executive

2022 SET Award Winners:

The 15 SET finalists, selected from 360 applications from 69 countries in spring 2022, presented their ideas to an international jury of experts at the SET Tech Festival. The five winning start-ups were announced live from the Heeresbäckerei during the SET Award Ceremony. The winning start-ups in the five award categories are…

Modvion develops demanding designs made of laminated wood, nature’s carbon fibre, for large-scale applications. Thanks to their patented module system, Modvion has been able to develop the next generation of wind turbine towers that enables climate-neutral wind power at lower total cost.

NEU Energy is reinventing the process of producing and consuming energy. As a next generation AI-driven elec-tricity retailer, their goal is to digitalise and democratise clean energy to lower costumer’s energy bills.

Green Li-ion has developed a technology that fully rejuvenates Lithium-Ion batteries, with a zero toxic discharge. Their unique innovation not only helps to reuse precious materials but also speeds up the current recycling pro-cesses and drastically lowers costs.

Pantonium develops on-demand, macro-transit solutions allowing a scalable, pop-up transportation service anywhere. Their software builds and self-adjusts routes and schedules in real-time, based on dynamic changes, delays, cancellations and more without any need for human intervention.

Jaza Energy provides access to clean electricity in rural villages in Tanzania and Nigeria through solar energy hubs. Each hub is operated by local women and offers customers home electrification kits and rental battery packs.

Innovation lies at the heart of the energy transition

“We need to think of innovation not as one technology choice versus another, or substituting old technologies for new, but a whole-systems transformation. To do this we need to bring together key innovation accelerators, such as technology, finance, behaviour and new business models.”

Angela Wilkinson, World Energy Council Secretary General and CEO

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