Cambridge Cleantech is playing a lead role in a UK immersion programme offering R&D partnerships, funding, and growth opportunities to Spanish sustainability startups.
The group – a leading membership network for cleantech innovators – is supporting its first cohort through the new green initiative.
Known as DESAFIA London, the inaugural programme involves Spain’s most exciting cleantech companies visiting innovation and R&D centres in Cambridge, Oxford and London culminating in a pitch day to investors and corporate venture funds at Huckletree in Shoreditch.
The Spanish startups participating in the first cohort include:
WT Energy Advanced Solutions which converts biomass and non-recyclable waste into clean energy.
Miogas which provides small scale biodigesters for home use.
Stemy Energy which provides an AI-driven energy resource sharing management platform.
Sunalizer provider of a solar power comparison website.
Woodswallow which provides embedded technology for energy smart meters.
Defcon8 provider of smart flow monitors to reduce water and energy bills.
Bechained which provides an automated smart energy management platform.
H2Site which provides on-site renewable hydrogen production for SMEs.
Tracks C02 Satelites provider of a satellite and data analytics carbon offset platform.
Cambridge Cleantech is working with two ecosystem partners to deliver Desafia London: Oxfordshire Greentech, a dynamic cleantech innovation network for the rapidly expanding Oxford technology cluster, and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), one of the world’s leading sustainability, executive training, and acceleration units.
Sam Goodall, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech, said: “The immersion programme will take cohort members across innovation hubs in the golden triangle super cluster of Cambridge, Oxford, and London where they will explore the market potential and develop individual strategies in the areas of scalability, international expansion and funding.”
Lucia Suarez, who heads Business Development at Miogas, said she was looking forward to joining the Desafia London cohort.
“Having access to and learning from the UK’s cleantech ecosystem will help us with our expansion plans,” she explained. “Miogas is democratising access to fuel by creating biogas plants for personal use, businesses, restaurants, farms, schools and other waste producers – we want to take our solution overseas.”
Desafia is a public initiative sponsored by ICEX and Red.es, the Spanish Government’s agencies responsible for driving the country’s digital policy and helping local tech startups scale and expand into new international markets. It has already rolled out successful immersion programmes in San Francisco, Berlin, and Tel Aviv, which have raised more than $230M in funding and created over 3000 jobs.
José María Blasco, Director for Infrastructure, Health, and ICT at ICEX, said: “These disruptive Spanish startups are breaking new ground and through Desafia London will benefit from the technological bridge linking cleantech collaboration and innovation between Spain and the UK.”
Cambridge Cleantech is a hub for international climate technology clusters which all share a unified goal of reaching net zero. As an innovation enabler, it fast-tracks the growth of sustainable, clean technology companies by connecting start-ups in energy, water, transport, the built environment and circular economy with investors, public sector bodies and multinational conglomerates.
