We have closed our application round for the co-creation accelerator program taking place from March to May 2021! While we evaluate startups and select the best for the program (startups will be contacted on March 4), take a look and find out where do the applications come from, which sustainability areas are the most popular among applicants, and how do they connect with the enterprise challenges. PS - Future Hub accelerator kicks-off on March 8 with a LIVE launch event, find the details below! 👇
We received more than 160 applications from 40 countries worldwide. Latvian startups showed the most significant interest - 18 applications were received. Lithuania and Estonia are not far behind, with 11 applications from each country. While German, Finnish and Swedish startups also showed substantial interest, applications were also received from Australia, the United States of America, as well as Asian and African countries.
Sustainability in the spotlight
Accelerator's main sustainability focus areas are also perfectly reflected in applications from startups. The greatest interest (more than a quarter of the applications) was received from Smart City and Energy startups, followed by startups operating in the Circular Economy and Food sectors. Startups operating in Supply Chain Logistics and Mobility sectors rank third.
These are also the areas that the enterprises joining the accelerator have proposed their challenges in. Swedbank Latvija, Latvenergo, Rimi, Orkla, and Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks are all Baltic market-leading enterprises ready to co-create with the selected GreenTech startups to develop innovations that offer sustainable solutions for proposed challenges and aim for a better future. Startups will be given the opportunity to work on the following sustainability challenges 👉
Swedbank Latvia: ESG analysis and monitoring
Sustainable finance is the only future for banking. Banks are expected to analyze all customers' ESG performance (sustainability analysis), yet tools for analyzing small and medium-sized companies are not efficient enough. Startups selected for this challenge will look for solutions to analyze and monitor the company's ESG-performance together with Swedbank Latvia.
Rimi Baltic: Food waste elimination
RIMI’s CR target is to cut food waste from warehouses and stores by 50% by 2025 compared with the 2016 base year. The teams selected will develop a food waste solution with a focus on one of the supply chain parts (e.g. RIMI’s warehouses, RIMI’s stores, households).
Latvenergo: Electric vehicle charging
Mass adoption of electric vehicles in Europe will reach its tipping point soon. Latvenergo together with the GreenTech startups selected will work on easy-to-operate and efficient solutions for car charging at multiple apartment housing neighborhoods addressing installation, safety, operation, joint usage planning, dedicated billing, etc., challenges.
Orkla: Digital tool for sustainable grocery shopping
More and more people want to contribute towards more nutritious choices in their food consumption. Orkla is keen on co-creating with startups to create a digital, consumer-oriented solution for making informed grocery shopping decisions, enabling product healthiness and its ESG data comparison in a buyer-friendly and informative way.
Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks: Energy efficiency for multi-apartment buildings
Multi-apartment buildings comprise almost half of the European housing stock and are, for the most part, old and energy inefficient. For this challenge, startups will be developing an energy efficiency roadmap tool for multiple-apartment buildings, such as tackling the status quo monitoring needs, assessing evidence-based and building-specific suggestions on prioritizing energy-saving retrofits, and more.
Join the kick-off event on March 8, 12:00 EET live on Facebook
While we will contact the selected startups on March 4, the lucky teams will be first introduced to the public on Match 8 during Future Hub launch event. The event will take place on March 8 at 12:00 and will be streamed on Facebook. Viewers will have the opportunity not only to learn more about startups selected for Future Hub but also to hear the panel discussion "Open Innovation: When is it worth exploring the innovation strategy?" Swedbank Latvija, Latvenergo, Rimi, Orkla, and Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks will also present their sustainability challenges and their significance globally at the accelerator launch event.