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EIT Climate-KIC: Regional Innovation Scheme start-ups showcase cleantech achievements

EIT Climate-KIC Bootcamp Vienna

The Regional Innovation Scheme Bootcamp took place in Vienna 

Between 17 and 18 October, 15 EIT Climate-KIC supported start-ups from across central, southern and eastern Europe came together in Vienna for the second Bootcamp of the EIT Climate-KIC RIS Accelerator 2018, to share their cleantech innovations and learn how to accelerate them into commercial success for positive climate impact. 

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Ivar Kruusenberg, CEO of PowerUp, said: 'It’s great to be here at the RIS Bootcamp. Our product line – the PowerUp fuel cell generators – are a zero greenhouse gas emission technology which provides a powerful, reliable and highly efficient backup electricity generation solution to users, particularly for sailing boats, mobile homes and campers.

'We’re in the EIT RIS Accelerator, Stage 1. This has been super useful for our start-up, for example, today we met another start-up in the Accelerator – WooBox – with which we might collaborate to potentially use their sustainable shipping box solution to ship our generators.'.

Nikica Marinkovic, Co-founder of WooBox, added: 'Support from EIT Climate-KIC  gave us an important credibility boost. We’re now going global with our brand with an expanding network of supporters.'

Lucian Corduneanu pointed out: 'Our start-up, SensiX, develops Internet of Things devices which track ambient parameters like temperature and evaluates the energy efficiency of indoor environments. We work with companies to reduce the amount of energy they need to create comfortable workplaces, thus reducing the climate impact.

'Early support from the EIT RIS Accelerator was pivotal in getting us to a position where we’re right on the edge of scaling and becoming customer ready. The support has meant we’ve been able to hire two staff members and run three pilot projects'.


 


Galin Bonev, CEO of Eljoy Bikes, stated: 'EIT Climate-KIC’s local partner Cleantech Bulgaria gave us the connections we needed to launch our first pilot project in Sofia, Bulgaria after we won EIT Climate-KIC’s Urban Challenge competition in 2017. The pilot involves 10 electric bikes with permanent docking stations aimed at tourists going up into the mountains around Sofia.

We are now looking at a second pilot in Sofia city centre with our e-bikes.'

The EIT Climate-KIC’s Urban Challenges programme helps city partners to define the challenges they face, for entrepreneurs to respond to these challenges at a competitive open innovation pitch event, and for solutions to be tested and implemented to meet real-world needs. 

The next application phase for the RIS Accelerator closes in January 2019. You can find full information about how to apply here

EIT Regional Innovation Scheme

EIT RIS is the EIT Community’s outreach scheme. The scheme enables the transfer of good practices and know-how from the EIT’s unique approach to boosting innovation. The EIT RIS was introduced in 2014 to share good practices and experience emerging from EIT Community activities and to widen participation in our activities across Europe.