On April 28th and 29th, the heart of green entrepreneurship beat strongly at Impact Hub Athens during the Hackathon for ClimAccelerator 2023, an initiative by IHA in collaboration with the European program HYDROUSA, the scientific supervision of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), and the support of EIT – Climate KIC and the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation.
Sixteen teams with sustainable and innovative solutions for environmental protection and planet conservation had the opportunity to receive feedback from experienced mentors, connect with each other, develop collaborations, and compete for financial awards and support on their next steps.
Inspirational talk by Simos Malamis, Associate Professor at School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens
The kick-off of the Hackathon was given by the hosts of Impact Hub Athens, which this year celebrates 10 years of systematic and active presence in the field of sustainable and circular economy. Then, Simos Malamis, professor at NTUA & coordinator of HYDROUSA, and Andrei Geica, Co-Founder & Partner of Sporos Platform, took the floor. Mr. Malamis presented the journey of HYDROUSA and the impact of the project through examples of implemented solutions. On the other hand, Mr. Geica encouraged the participants, acknowledging their already significant contribution to the global fight against climate change. Subsequently, the teams had the opportunity to introduce themselves with a tweet, creating anticipation for their final pitch.
Inspirational talk by Andrei Geica, Co-Founder, Chief Policy & Impact Officer at Sporos Platform
Saturday was dedicated to the participants. All teams had the opportunity to meet with over 25 experts, engage in interesting discussions with them, and refine their presentations.
With great anticipation, audience, teams and judging committee listened to the pitch of the 16 entrepreneurial projects, while the latter received and answered questions. The judges participating in the event were Dora Trachana (Uni.Fund), Andrei Geica (Sporos Platform), Simos Malamis (National Technical University of Athens), and Eleonore Cottarel (Investing for Purpose).
The judges Dora Trachana, Eleonore Cottarel, Simos Malamis, Andrei Geica
The day concluded with the announcement of the results, as well as a promise for continued interaction within the ecosystem that came together during the Hackathon and through the hard work. As mentioned by Andrei Geica in his opening speech, the goal is to reach a point in a few years where we no longer talk about a circular economy but simply refer to it as “the economy”.
Three startups emerged as winners of the Hackathon, earning prizes of 3,000 euros each: Voltera, Rhoé, and Ecogenia. Additionally, the following 11 Greek startups stood out based on their positive environmental impact, potential for expansion into new markets, team strength, innovation, and have progressed to the next phase of the acceleration program:
- Voltera: Provides integrated urban solar as a service solutions to individuals, communities and businesses.
- Rhoe: A platform for coastal shipping that provides vessel owners and operators with a cost-competitive, clean energy swappable battery network without the need for high capital investment.
- Ecogenia: Provides recruitment and training of the Greek youth to execute community-based climate action projects that otherwise would not get done.
- Promilist: Redefines voyage optimisation solutions for a greener and a more sustainable shipping sector, by utilising artificial intelligence, naval engineering and earth observation data.
- Emetrics: A low energy consumption IOT/5G solution that measures real time carbon emissions in shipping and logistics.
- Pallinea: A Greek circular fashion platform that promotes sustainable consumption by facilitating the buying and selling of second-hand clothing, along with offering educational resources and workshops on upcycling.
- BlueCans: Utilization of the plastic collected from the marine environment of Greece for the production of original designed objects of daily use, with the technology of injection molding.
- A New Tower of Winds: An action-research-based design process, which explores the potential for a network of urban passive-energy evaporative-cooling structures to help reduce the extremes of heat and pollution in Athens, and contributing to the corridors of cool clean air called for in the Athens Resilience Strategy for 2030 that will become an essential infrastructure for Athens in the coming summers. #coolathens
- Kookoonari: Designs and implementing of projects, educational programs & workshops regarding Zero Waste, Circular Economy & the Environment, for children, adults, schools, working spaces and the whole community.
- ECOTIVITY: An app incentivizing consumers to adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle via zero waste tips, eco-friendly products and company suggestions while rewarding them for their choices.
- UrbanBeekiping: Restores the connection between people living in the cities & nature through beekeeping, while raising social awareness on the need for urban green spaces and biodiversity & produces the 1st urban honey in Greece.
The 3 winner startups Rhoé, Voltera, and Ecogenia
In Stage A, the teams will begin working on the development of their business and financial models, exploring new markets and investment opportunities. This will be done through a series of workshops with innovative business tools, personalized guidance, and connections/collaboration with experts, specialists, and professionals from environmental organizations and businesses.
At the end of the first stage, three companies will be rewarded with prizes of €7,000 and will receive tickets to the next phase of the program, which will focus on their investment readiness.
The goal of ClimAccelerator is to create a strong network of professionals and investors who are engaged in and promote the development of sustainable, regenerative, and innovative solutions for environmental advocacy and protection of the planet.
Thank you very much to all the experts who participated in the Hackathon: Giorgos Skevis (CLEOS), Lida Tsene and Dimitris Kokkinakis (Impact Hub Athens), Fenia Sourla (Dataphoria), Laura Sommer (LKSommer), Maha Al-Salehi, Diti Kotecha, and Giannis Pitsakis (Théla), Konstantinos Pardalis (Schneider Electric Sustainability Business), Anna Tea (Green Facilitation), Eleni Nýktari (HYDROUSA), Chetan Zawar (TikTok), Ignacio Navarro Pérez de Guzman (Greenpeace), Derek Roedel (Axtonne), Thodoris Kotzastavros (Social Builders), Sabrina Carvalho (Signify), Giorgos Makridis (Means4), Grigoris Andrikos (Cyclops SA), Majdi Chebil (Zscaler), Nikos Therapos (DotankPlus), Thanasis Koutsianas (Symbeeosis), Elena Stamou (Swaplanet), Zisis Tsiropoulos (AGENSO), Stavroula Kappa (NTUA), Ioannis Vasilakos (Hydraspis).
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