As part of the SET Award 2019, the top 100-ranked start-ups who applied for the SET Award were rewarded the opportunity to participate and showcase as part of the Innovation Hub at the 24th World Energy Congress (WEC24) 2019 in Abu Dhabi. Sponsored by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, this incredible opportunity includes travel and accommodation expenses, and a showcase space for the SET100 at the congress.
In the lead up to WEC24, we asked the participating SET100 start-ups to answer a few questions to provide potential partners the opportunity to learn more about them and to also help other start-ups learn from their experiences. We thank them for their work toward the global energy transition and for sharing with us the following insights.
#SET100 Start-up: The Air Company (USA)
The Air Company has developed technology that converts carbon dioxide and water into extremely pure ethanol, with the only byproduct being oxygen. Our technology uses electrolysis, which enables this process to be powered solely by renewable electricity as a power-to-fuel system that sequesters carbon dioxide. The Air Company both deploys and licenses our technology, to enable widespread production of low-carbon fuel and feedstock.
Traveling, pitching, partaking in meetings, and networking requires considerable time and effort. Other than perhaps being given a blank check, what is the best case scenario or result you as a start-up hope to get out of participating in initiatives such as the SET platform and the Innovation Hub at the 24th World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi?
We hope to improve visibility for our new technology in the energy sector and gather feedback on how much the industry knows about fuel produced from carbon dioxide.
Given the stage of your start-up and your particular focus/sector/technology, what is one challenge that you have overcome or lesson that you have learned that may be valuable to other similar start-ups?
Either raise much more funding than you need, or keep the company lean and low-overhead; hardware start-ups are more resource intensive than software.
What is one of the main obstacles or regulations that you have had to overcome prior to / in preparation of market entry into your given business environment?
Education is key to explain to government agencies a new technology or process, in order to to overcome policy and regulatory hurdles.
Thanks for reading and thanks again to The Air Company. More information about them can be found here: http://www.aircompany.com/
More about the SET100, including a full list of each SET100 start-up can be found here.
