The SET Award Ceremony has been the climax of the SET Tech Festival in Berlin since 2017. The international award for innovative business ideas for energy transition and climate protection was presented last week for the eighth time. Awarded across five high-impact and industry-relevant categories, “Clean Energy & Storage“, “Mobility & Transportation“, “Industry“, “Buildings & Construction” and “Quality Energy Access & SDG-7“, the SET Award has established itself as one of the world’s pre-eminent awards for entrepreneurs working in clean energy and climate tech.
Corinna Enders, Chairperson of the Management Board at the German Energy Agency (dena), emphasized the SET Award‘s importance: “The SET Award not only honors outstanding innovations, it is also an important driver of energy transition. By recognizing and supporting promising startups, we are sending a strong signal for the urgently needed transformation of our energy system. This award not only encourages the winners, but also inspires the entire industry to develop and promote innovative solutions to build a sustainable future together. Congratulations to all startups on their success“.
The SET Award 2024 Winners
The 15 SET finalists, selected from over 430 applications and over 75 countries through winter 2023-24, presented their ideas to an international jury of experts at the SET Tech Festival. The five winning startups each received €10,000 in prize money and were announced live from the WECC at the SET Award Ceremony, held as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue’s (BETD) official Evening Reception on 19 March. The following day, the winners participated in the SET panel on startups, clean energy and green tech in the energy transition as part of this year’s BETD on 20 March.
Read on below to see what the winners say about their solutions, their startups and their inspiration. And too keep up with them, follow SET on LinkedIn.
The winners of the 2024 Start Up Energy Transition Award are:
Clean Energy & Storage
Cling Systems, Sweden
Cling Systems is a company that enables repurposing, reusing, and recycling of end-of-life batteries. It offers a B2B marketplace, a logistics platform, and a network of partners to create a sustainable battery economy. Its Circular Asset Management System (CAM system) has developed a digital infrastructure and a global service network to accelerate the circular economy, providing solutions for the entire value chain, including trade, traceability and transport.
“Our long-term vision is to be the platform where it’s easy to access, upload data, and collaborate,” explained William Bergh, CEO and founder of Cling Systems. “There are so many stakeholders in this rapidly evolving ecosystem that we want to join the dots and ensure batteries are recycled properly and safely.”
Mobility & Transportation
Roam, Kenya
Roam Electric offers electric motorcycles, buses, and energy systems for sustainable and affordable transportation. It focuses on the huge but fragmented East Africa market and strives for a future where all Africans can access a sustainable, non-fragmented public transport system.
“One of the key things we’re doing is just substituting polluting, traditional tailpipe emissions for zero tailpipe emissions. That’s a big thing,” said Rajal Upadhyaya, CFO of Roam during the Jury Day pitches as part of the SET Award process. “Moreover, the energy that powers our bikes is more than 90% renewable. So it’s a direct substitute, a direct climate mitigation act. Quite simply, the more bikes that we’re allowed to put on the roads, the more buses that we roll out, the less pollution gets put into the atmosphere. And again, that’s a direct mitigation.” He added: “Our target in the next decade? To mitigate a million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and we think we can do it.”
Industry
Magnotherm, Germany
Magnotherm is a young company that began as a startup spin-off from Technische Universität Darmstadt. The young company’s international team of over 40 people is led by Timur Sirman, pictured, and Dr. Max Fries. Magnotherm’s innovative technology is based on solid magnetocaloric materials, magnets, and water. The science itself is old, but the solution is brand new and has the potential to revolutionise cooling worldwide. Magnotherm‘s tech increases efficiency by up to 40 per cent and completely eliminates refrigerant gases, thereby avoiding direct greenhouse gas emissions.
“I attended the SET Awards a couple of years ago and was extremely impressed by the startups presenting on stage; actually, being the winning startup ourselves feels unreal. We have come very far within the last years, and I look forward to seeing how much further we will go,” said Magnotherm CEO and co-founder Timur Sirman.
Buildings & Construction
SolCold, Israel
SolCold is developing a sustainable, self-cooling coating that uses sunlight to reduce the interior temperature of buildings or vehicles without consuming electricity. Founded in 2016, SolCold is a world leader in outdoor cooling coatings research and development. It aims to provide environmentally friendly, solar-powered cooling solutions.
“So when you tell people, ‘Yes, I’m going to cool things down using sunlight’, that sounds illogical,” explained Yaron Shenhav, SEO, SolCold during SET Tech Festival. “But we have backers and believers from around the world. And now, to win the SET Award proves that people are ready to believe in these highly technical solutions.”
Quality Access & SDG-7
VIDA, Germany
VIDA is a map-based geodata software that contributes to achieving the SDGs, particularly SDG-7. It enables users to channel investments, assess sites and monitor impacts to implement solar energy solutions by assessing climate risks, tracking their impact, and meeting reporting requirements. VIDA’s mission is to help people understand the world we need and empower them to take swift action toward a better future.
“What I’m personally, really motivated by is solving the dual challenge of climate change and development,” explained Tobias Engelmeier, CEO & Co-Founder of VIDA, on the sidelines of the SET Award evaluation Jury Day. “Development means that people will require more resources very rapidly – people who have contributed to climate change – but we need to figure out how to do that, and also to change people’s opinions regarding development and their needs without contributing more to the pace of climate change. So that kind of dual challenge is what I’m interested in and is why we do what we do at VIDA.”
To find out more about this year’s finalists and winners, download the SET100 List 2024, compiling the 100 most innovative startups and their solutions working in clean energy and climate tech.
