Partnerships among the academic, public, business, and technology sectors, to co-develop solutions for a green, sustainable economy
To meet the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality objective, transforming industries requires supporting the mass deployment of sustainable technologies. Not only should Europe prioritize sustainable technology deployment, but it should also prioritize certain key industries where the biggest impact on climate change can be achieved. Not only incremental innovation will be required, but also disruptive or breakthrough technologies will be needed to accelerate the transition to a green economy and society.
For this reason, the Global Climate Hub (GCH) hosts the EIT-Climate KIC Hub in Greece, which acts as a knowledge and innovation community, working towards accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon, climate-resilient society. With the support of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the EIT Climate-KIC Hub brings together partners from the business sector, academia, and the public and non-profit sectors to create networks of expertise, through which innovative solutions can be developed, brought to market and scaled-up for impact.
Similarly, our MENA Maritime Accelerator (previously Maritime ClimAccelerator) focuses on the decarbonization of the maritime industry by developing and helping high-impact start-ups to deliver breakthrough solutions to the maritime industry across the pillars of sustainability, supporting the transition to Climate Neutrality. Through its vast network of collaborators, the MENA Maritime Accelerator offers participating start-ups funding, training, peer-to-peer coaching and theme-specific mentoring.
Accelerating innovation is also part of our BRIGAID Connect Association, which is a cluster of companies that help increase Europe’s climate resilience through solutions. BRIGAID Connect creates communities that link innovators from its network with problem owners and enablers and help them build practicable solutions to drive positive environmental, economic, social and cultural impact. The Climate Innovation Window (CIW), developed under the frame of BRIGAID, an H2020 funded project, aims to be a reference portal for innovations on climate change adaptation, containing more than 120 innovations.
The Maritime ClimAccelerator, supported by EIT Climate-KIC,
through its vast network of collaborators, will offer participating start-ups funding, training, peer to peer coaching and theme-specific mentoring (both virtually and in-person). 10 start-ups will be accepted per year and will be asked to provide innovative solutions for the transition to sustainability of the maritime industry, both locally and globally, and will be given the opportunity to present their ideas in front of investors, port authorities and shipping companies. The MENA Maritime Accelerator will thus provide start-ups with a unique opportunity to test, demonstrate and validate their solution. Learn more here.
Founding Member, Prof. Alexandros Charalambides, Cyprus University of Technology
Founding member: Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, “Athena” Research and Innovation Center
BRIGAID Connect Association, , is a research driven incubator that turns innovation ideas into real climate adaptation solutions. BRIGAID Connect is a solution provider for the ambitious climate adaptation strategy. This Association is the outcome of an EU-funded project “BRIGAID: Bridging the gap for Innovations in Disaster Resilience” (2016-2020) and engages over 120 climate adaptation innovations in an advanced stage of development. The project evaluated 125 innovations from across Europe, selecting 40 of them to participate in a collaborative technical readiness assessment, and accompanying 26 more through its market readiness programme. Learn more here.
Founding member, Prof. Phoebe Koundouri
ΜΑΙΑ+ Maximising impact and accessibility of European climate research
PI, Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, Athens University of Economics and Business
BL.EU. Climate: Climate Innovation in Southern European Waters
PI, Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, “Athena” Research and Innovation Center
UN Climate Change Global Innovation aims to promote transformative innovations for a low-emission and climate-resilient future. The Hub expands the global innovation space by facilitating solutions that support the climate-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and that address core human needs for food, shelter, mobility, and access via alternative value chains aligned with those SDGs. The Innovation Hub complements the current approach to innovation for climate solutions —an approach that has tended to be incremental, sector-based and problem-oriented—with a transformative, need-based and solution-oriented one.
Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET)
An independent advisory council to the United Nations Secretary-General
