Meet the three ClimAccelerator entrepreneurs nominated for EIT Awards

Three innovators from EIT Climate-KIC’s ClimAccelerator programme have been nominated to win an EIT Awards 2022, which celebrates the entrepreneurial and societal achievements of EIT innovators and aims to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs across Europe. 

Each year, the EIT Awards recognises the most promising entrepreneurs and innovators emerging from the EIT’s ecosystem across Europe: from students to entrepreneurs, from labs to markets, and from ideas to solutions. Their solutions tackle pressing global challenges in the fields of climate, energy, digitalisation, food, health, manufacturing, mobility and raw materials.

Out of the 27 innovators from 15 different countries selected for this ninth edition of the EIT Awards, three come from EIT Climate-KIC’s community. They could win up to €50,000 to further develop their solutions.

• Morteza Ghorbani Eftekhar comes from Denmark and is the CEO of PurCity, a solution that turns new and existing buildings into large-scale carbon capture air purification systems.

PurCity’s patented solution (GapS), consists of novel industrial facade panels that are great substitutes for exterior aluminium facades for flat surfaces on any building. The solution produces a chimney effect of natural ventilation as polluted air is naturally sucked into the GapS panels and forced to pass through a harmless chemical process that traps CO2. Following this, clean air is delivered into the building through an air conditioning (HVAC) system.

PurCity is competing for the EIT Innovator Award, which recognises teams and individuals that have developed high-impact products and services.  Morteza Ghorbani Eftekhar took part in Clean Cities ClimAccelerator .

• Bilal Tariq comes from Germany and is Managing Director at Angsa Robotics, a start-up that wants to make the world a bit cleaner.

Small-scale waste on grass and gravel areas is an ecological and an economic problem. Unlike on asphalted surfaces, no sweeping machines can be used, which is why these areas still have to be cleaned manually. Angsa fundamentally changes the way grass and gravel are cleaned, offering a new solution.

Angsa Robotics took part in EIT Climate-KIC’s Clean Cities ClimAccelerator, which allowed them to connect to experts, investors and a broad European network in order to accelerate their solution. They are competing for the Venture Award, which showcases start-ups and scale-ups that have benefited from business acceleration and creation support by the EIT Community.

• Andrea Barber Lazcano is from Spain and she is the CEO of RatedPower, a cloud-based software that carries out the design, engineering and optimisation of large-scale solar plans in just seconds.

Andrea Barber Lazcano is passionate about promoting sustainability and energy efficiency, in addition to raising awareness about alternative forms of energy that respect the environment. Under her leadership, RatedPower received countless awards and recognition in the fields of innovation, creativity and female entrepreneurship. Andrea hopes that her experience as a CEO and Co-founder of RatedPower can serve as an example to those who want to be part of the change to make the planet a better place.

Andrea Barber Lazcano took part of EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator programme, and is now competing for the Woman Leadership Award, which recognises the outstanding work and achievements by exceptional women from the EIT Community.  

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said: “The talent pool and scale of innovations in Europe is rapidly expanding. The nominees for this year’s EIT Awards are a testament to the work the EIT and its Innovation Communities do across our continent to support, invest, and nurture the innovators of tomorrow. I congratulate the nominees for being recognised at this high level and I look forward to the Awards Ceremony in October.”

The EIT Awards 2022 Ceremony will be held during the EIT Summit on 11 October 2022 in Brussels, Belgium, as part of the EIT’s flagship event series, INNOVEIT WEEKS. The 27 nominees will compete beforehand in an online semi-final on 29 September, with 12 finalists advancing to the public awards ceremony.

Each award comes with a monetary prize of € 50,000 (first place), € 20,000 (second place), and € 10,000 (third place). From 29 September, everyone will be able to cast a vote online for their favourite innovation for the EIT Public Award.

The full list of nominees and their innovations can be found here.