Climate Tracker

ENTERPRISE

Pavegen Systems Ltd

pavegen.com

Pavegen manufacture ‘smart tiles’ that harness kinetic energy. The Pavegen technology converts quick impact footsteps into continuous power. After developing 750 prototypes they found a kinetic floor tile that could generate clean electricity.

They have been used at Heathrow and Oxford St and have been installed 200 times in 37 countries.

The Cambridge based R&D team is looking to advance the technology further.

CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

Ferroelectric energy converter

innovation.ox.ac.uk

The demand and associated limitations of batteries to power small portable electronics has led to extensive research that looks to turn ambient forms of energy into useful electrical power. The process of harvesting mechanical energy or kinetic energy created by vehicles, human motion, waves and wind is called transduction. One of the most widespread harvesting techniques to date has been piezoelectric energy harvesting.
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Researchers at Oxford have developed an energy harvester using ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching which delivers greater energy than piezoelectric and is relatively simple and inexpensive to build.

CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

Phasecraft

phasecraft.io

Phasecraft is developing the fundamental quantum theory and software that will enable quantum computers to investigate new quantum materials to help develop better batteries and more efficient solar cells, simulate chemical reactions and make the most of scarce resources in logistics. Founded in 2018.

In August 2022, Phasecraft will lead a project modelling new perovskitesilicon materials for solar photovoltaics in collaboration with Oxford PV and UCL to overcome “currently intractable problems” in PV materials modelling. Phasecraft will be drawing on work ongoing under a 2020 UKRI award to apply quantum computing to modelling the design of batteries.

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CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

ESS Inc

essinc.com

Flow batteries made from iron, salt and water promise a nontoxic way tostore enough clean energy when the sun isn’t shining. ESS Inc is the onlymanufacturer and holder of patents on its iron flow batteries, which use aniron and saltwater electrolyte in rugged systems that can deliver longduration energy storage (4-12 hours duration) over many years without thedegradation that lithium-ion batteries experience.

ESS Inc was listed on the NYSE in late 2021, reporting revenues for the firsttime in 2022.

View MIT Technology article
View Energy Storage News article

CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

Form Energy

formenergy.com

Form Energy is the developer of a new class of cost-effective energy storagesystems, storing energy at less than one tenth of the cost of lithium-ionbattery technology. They have reinvented and optimized the iron-airbattery using some of the most abundant and low-cost raw materials – iron, water and air. The battery works with a process called “reversible rusting.”The battery takes in oxygen and converts iron to rust. It then reverses theprocess, turning rust back into iron and breathing out oxygen, to charge anddischarge the battery.
Their first commercial project using iron-air technology can store electricityfor 100 hours at costs similar to legacy power plants. This technology helpsto overcome the one of the biggest barriers to decarbonization by makingrenewable energy available when and where it is needed.

Investors include Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

View CNBC article

CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

Group1

cen.acs.org

Start-up Group1 is seeking to commercialise cathode materials for
potassium-ion batteries.

Founded in 2021, the US-based start-up has found that its Potassium Prussian White cathode materials result in a quick-charging, high-efficiency and safer potassium-ion batteries, and these can be a more sustainable alternative to the lithium-ion battery. Potassium has the advantage over lithium in that it is 1000 times more abundant and currently 20 times more affordable.

CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

Northvolt

northvolt.com

Northvolt, founded in 2016, is a supplier of sustainable, high quality battery cells and systems. Northvolt is combining forces with Stora Enso to create sustainable batteries made from a lignin-based hard carbon produced with renewable wood from Nordic forests. The aim is to secure a European supply of anode raw material to serve the sustainable battery needs for applications from mobility to stationary energy storage.

View Northolt article
View Energy Storage News article

CATEGORY
Generating Power

ENTERPRISE

Shellworks

theshellworks.com

Shellworks is looking at replacing plastic packaging with a substitute that is performant, cost-competitive and truly sustainable. While there has been extensive innovation in packaging, most products rely on industrial infrastructure to process them at end of life.

Shellworks core mission is to develop a material that can degrade, like a twig, in any natural environment. Their initial focus has been in the beauty industry.

Their latest product Vivomer is created by microorganisms that are abundant in both marine and soil enviroments. At the end of its useful life, these same microbes see Vivomer as a food source and consume it, meaning there are no microplastics left behind. Their vision extends to the whole lifecycle of their products from manufacture to use and finally disposal.

CATEGORY
Manufacturing Goods

ENTERPRISE

Carbogenics

https://www.carbogenics.com/

Carbogenics, an Edinburgh based start-up, is producing sustainable carbon absorbents (biochars) from difficult to recycle organic waste such as coffee cups, wastepaper and wastewater screenings. Most biochars are made from virgin materials such as wood but CreChar (patent pending) is produced from selected secondary biomass.
Carbogenics use a heating process known as pyrolysis to convert this secondary biomass into their innovative CreChar. The process of pyrolysis means that the paper waste does not go to landfill or incineration and the carbon that is locked into CreChar is very stable and can be used safely to store carbon for hundreds or thousands of years.
CreChar has a number of unique benefits. It has proved to be a game-changer for the anaerobic digestion and wastewater treatment industries. When

CreChar is added to the anaerobic digestion process, yields of biogas (which can be used to make electricity) have risen by 15%. In addition to carbon sequestration and storage, CreChar can also be used as a plant fertiliser for soil amendment and remediation.

View Heedinburghreporter article

CATEGORY
Manufacturing Goods

ENTERPRISE

Gen 2 Carbon

gen2carbon.com

Gen 2 Carbon are committed to recovering the carbon fibre from manufacturing waste and end-of-service carbon fibre intensive structures. The carbon fibre is then recycled and returned to the market where it can provide an alternative to virgin carbon fibre which has a high carbon footprint. The recycled fibre is typically 40% cheaper than virgin fibre.

Gen 2 Carbon have developed a range of recycled carbon fibre products that are being used in the automotive, aerospace, wind energy and electronics sectors.

Carbon fibre has the advantage of being as strong as steel but a fraction of the weight and corrosion resistant. Although carbon fibre is still significantly more expensive than steel, costs are coming down rapidly and the longer- term cost benefit of a lighter weight product has positive benefits for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions in the automotive and aerospace industries.

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CATEGORY
Manufacturing Goods

ENTERPRISE

Dendra Systems

dendra.io

Dendra Systems has developed a unique technology for largescale
ecosystem restoration.

The company recently launched its thirdgeneration aerial seeding
technology and analysis platform. This high-resolution technology allows conservation teams to view land with far greater accurately than traditional satellite imagery. The data is then used to develop the most effective flightpaths for seeding the ground with different types of trees and plants to complement the ecosystem.

Once an accurate picture of the land’s condition is established, Dendra uses bespoke drones for arial seeding. They claim that 10 drones can plant 300,000 trees per day.

The Oxford based start-up has been working with natural resources
companies like Glencore, Rio Tinto and public bodies to reverse land
degradation. They have undertaken around 40 projects in 11 countries.

View UKTN article
View Verdict article

CATEGORY
Agricultural Practices

ENTERPRISE

Downforce Technologies

downforce.tech

Incorporated in 2021, Downforce Technologies is providing an innovative solution to cut the cost of measuring and monitoring soil health and carbon levels. Healthy soil is recognised as one of the most effective ways to capture and store carbon but to date soil carbon measurement has proven to be laborious, expensive and captures a minimal sample size over what can be large and varied landscapes.

The company’s first product can measure soil organic carbon with extremely high levels of accuracy, without the need to go to site. This data and technology will allow farmers and landowners to understand the health of their soil and generate insights into the potential of their land to store carbon and other natural capital at scale.

In 2022 they secured a £1.6m investment from the Clean Energy Innovation Fund on behalf of the Australian Government that will provide critical carbon insights not only for landowners but also financial institutions, food companies and policymakers.
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View CEFC article
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CATEGORY
Agricultural Practices

ENTERPRISE

Loam Bio

https://www.loambio.com/

Founded in Australia in 2019, Loam Bio is looking to tackle current agricultural practices which deplete soils of key nutrients, such as CO2. Soil carbon is critical to farm fertility as it influences the retention of water, drives nutrient cycling and limits topsoil loss.
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Loam Bio’s technology involves coating seeds with its CarbonBuilder endophytic fungus that promotes plant growth and enhances resilience against drought, disease and high temperatures. The endophytes play another role, making stable forms of carbon like aggregate and minerals that endure for hundreds of years, reversing the loss of soil carbon. Alongside CarbonBuilder Loam has launched SecondCrop carbon projects to help farmers sell on their carbon credits to companies looking to offset their emissions.
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The technology has the additional advantage in that its adoption does not require a dramatic change in farming practice and coating seeds is already common practice. They have raised around $100m and are looking to launch their products commercially in Australia and the US.

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CATEGORY
Agricultural Practices

ENTERPRISE

3DPARE

bournemouth.ac.uk

Coral reefs only occupy 1% of the ocean floor but they support an estimated 25% of all known marine species. Over 500 million people worldwide depend on reefs for food, jobs and coastal defence.

It is accepted that efforts to combat the two biggest threats to coral reefs, warmer atmospheric temperatures and increasing levels of carbon dioxide may take years to implement. The deployment of artificial reefs is hoped to be a short-term answer.

The 3DPARE project (led by the University of Cantabria, Spain) is working to deploy and monitor reef blocks in the Atlantic Ocean. These have been fabricated using innovative 3D printing technology and sustainable, low impact bio-receptive materials.

Bournemouth University, a main partner in this project, have released juvenile lobsters on to the 3D artificial reefs to discover if this conservation tool will be able to support them and can be used to improve underwater ecosystems in the future.

View National Ocean Service article

CATEGORY
Producing Food

ENTERPRISE

BODYHEAT Club and TownRock Energy

townrockenergy.com

TownRock Energy has developed a unique renewable heating and cooling system that captures heat generated when people dance at a venue. The energy is collected and piped to boreholes around 200m deep. The energy is then stored in the surrounding rocks and can be used days or months later using heat pumps to heat or cool a building.

The project was launched during COP26 and has been installed into the Glasgow events venue SWG3. They aim to achieve net zero by 2025.

BODYHEAT Club was set up in Jan 2022 to explore further uses of this technology.
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View TownRock Energy article

CATEGORY
Powering Buildings

ENTERPRISE

Spinnova

spinnova.com

Finnish start-up Spinnova, founded in 2015, has developed a breakthrough patented technology for making textile fibre out of wood or waste products.

The technology enables a fibre to be made from wood pulp. The same technology can also be used to make fibre out of waste materials such as leather waste, textile waste and agricultural waste including cereal straw.

The fibre has the feel of natural fibres such as cotton, but it is produced without the chemicals or water intensive processes that go into producing textile fibres such as cotton, viscose or lyocell. The process uses 99% less water compared to cotton production, and it also results in zero waste and creates minimal carbon emissions.

In 2022 Spinnova built their first commercial factory with their partner Suzano, the world’s largest wood pulp producer. Leading fashion brands
including the H&M Group have collaborated with Spinnova and are using the fibre in their product range.
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View Spinnova Group article
View Arket article

CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

Provenance

provenance.org

Provenance, founded in 2013, is a provider of sustainable marketing technology to make supply chains more transparent and tackle greenwashing. Legislation and consumer demand has led to more companies looking to ensure their supply chains represent their values.
The London based start-up’s platform blends blockchain, mobile and social to allow companies to show consumers the entire journey a product takes while also allowing consumers to contribute and verify information.

Their Proof Point technology supports digitised claims from ‘net zero’ to ‘living wage’. Proof Points are digital sustainability claims that sit in eCommerce pages and enable shoppers to click through to view relevant evidence or independent verification.
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In March 2022, Provenance raised US$5m to accelerate its goal to empower 1 billion citizens to choose products that match their values across food and drink, beauty and fashion industries. It is currently live in 18 markets globally and works with 81 independent verification bodies.
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View Fashion Round Table article
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CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

Radiant Matter

ananas-anam.com

Radiant Matter is a design led start-up developing the next generation of sustainable embellishment components for the fashion industry. Their mission is to shift the textile industry’s dependence on petroleum-derived plastics, metals and minerals as a means of generating a shiny or glittery effect.
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Research began in 2018 to develop a biodegradable alternative to the sequin. Sequins pose many environmental issues, not only are they made from petroleum-based plastics but their production results in around 33% of the material being wasted through the punching process. Recent research has also shown that British women alone will purchase 33 million sequinned garments in a festive season and 1.7 million will end up in landfill after only 5 wears.
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Radiant Matter have developed a sequin using the crystal form of cellulose derived from wood. Their sequin is as lightweight as their plastic counterparts, shimmers without the use of added chemicals and is completely biodegradable. Research will now focus on scaling up production.
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View Fashion Round Table article
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CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

Resortecs

resortecs.com

Resortecs, a Belgium based start-up founded in 2017, aims to make recycling in the textile and fashion industries easier. Currently, only 1% of textiles are effectively being recycled largely due to the high costs and complexity in separating different textile materials prior to recycling.
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Resortecs has developed two patented innovations, Smart Stitch and Smart Disassembly. Smart Stitch is a heat-dissolvable stitching thread, that can be disassembled on an industrial scale in the Smart Disassembly apparatus, a low-emission thermal disassembly system. Using both systems it is possible to recover up to 90% of a garments fabric and five times faster than traditional disassembly methods.
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In 2022 Resortecs was selected to receive a grant worth €2.5m from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator. The technology is being piloted by 25 fashion brands and is already being used by INDITEX and H&M.
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View Procurement Mag article
View Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation article
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View Mondaq article
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CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

Biophilica

biophilica.co.uk

Biophilica, founded in 2019, manufacture a plastic-free alternative to leather which is made using green waste. Leather is one of the most environmentally harmful textiles with its carbon footprint, water usage and waste.
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Biophilica’s main product, Treekind, (patent pending) is largely manufactured from fallen leaves which are cleaned, dried and turned into a powder. This is then mixed with a natural binder to create flat sheets that are treated with a bio-based waterproof coating and coloured using natural pigment such as algae.
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Treekind uses less than 1% of the water in leather production, it is biodegradable, non-toxic and unlike many leather alternatives it is not coated in a petroleum-based plastic. It is initially being trialled in the accessories market but its use in furniture, shoes and automotives is being explored.

In April 2022 Biophilica raised £1.2m led by Rhapsody Venture Partners.
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CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

Ananas Anam

ananas-anam.com

Ananas Anam, a London-based start-up founded in 2013, has developed Pinatex, a patented sustainable alternative to leather.
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Pinatex, is manufactured from the waste leaves of pineapple plants. The fibres from the leaves can be extracted by farmers locally before being processed industrially into a non-woven mesh textile that replicates the knot of collagen fibres found in leather.
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Pinatex is now used by around 3000 brands in 80 countries and can be found in a growing range of products including trainers, jackets, car interiors and handbags.
There is estimated to be 27 million tonnes of residual biomass every year from the pineapple harvest, which according to the founder could replace all the leather currently produced globally each year for shoes without using additional land and resources.
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CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

DyeRecycle

ananas-anam.com

Founded in 2020, London based DyeRecycle aims to address two challenges facing the fashion industry: dye pollution and textile waste.

DyeRecycle has developed an innovative dyeing fibres technology using recycled dye from textile waste. The first step in the process allows dyes to be extracted from textile waste using a unique liquid, leaving decoloured fibres that can be reused or recycled. In the second step, the recovered dyes are used to dye new fibres.
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The unique liquid does not involve the use of toxic chemicals and eliminates the use of new dyes. The liquid can then be recycled and reused in the process. Every garment dyed with Dyerecycle uses 85% fewer chemicals, 66% less water and generates 57% less carbon emissions. Attention is now focused on scaling up the process to test its commercial viability.
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View Textile Technology article
View Future Fashion Factory article ‍

CATEGORY
Textiles and Fashion

ENTERPRISE

Adaptavate

adaptavate.com

Adaptavate is developing carbon negative building materials for the construction industry.
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Their innovative product Breathaboard is a carbon negative alternative to plasterboard which is the third most used construction material.
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All the components of Breathaboard are sustainable and completely biodegradable. The off cuts can even be used as a fertiliser. Unlike other drylining boards, Breathaboard can passively regulate moisture reducing condensation and mould. The insulating properties have also been found to be superior to alternatives.
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In addition to an £800,000 grant from Innovate UK, Adaptavate secured funding of £2.16m in April 2022 to build a pilot production line to scale production and complete testing and licencing programmes.
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View Business Innovation Mag article

CATEGORY
Building Materials

ENTERPRISE

Mykor

mykor.co.uk

Mykor manufacture rigid insulation out of completely renewable bio-based waste resources. Their high-performing insulation solution starts with locally sourced forestry waste and fungi.
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Certified laboratories have found that ‘MykoSlab’ competes both economically and physically with conventional insulations such as plastic foams and mineral wools at a fraction of their embodied carbon. The manufacturing process consumes 90% less water than expanded polystyrene (EPS), utilises 40% less energy and emits 60% less CO2 than EPS.

This novel material offers high performance in strength, density, sound absorption and fire-retardancy.
Mykor was awarded a grant from Innovate UK in June 2022 and will now look, in collaboration with Bath University, to develop a unique waterproofing for ‘MykoSlab’.
It is expected to be commercially available Q3 2023.
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View Fashion Round Table article
View Standard.co.uk article
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View Mikor article
View SetSquared article
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CATEGORY
Building Materials

ENTERPRISE

BioZeroc

biozeroc.com

BioZeroc, founded in 2021, are focused on developing carbon negative construction materials. Their patent pending BioConcrete solution removes the need for cement in the concrete manufacturing process. Eighty eight percent of concrete emissions come from cement.
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BioZeroc’s insight is rooted in nature, where microorganisms create very strong structures like coral. The manufacturing process essentially takes naturally occurring bacteria, organic feedstocks and circular agents plus sand and aggregate and combines them to produce precast concrete. This product has the added advantage that it does not need cladding, paint or plasterboard.
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Through biotechnology they are looking to scale up the process and the aim is to source feedstock chemicals from agricultural waste which would make

the resulting concrete carbon negative. BioZeroc expects to create its first full-size brick early in 2023 and to exhibit a larger structure later this year.
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View UKBAA article
View Concrete Centre article
View UKBAA article

CATEGORY
Building Materials

ENTERPRISE

Mimicrete

mimicrete.com

Mimicrete, founded in 2021, is an advanced material science start-up from the University of Cambridge. They have developed a self-healing concrete system which will help the construction industry to improve the sustainability and durability of concrete structures.
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Mimicrete has developed technology for a vascular system of tubes inside new concrete structures (essentially like ‘veins’ inside the concrete) that deploy microcapsules to fill in cracks large and small, as they emerge. When concrete cracks, which it is prone to, it will also trigger the tubes to crack and release the self-healing agent and stop further damage within the concrete structure. The technology can both lengthen concrete lifetime and reduce the need for overengineering, repair and/or replacement.

The start-up was awarded an Innovate UK Smart Grant for £450k in 2022 and is currently taking part in a commercial trial with concrete walling company JP Concrete to investigate how the self-healing system might extend the lifespan of a structure.
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View Cam Future Tech article
View Cambridge Independent article
View Pre Seed Now article

CATEGORY
Building Materials

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Generating power

Manufacturing Goods

Agricultural Practices

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