SolarisKit among Scotland's top entrepreneurs

ECCI Climate-KIC Accelerator start-up SolarisKit has won top prize in the Converge Awards - Scotland’s annual celebration of academic innovation and entrepreneurship.

Faisal Ghani, CEO and founder of SolarisKit, triumphed in The Impact Challenge category, winning £20,000 cash and £9,000 in-kind support from experts in the field.

Faisal impressed the judges with SolarisKit’s disruptive, low carbon technology - a flat-packable, solar collector providing clean energy in the form of hot water. As well as tackling climate change head on, the technology is empowering some of the world’s poorest people by providing access to low-cost, clean heat.

Yanik Adam Nyberg of Seawater Solutions, also currently part of ECCI’s Climate-KIC Accelerator programme, was one of the four runners up in the Converge Impact Challenge.

The annual quest to find the country’s most promising academic entrepreneurs took place at the V&A in Dundee on Wednesday 25 September and showcased 18 finalists – over half of them women – with an impressive and diverse range of projects across health care, the creative industries, renewables and food security.

The Climate-KIC Accelerator is ECCI’s three-stage programme for low carbon entrepreneurs and start-ups in the UK - getting entrepreneurs and start-ups investment-ready by offering the knowledge, resources, tools and coaching you needed to grow into a great business. Since launching in 2017 ECCI's Accelerator businesses have secured more than £1.75m worth of investments and won more than 50 awards.

CEO and founder of solar thermal collector SolarisKit, Dr Faisal Ghani said: "We are delighted to be the winner of the 2019 Converge Impact Challenge!

"Funding will be used to help us launch our low-cost, flat-packable solar collector into the developing world in 2020.

"A big thanks to ECCI, Converge and Heriot-Watt for all your support."

Could you benefit from ECCI's start-up programmes?

Climate-KIC Accelerator is ECCI's three-stage programme for low carbon entrepreneurs and start-ups in the UK.