ECCI on the hunt for budding entrepreneurs
The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI) is on the hunt for a new batch of budding Scottish entrepreneurs eager to take their markets by storm, as the Climate-KIC Accelerator and Greenhouse programmes open for applications.
The recruitment drive is part of ECCI’s partnership with Climate-KIC - Europe’s largest climate entrepreneurship programme - which aims to get low carbon start-ups investment-ready. The deadline for submissions for both programmes is Wednesday 24 January 2018.
Accelerator
The three-stage, 18-month Climate-KIC Accelerator programme offers early stage entrepreneurs access to up to €60,000 grant funding, business coaching with experienced professionals, a range of masterclasses and free workspace at ECCI’s vibrant Edinburgh hub. Stage 1, which comes with up to €10,000, helps companies find their market niche and figure out how to make money and scale up.
Greenhouse
For ideas at an earlier stage of development, Climate-KIC's Greenhouse offers a preincubation programme and up to €2,500 in funding for starting entrepreneurs who have a climate business idea and the motivation to make it happen. The Greenhouse offers tailored workshops, a community of climate entrepreneurs, and the support early stage entrepreneurs need to develop their ideas.
Since ECCI launched the Climate-KIC Accelerator in June this year, 17 start-ups have been through the programme scooping 14 awards and more than £400,000 in investment, creating 17 jobs and registering three new businesses.
The businesses taking part in the programme also saved the equivalent of more than 260,000 tonnes of carbon annually – the same weight as more than 100,000 elephants.
Stephanie Terreni Brown, Clean Water Wave founder and a participant in the Climate-KIC Accelerator Stages 1 and 2 at ECCI, said:
“The programme has really helped Clean Water Wave go from being an idea to being a big step closer to a dream realised.
“In the short time of the programme, we’ve incorporated as a company, developed our business model and attracted funding so we can pilot our project.”
ECCI, with an award-winning hub in Edinburgh and a new base in Hong Kong, brings together people from business, research, communities and governments to turn good low carbon ideas into reality. It supports a thriving community of low carbon enterprises and provides policy insight and evidence to help inform government decisions.
ECCI became an official partner of Climate-KIC earlier this year, bringing Europe’s biggest climate entrepreneurship programme to Scotland for the first time.