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ECCI start-up tops world's best in global cleantech competition

Check out all the action in our photo-story.

Crover founder Lorenzo Conti pitched against 135 cleantech start-ups to win third place at the ClimateLaunchpad Global Grand Final, bagging € 2,500 and a place on the Climate-KIC Accelerator and becoming the top performing Scottish team in the competition ever.

The University of Edinburgh PhD student has created a robotic device to measure conditions in bulk grain storage and reduce waste. Portuguese start-up ECO2Blocks won top prize - the company has developed a building business using building blocks with 100% industrial waste-based materials. JSP from India, who have developed a microbial fuel cell technology that treats textile effluent to generate energy, came second.

Global Grand Final 2018 Winners

  • 1st Prize: ECO2Blocks, Portugal (€10,000)
  • 2nd Prize: JSP, India (€5,000)
  • 3rd Prize: Crover, Scotland (€2,500)

Lorenzo Conti, founder and CEO of Crover, said: “Crover reflects my desire to create product that isn't just profitable but also has the highest impact on people's livelihood and the environment. So when I first heard about ClimateLaunchpad something clicked. I knew that we were on a similar mission.

"During the whole path to the Grand Final we discovered a fantastic community of people and projects with similar goals, which makes me more optimistic about the future.

"The support and training from ECCI and the University of Edinburgh has helped me and others here in Scotland develop into the leaders we need to be in order to achieve our climate ambitions. We'll keep working hard and making Scotland proud!”

Prior to the final pitches First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP addressed the 600+ visitors attending the fifth edition of the event, hosted in Scotland for the first time in the city’s iconic McEwan Hall.

Ms Sturgeon said in an interview with ClimateLaunchpad: "It's fantastic to be hosting this event in Scotland. Innovation is vital to tackling climate change. We want as many as those entrepreneurs to be in Scotland or to bring their ideas to be developed here in Scotland. Events like this help to put Scotland on the map.”

ECCI Deputy Director and national Climate-KIC lead for Scotland, Ed Craig, said: “It was a huge privilege to host the the world’s best cleantech start-ups alongside First Minister Nicola Sturgeon here in Edinburgh last week.

"Many congratulations to Crover for doing us proud and proving Scotland punches above its weight in producing world-beating climate innovations.

"It’s this homegrown talent, our excellent support framework and consistent political backing that makes a vibrant zero carbon future possible.”

This year’s ClimateLaunchpad competition is part of the VentureFest Scotland innovation festival.