NIS 6 Million to five start-ups which for pilot programs of environmental & climate technologies

29/06/2022

Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Israel Innovation Authority are continuing their investment in environmental and climate innovations.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Israel Innovation Authority are continuing their investment in environmental and climate innovation: grants worth six million NIS will be awarded to five start-ups which carry out relevant pilot programs. To date, over 40 such pilot programs have received a total of 50 million NIS in funding

As part of the seventh round of funding for the joint initiative for pilot programs between the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Israel Innovation Authority, the winning companies will carry out trial projects in recycling green waste, cloud-based urban waste management, remote sensors for identifying leaks in oil pipelines, microgrid management and cold thermal energy storage. In view of the program’s success, an additional round of funding has been opened for submissions and will remain open until July 25, 2022.

Zvica Goltzman, VP Growth Division, Innovation Authority: “This is the seventh joint call to tender between the Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which has seen more than 40 environmental protection pilot programs approved and collectively allocated 50 million NIS. Technological innovations in environmental protection have a critical role in reducing emissions and the presence of pollutants in the air, ground and water. The pilot program with the Ministry of Environmental Protection will continue to allow Israeli entrepreneurs to test their ideas and prove the viability of the technology behind their products, with the goal of promoting them and ensuring that local companies remain at the forefront of the global cleantech industry.”

Avital Eshet, head of Economic Policy and Tech Innovation, Ministry of Environmental Protection: “The climate-tech and cleantech industry is characterized by market failures, which is why the government must step in to offer support. Capital investments in this industry are expected to offer a substantial return for the economy, but the private market considers it to be high-risk and the returns too far into the future. The fruitful collaboration with the Innovation Authority that started in 2018 is expected to continue and to expand, with the goal of developing a diverse and reliable Israeli ecosystem that leverages local strengths and applies them to the fight against climate change and to improving Israel’s environmental efficiency.”
 
The pilot program between the Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Environmental Protection offers support for innovative Israeli tech companies that develop climate and environmental solutions in areas such as recycling and waste management, water and sewage management, renewable energy production and storage, energy efficiency, tackling pollutants and environmental hazards, green building and more. The program is intended for established startups whose products have been proven in lab testing and are ready for real-world commercial trials, with a view to expansion and evolution into becoming mature companies.

The climate-tech and cleantech industry includes interactions and crossovers with a diverse range of other industries and areas. It has created collaboration opportunities for companies within other industries, enabling them to provide solutions to different environmental technological challenges. These include the climate crisis, and specifically the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare for the consequences of climate change on the availability of natural resources and the health of humanity and the natural world. The goal of this joint support is to accelerate development, commercialization and integration of technologies that will increase the efficiency of our use of natural resources and reduce pollutants and environmental hazards. The support program facilitates commercial trial projects for these technologies, as part of a collaborative process between the start-ups and tech companies and the pilot locations.

The winning companies in the current round of funding are

  • CannaRe Technologies: Development of a treatment reactor and protocols for green waste recycling on a semi-commercial scale. Utilizing the recycling process to produce valuable phytochemicals for use in flavorings in the food industry.
  • Ok2go: A smart platform that includes central cloud-based management combined with cameras and sensors for control and oversight of municipal waste management and sanitation processes.
  • Aquarius Spectrum: Leak detection and condition assessment solutions for oil pipelines using ecosystem and pressure sensors.
  • AIO A.D. Systems: Development of a microgrid management system including command, control and management of renewable energy production systems, connections to the national grid and management of energy storage systems and energy consumers. The system will introduce, control and run an optimized operating regime.
  • Nostromo: Backup, redundancy and shifting of energy demand for cooling  and air conditioning, using a combination of a cold thermal energy storage system as part of the cooling system in a data center at the pilot site.