On March 13th, 2024, we attended the Cleantech conference at the Oxford Said Business School. The one-day event, facilitated by Oxfordshire Cleantech, featured panels and presentations connecting innovators, corporations, academics, SMEs, and investors working for a smarter, more sustainable future.

There’s a long way to go to solve the climate challenge. That said, seeing the ambition and potential of new technologies is encouraging. The UK's climate tech startup ecosystem is incredible. More prominent organisations like EDF UK are actively decarbonising the system, electrifying everything, and scaling new technologies.

Future successful requires

• More corporates becoming facilitators.

• More technology and eureka moments.

• More good laboratory space to scale initiatives up to the pilot stage.

• Better infrastructure and energy.

• Talent to make time and take risks.

• The government is behind a climate tech vision that is right for the economy.

Given the scale of the challenge, collaboration is the key

Bringing together different actors from universities to venture capital is critical; universities provide access to Tech and academic rigour. Startups show ambition and speed.

However, we need to overcome the challenge of convincing different actors. Oil and gas have cash, yet despite needing to change course and redeploy capital, some are resistant to invest in the next generation of business. Pharmaceuticals and agri-tech are also becoming increasingly risk-converse because they deploy capital without getting a return and are not part of a circle of investors.

Why this matters: Consider your position in the ecosystem and organisation. What can you do more of in an organisational capacity, and what is getting in your way? To be successful, you need to leverage the right talent, skills, and partnerships.

A clearly understood problem with a solution is super exciting!

Boiler breakdowns are a practical example. This “moment of” happens 800,000 times per year.

In the UK, there’s a drive to decarbonise heat in homes by replacing 20 million gas boilers with heat pumps. A great idea in practice, but questions on economics and regulation exist. Plus, it takes 14 weeks.

To solve this, David Ferguson, Head of Innovation at EDF UK, partnered with a startup that shortened the process to two days.

Why this matters: Validate whether ‘it’ is genuinely a problem and what that problem is worth. It’s critical to understand where the industry is and whether there is a genuine business model behind your problem.

Meet the inspiring companies pitching and driving change

💧Watermark — A new approach to valuing water using deep tech to tackle the lack of data infrastructure, accuracy, and hyper-local information on water quality, resources, and access — critical in meeting new EU regulations on companies’ contribution and obligations to the environment. 

🧪 Capchar —  Biochar is a soil amendment that makes weak soils more robust. This scientific approach reduces atmospheric carbon that takes shape in a decentralised Circular Carbon Dioxide Removal network.

🥵.Micromelt  —  Deep-tech plastic recycling that handles mixed plastics in one step and turns microwaves into high-grade nonna products.

🌌 Re-universe — A deposit-led digital returns platform removing plastic by placing their focus on usable cups. It is the lead partner for Blenheim Palace and built strong collaborations with Evian, Pepsico, and Sainsbury’s.

🌊HPP Hydropods—With 11bn litres of water waste per day, hydroelectric power generation is the future. The firm uses low-head hydropower combined in a vortex chamber (water flows) to create a 140% increase in power to gravity alone.

🔌 ZETA—This established manufacturer, for over 30 years, has produced a new solar tile, established the best EV charging network in the UK, and created Easy Charge to provide better software and utilisation analysis.

🌿 Credit nature – How can we make nature restoration investable? A new unit of accounting. The firm has created a digital platform with a metrics framework, which is simple for buyers and developers and helps companies to become nature-positive.  

🌀 Airplus renewables —  Made possible because of the design + tech, this ambitious firm has solved the hardest part of decarbonisation by creating an efficient hybrid renewable energy generation system to capture and repurpose wind energy in smaller settings.

🔗 3TAG - The EU wants to be the first climate-neutral continent. The blockchain circulation tech company provides a solution for accurate attestation and governance of circulatory chain metrics via a blockchain-distributed ledger, giving 100% transparency from cradle to grave. 

🏠 Xera innovation – 1 in 3 people want to design their own home. The Sofware platform, X-IST, aims to unlock £4bn of new homes via the first 3-D modelling and digital twin system. Home information packs are another offering.  

🧠 Neura Energy - Leverages data to facilitate a consumer-led transition to clean energy. It maps your smart meter data — which already belongs to you — to determine the right tariff, behaviour change, and appliance contribution. 

Want to successfully compete in the modern green economy?