2009 Innovation Awards to Celebrate the Pioneers in the Clean Tech Revolution 

24 August 2009
Carbon Trust calls on all low carbon innovators to demonstrate the ingenuity that will fuel the clean tech revolution  

The Carbon Trust is launching a nationwide hunt for the most inspiring innovators in the development and deployment of low carbon technology solutions. With just under 50 days until the closing date for this year's Innovation Awards, the Carbon Trust is urging innovators to submit their entries as soon as possible.  In its fourth annual Innovation Awards, the Carbon Trust is searching for entrepreneurs, businesses and public sector organisations to enter and show how they have the potential to be pioneers in the fight against climate change.

The Carbon Trust Innovation Awards will celebrate the best low carbon technologies and provide a platform to accelerate the introduction of these technologies to the market.  The Award winners will be showcased in the press and, as past winners have found, an Innovation Award can set a business on a new trajectory to success – helping to raise awareness, attract potential customers and leverage commercial partnerships.

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust said,
“The UK has a fantastic opportunity to lead the global market for clean technologies and these awards will highlight the world class culture of innovation in leading UK organisations. Through the successful development and commercialisation of low carbon technologies, the UK can help cut carbon and enjoy significant economic benefit. Our aim is to accelerate the introduction of these new technologies to the market, helping to transform the way the world uses energy.”

This year’s Awards are part of the Carbon Trust’s Clean Tech Revolution campaign which aims to make the UK a global hub of low carbon innovation. The awards will be judged by a panel including Tim Smit, co-founder and Chief Executive of the Eden Project; Alok Jha, Science Correspondent for The Guardian; Chris Mottershead, Vice Principle of Research and Innovations at Kings College London; Dick Strawbridge, ‘eco’ King; Jeremy Webb, Editor of The New Scientist; and Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust.

Organisations have a major opportunity to benefit from the fast-growing low carbon economy and are being urged by the Carbon Trust to enter the Awards which offer an important platform for showcasing local innovation.

There are six categories this year; four for technology developers and providers, and two for users and early adopters of low carbon technologies.  The panel of judges will select a shortlist and an overall winner in each category. They will then choose an overall winner of the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards 2009 from across the six categories.  The categories are described below.

Technology developers and providers (4 award categories)
The first four awards categories are for technology innovators – the developers and providers of low carbon technologies.  Individuals, academic institutions and small or large business are all eligible to enter as long as they can show that they are researching or developing a new technology with strong commercial potential and the ability to significantly reduce CO2 emissions.  This could include renewable energy solutions or energy efficient technologies. In every category the Carbon Trust will consider complete solutions or individual component technologies. There are four specific areas of development:

  • Category 1: Power - This category recognises innovative technologies that will help replace existing electricity supplies with new energy sources, such as wind, tidal, wave, carbon capture and storage, geothermal or hydroelectric generation.
  • Category 2: Buildings - This category includes solutions that help reduce demand for energy in buildings and technologies for on-site generation of power and/or heat.
  • Category 3: Transport - This category includes new technologies that can reduce carbon emissions for transport, such as renewable bio-fuels, improved road vehicles and hydrogen for road transport.  It could also include fuel cell technologies, electric/hybrid vehicles, and hydrogen storage devices
  • Category 4: Industry - This category covers development of technologies which can be used to reduce carbon emissions across a wide range of industrial applications. This could include novel motors, compressed air systems, refrigeration, control systems and much more.

Users of innovative low carbon technologies (2 award categories)
The final two categories recognise the important role that early adopters can play in stimulating the market for emerging low carbon technologies.  Organisations will need to demonstrate innovation in the use of low carbon technologies, going well beyond standard industry practice.  The technology or solution implemented should be something with the potential to be very widely used by other organisations in future and therefore deliver very significant carbon savings.

There are two awards, as follows:

  • Category 5: Private Sector – innovation in the use of low carbon technologies by a private sector business
  • Category 6: Public Sector – innovation in the use of low carbon technologies by a public sector organisation

The closing date for the competition is 9 October 2009 and the winners will be announced on the 25 November 2009 in Central London.  The Carbon Trust will work with the winners to provide a wide range of opportunities to promote their work through marketing and PR platforms.

 
 

For more information please call the Carbon Trust press office on 0207 544 3100.  Previous finalist and winner case studies are available.

There are two stages to this competition: the first is to submit an entry by filling in a simple electronic nomination form. If organisations successfully qualify for the second round of the competition, they’ll need to supplement their entries by completing a more detailed questionnaire.  Entrants that reach the second stage may provide further supporting material and may be visited by the judging panel.

Any unpublished material, which usually comes from stage two of the competition (where finalists supplement their entries with more detailed research, statistics and information), will be treated with strict commercial confidence. Inventions and research might be capable of being protected by a patent. If information is disclosed about how it works to anyone else, the ability to get a patent for it might be lost.  Entrants should seek professional advice should they have any doubts about their rights.

What will winners receive?
The overall winner and each category winner can expect:

  • To showcase their product with buyers, investors and low carbon technology providers through our formal channels and programs
  • The prestige of being judged one of the Carbon Trust Innovators of the year
  • A chance for coverage in broadcast media, regional and trade titles and the Carbon Trust’s own publications and newsletters
  • Extensive profiling of the awards on the dedicated awards web site and through both the Guardian and New Scientist online
  • To display the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards Winners logo on their business stationery, in promotional materials and on their web site
  • Full coverage in our Innovation Awards supplement in the Guardian and New Scientist after the awards – publicity worth over £50,000
  • A specially-commissioned trophy and framed certificate
  • Our overall winner will also receive expert and tailored advice from the Carbon Trust innovations and investments team

The Carbon Trust

  • The Carbon Trust is an independent company set up in 2001 by Government in response to the threat of climate change, to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by working with organisations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies.
  • We cut carbon emissions now by providing business and the public sector with expert advice, finance and certification to help them reduce their carbon footprint and to stimulate demand for low carbon products and services. Through our work, we’ve already helped save over 17 million tonnes of carbon, delivering costs savings of over £1billion.
  • We cut future carbon emissions by developing new low carbon technologies. We do this through project funding and management, investment and collaboration and by identifying market barriers and practical ways to overcome them. Our work on commercialising new technologies will save over 20 million tonnes of carbon a year by 2050.
 
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