Applications open for 3W Challenge Competition (Poland)

The competition supports innovative projects that are part of the development of modern technologies in the 3D area – water, hydrogen, carbon, which can then be used in industry, energy, medicine, agriculture and other branches of the economy.

3W Challenge is a program for R&D projects at various levels of maturity and young startups that implement projects using at least one of three resources: water, hydrogen and coal, or operate in synergistic areas for them.

Thematic Areas for your Project

These are areas in the field of water, hydrogen and carbon, including those developed below, in which the Organizer is looking for new solutions and cooperates with Participants to implement and commercialize innovative solutions:

• Water
  • Environment – water purification technologies, targeted capture of pollutants, filtering e.g. using activated carbon, natural retention (or slowing down water runoff), monitoring of water parameters (quality, condition, etc.) or leaks in the water and sewage industry, etc.;
  • Industry – optimization and monitoring of water consumption, water recovery, closed circuits, use of rainwater for industrial needs, etc., food production based on sustainable water use, use of water for hydrogen production, e.g. technologies for obtaining ultra-pure water, etc.;
  • Municipal management – retention of water from rainfall, watering gardens with rainwater, use of gray water, green houses – greenery on the roof/facade, etc.;
  • Agriculture – optimization of water use (smart agriculture, local water retention), management of water consumption for crops and breeding adapted to real needs (temperature, humidity, a given stage of plant vegetation, purification of water from agricultural pollutants (nitrogen and phosphorus), food production – aquaponics, hydroponics, etc.;
• Hydrogen
  • All technologies from the hydrogen value chain:
    • Hydrogen production – (using renewable/green energy – electrolysers, pyrolysis and gasification of waste fractions);
    • Storage – hydrogen tanks (different generations, purposes, as well as parameters, natural hydrogen storage), transport (vehicles, tankers, standardization of containers, pipelines (hydrogen corrosion), consumption (fuel, fuel cells, raw material for further processing – e.g. fertilizers), etc.;
    • Automotive industry and public transport – (buses, trains), large-scale use of hydrogen (e.g. home installations), refueling stations (HRS – Hydrogen Refulling Station), etc.;
    • Hydrogen detectors and installations that purify hydrogen from possible impurities, etc.
• Coal
  • Medical area – drug delivery, targeted therapies, diagnostics (based on carbon nanotubes, graphene, fullerenes), prostheses or prosthetic components (exo, endo), etc.;
  • Electronics – integrated circuits, displays, sensors, etc.;
  • Space industry – rocket propulsion elements, satellites, structural elements (composites using carbon fibers), etc.;
  • Automotive industry – structural elements, batteries (composites using carbon fibers), etc.;
  • Sports equipment – for example from the scopes indicated below: tennis, sports boats, bicycles (carbon fibers);
  • Construction – load-bearing structures (frameworks, bridges, etc.) with carbon fibers, graphene concrete, anti-corrosion paints and coatings, etc.;
  • Production – technologies for producing carbon nanostructures, ensuring production stability and constant quality parameters

Prize Information

• Become one of the three Competition Winners and receive comprehensive support from Venture Builder the Heart and BGK worth PLN 200,000, which will prepare R&D projects and young technology companies to meet business challenges.
• This is a unique opportunity to develop the project – take part in the competition and:
  • go through a process supporting the verification of the business model
  • consult the project with the selected content partner
  • get holistic and constant support from a team dedicated to your project at all development phases needed: from Proof of Concept to MVP and go-to-market strategy
  • get additional consulting support in areas such as business development, marketing and HR
  • prepare your project for Venture Capital investment

Criteria

• Participants can be:
  • legal persons and organizational units without legal personality, registered by the representative in accordance with the rules of representation disclosed in the appropriate register;
  • adult natural persons with full legal capacity.
• Employees and associates of the Organizer, Partner, Vinci, as well as the Organizer’s subsidiaries or Related Entities, entities cooperating with the Organizer in organizing the Competition, including the Partner, and Family Members of the above-mentioned persons, cannot participate in the Competition.
• The names and surnames or respectively the names of the Winners will be announced on the Portal, and the winners will be informed about it by e-mail.

For more information, visit Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.