TechX Clean Energy Accelerator (Cohort 2024)

Deadline: 1 October 2023

Applications are now open for the TechX Clean Energy Accelerator, an intensive 15-week programme for 12 innovative clean energy start-ups with clear potential to accelerate the transition to an affordable net zero energy industry.

Focus Areas

CCUS & carbon removal solutions
- Carbon capture (including Direct Air Capture and Direct Ocean Capture)
- Carbon dioxide utilisation (synthetic fuels, green chemicals, food & drink, long duration solutions such as building materials, other industry)
- Carbon dioxide transportation and storage, including efficiencies in the carbon dioxide value chain
Low carbon hydrogen
- Production of zero or low-carbon hydrogen (e.g. green, blue, turquoise); natural hydrogen
- Hydrogen transport and storage
- Utilisation of zero or low-carbon hydrogen to replace fossil fuels (excluding transport applications)
Alternative fuels and green chemicals
- E-fuels and sustainable fuels (for aviation, maritime and heavy goods road transport applications)
- Low carbon power trains for transport applications (excluding passenger road vehicles)
- Power-to-X
- Industrial fuel switching technologies
- Green ammonia and methanol production, transport and storage
- Green ammonia and methanol utilisation (excluding transport applications)
- Other green chemical production
- Low carbon sources of key metals and minerals for the transition (e.g. battery metals), including deep sea
Renewable power
- Offshore renewable power
  - Offshore wind
  - Wave and tidal
  - Offshore geothermal, including reuse of existing wells and the technologies required to do this (e.g. self-sealing cement), and extraction of key metals and minerals from geothermal brine
  - Floating solar
  - Repurposing of existing offshore infrastructure to generate zero carbon power
  - Offshore energy storage and network infrastructure
- Onshore renewable power
  - Onshore wind
  - Onshore solar PV
  - Onshore geothermal including reuse of existing wells and the technologies required to do this (e.g. self-sealing cement), and extraction of key metals and minerals from geothermal brine
  - Onshore energy storage and network infrastructure, including batteries, and transmission and distribution network technologies
Digital solutions
- Ocean data handling for offshore renewables
- Digital twins (creation of models and connection to physical assets), including industrial heat
- Applications of data science (broadly termed as AI), including generative AI
- Distributed ledger applications
- Applications of satellite imagery and telemetry
- Robotics – with a focus on sustainable robotics
- Unmanned vessels, including subsea
- Drones – long range, including hydrogen
- Monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) for carbon removal, including carbon storage in nature based solutions (e.g. enhanced rock weathering)
- Digital solutions for Technology Focus Areas 1-4 and 6 (CCUS & carbon removal solutions, low-carbon hydrogen, alternative fuels and green chemicals, renewable power, decarbonised industrial heat and cooling technologies, other)
Decarbonised industrial heat and cooling technologies, and other
- Industrial solar thermal technologies
- Decarbonised industrial & process heat generation, transportation, usage and storage technologies (including offshore applications)
- Decarbonised industrial cooling technologies (including offshore applications)
- Use of waste heat
- Flaring and venting mitigation
- Methane leak detection and mitigation.

Benefits

Receive up to £100,000 grant funding, expert support and mentoring on:

Testing your value proposition and business model with technical experts and potential industrial customers across the value chain.
Creating a prototype or minimum viable product.
Pitching to potential customers at the final showcase Demo Day, where the cohort competes to win a share of £200K in cash prizes.
Securing field trials to pilot your solution with the industry including bp, Equinor, ADNOC and the other partners.
Structuring capital raising and pitches to investors, before putting it into practice in investor meetings.
Building diverse teams.
Connecting into the Net Zero Technology Centre’s extensive energy industry network and maximising the benefit.
Articulating your start-up story and developing your brand.
Structuring your business optimally from a legal and tax perspective.
Calculating and demonstrating your technology’s carbon impact.
Protecting your IP, developing an IP strategy and applying for patents.
Growing your company with an additional two years of business support and co-working space.

Eligibility Criteria

You must be developing a technology that aligns with one of the focus areas. Your start-up must also:

Applicants must be developing a novel clean energy technology which is fully owned by the start-up.
The technology that the applicant company is applying with must be at a technology readiness level (TRL) of between 2 (early-stage technology concept) and 6 (technology prototype demonstrated in a relevant environment). You can still apply if your company has other technologies that are at a higher TRL, but the technology you apply with must be TRL 2-6.
All technologies accepted to the programme need to have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. TechX focuses on technologies with industrial applications. Technologies solely with commercial or residential applications are out of scope.
All start-ups must commit to actively participating in the programme for the full 15 weeks with at least one member of the team attending all required sessions and meetings. This will include travelling to Aberdeen for three in-person weeks, participating in regular online workshops based on a GMT time zone, and being available from Monday to Thursday for the full programme.
All start-ups must have ambitions to deploy their technologies or create economic impact in the North East of Scotland and the wider UK. The programme accepts start-ups from around the world, but they will need to set up a UK company and articulate how they plan to benefit the UK.
All start-ups must meet the requirements under the Subsidy Control Act (2022) to be able to claim funding. The TechX funding of £100k must not result in the company exceeding the Minimal Financial Assistance threshold over the last 3-year period.
Start-ups must not have applied to the TechX Accelerator more than three times with the same technology.
Looking for companies:
- located in Africa, Asia, Australia/NZ, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America
- incorporated or not
- idea, prototype or users stage
- Angel, Pre-seed, Seed or Series A
- have raised funding or not
- currently raising or not raising funds
- have revenue or not.