The green bottom line has become as important as the financial one.
Startups are preparing for an increasing number of natural disasters caused by climate change
The climate fight has entered the fields and the dinner table
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Climate change that was only a mirage on the horizon just a few years ago is now being felt around the world. Droughts, floods, forest fires and rising temperatures leave very few in doubt: if we are to meet climate targets, the world needs a significant green transformation.
Fortunately, many are developing new technologies, digitising existing ones and constructing more sustainable business models for a more balanced future. Solutions that make a difference.
In »Tech for the Planet« we take a close look at the biggest global challenge of our time: climate change. We profile the most important organisations and players in the climate landscape. Delve into the green part of the startup ecosystem. And examine the green technologies and solutions that are shaping the present - and those that will change the future.
We hope you enjoy the publication!
We would like to thank the following partners, sponsors and advertisers for making »Tech for the Planet 2022« possible:
»Tech for the Planet 2022« is produced by TechSavvy Media.
Editor: Erik Lillelund
Journalists: Erik Lillelund and Sebastian Kjær Layout: Vratislav Pecka Frontpage: Aurimas Baciauskas
Published by TechSavvy Media. Contact: sales@techsavvy.media
To achieve Denmark’s goal of be coming climate neutral by 2050, we need the many political ambitions to be translated into action. All companies must get on board and contribute, other wise we will not reach our climate goal.
The experience and volume of well-es tablished, large companies are important for the green transition, but equally im portant are the new innovative, sustain able solutions, which entrepreneurial companies can deliver. To a great extent, large companies are able to act in an ambitious direction, but politicians and organizations must make a special effort to get the SMEs included. Because it is especially among the entrepreneurs, new ideas and ground-breaking technological solutions are initiated.
In order to succeed, three things must be in focus. Firstly, the public sector can take a leading role and make a bigger differ ence, if they prioritize green procurement. Hence, a CO2-reduction target must be set for public purchasing, so the demand for green innovative solutions increases. The market must simply support green entre preneurship to a greater extent.
Secondly, there is a need for increased patience and willingness to take risks on
the part of both the public and private sector, when it comes to financing and scaling green tech solutions. Many small companies have physical products that require expensive equipment for testing, long development cycles and difficult production processes. We must be able to accommodate that.
The last prerequisite for creating many more innovative technological green solu tions among entrepreneurs, is that the research at universities is translated into
real solutions far more often. The oppor tunities to mature and develop spin-outs, which will solve the problems we face, should be improved. Therefore, it must be made easier for entrepreneurs to transfer intellectual property rights from univer sities to private companies. Today, this is perceived as very resource demanding.
This is what DI fights for every daytogether with Danish companies. We cannot reach the finish line without help from technology and entrepreneurs.
After two big exits, a string of startup successes and a CEO’s chair in San Francisco, Peakon founder Kasper Hulthin was ready to sit back. But he was bad at it. Today, he’s working instead for a greener, brighter future for the next generation.
Written by Erik LillelundIt was not long before the itch was back.
Kasper Hulthin, together with his friends Jon Froda and Anders Pollas, had started the software platform Podio to change how people collaborate. In 2012, they sold the company to US giant Citrix for €35M and Hulthin traded in his basement office in Vesterbro for a CEO’s chair in San Francisco.
In 2015, Kasper Hulthin was at it again. He founded Peakon with three partners, a SaaS platform for employee feedback and satisfaction. And when a second exit became a reality in 2021, the price was a staggering €580M from US corporation Workday.
He actually thought that was it. Now he was going to sit back and enjoy it all.
»I really thought I would retire and not do much. But then I felt like I want ed to use my skills to pull the world in a better direction,«Kasper Hulthin smiles.
Today, he has started the Future Five fund, which both builds and invests in tech startups in the food, education and climate sectors. The ambition is to make the world a better place for the next generation.
»My great-grandfather invented a type of plough and then fearlessly called his company ‘the future’. I think that’s a great story, and I’m the fourth genera tion in that line. So the idea is that we are working for a better and brighter future for the fifth generation - hence Future Five,« explains Hulthin.
Kasper Hulthin has spent his whole life creating tech-startups. Now we has started Future Five - a VC committed to food, education and climate.Tech entrepreneur thought he wanted to retire post-exit:
better
I really thought I would retire and not do much.«
People ask: What are we going to do? Everything!«
Will technology save us?
This year, through global warm ing alone, we have seen devastating droughts, wildfires and floods so severe that millions of people have lost their homes.
If we continue on our current emis sions path, the world is set to warm by an average of 3-6 degrees - far above the 1.5 degrees most countries agreed to in the Paris Agreement in 2018. That development will have incalculable con sequences and will most likely lead to a host of secondary ills such as natural disasters, climate refugees and extreme drought in many places, according to the OECD and the UN’s climate panel ICCP.
So is there even a greener future to leave the next generation?
»It will ultimately come down to economics. The day it’s cheaper to buy stem-cell chicken nuggets than con ventional ones, why wouldn’t you buy them? Ultimately, it’s about creating the best regulatory and market framework for development to go in the right direc tion,« says the serial entrepreneur.
Rather than political selection of fa voured technologies and meat alternatives, it is much more about building a playing field where it only makes sense for market forces to play the world greener.
»People ask: What are we going to do? Everything! Instead of guessing what the solution will be, we need to develop and invest in a wide range of startups and solutions that together can make the dif ference,« Hulthin says:
»It also means that we must not look at these new technologies with the same glasses that we looked at the old ones. We have to keep in mind that especially the legislation for solutions we have never seen before can become a challenge.«
We must play to our strengths
The latest figures from Danske Bank Growth & Impact show that we are well on our way in the Nordic region. At least on the investment side, where about 25 percent of all investments go to impact startups. In 2021, total investments even reached around 39 billion (USD 5.5 bil lion) for the entire region.
However, Sweden and Norway are clearly in the lead.
»In Denmark, we need to rethink investment. When it comes to green investments in particular, there are dif ferent kinds of risks and a different time horizon involved. And we are not good enough at that. We need to be a lot braver and be willing to have the long light on,« explains Kasper Hulthin.
Still, it’s not all bad. Because in the Nordic countries, and especially in Denmark, we are leaders in a number of areas that have enormous potential. Especially if we manage to scale up and internationalise the solutions and tech nologies that startups already have.
»The research and innovation funding actors should adapt instruments target ing 2030 so that they are concentrated on scaling up and deploying already known technologies,« reads the official recommendation of the Danish Research and Innovation Policy Council in order to reach the climate targets of 70% reduc tion by 2030.
»We have a huge advantage because we are far ahead of the rest of the world in many areas. The Danish companies that are in a good position today have a unique opportunity to create and shape solutions on a global level,« says Kasper Hulthin. So what now?
»The negative is that we haven’t moved a muscle yet. The positive is that we have not yet seen the fruits of the investments we have made over the past ten years,« says the serial entrepreneur.
We have a huge advantage because we are far ahead of the rest of the world in many areas.«
The startup Klimate will make it easy for businesses to capture CO2 globally. And for the Danish carbon trading platform, the Canute programme has been a shortcut to establishing itself in the UK.
Climate objectives are well on their way to becoming a regular part of doing business. But a healthy business does not mean you are also an expert in the green tran sition. So where do you start, and how do you ensure that the money you invest actually makes a real green difference?
»We need to get rid of the fear of green washing - too many companies are hold ing back because they are afraid of doing it wrong,« says Katja Grothe-Eberhardt.
She is the co-founder and CEO of the startup Klimate, an advanced marketplace that will make it easy and transparent to remove CO2 from the atmosphere through
carbon purchase agreements.
»Basically, our focus is how to scale the capacity to capture CO2 from the atmo sphere. We work with verified and scal able technologies that have the capacity to capture CO2 - which ranges from affor estation to biochar and direct air capture. We try to make it as easy and automated as possible,« explains Grothe-Eberhardt.
Klimate helps businesses invest their money into portfolios that fit their bud get and impact expectations - whether that’s biochar or a carbon capture plant. And although the company is only two years old, it is already the 10th largest marketplace of its kind globally.
The potential is global
There is no point in focusing on zero emissions in Denmark alone. The cli mate crisis is global and therefore calls for a global solution. Yet only one in ten Danish startups has a strategy and am bition to grow beyond its home market, compared to more than one in three in Finland and Estonia. This is a huge prob lem according to Mia Grosen, founder of Canute, which helps Nordic scaleups successfully scale internationally.
»The climate crisis is an opportunity for Danish companies to make Denmark a frontrunner in innovative climate solu tions that can create new large companies and growth in Denmark. But if Denmark is to be a frontrunner in creating compa nies that can help solve a global crisis like the climate crisis, it requires Danish start ups to think bigger and be helped onto the international stage,« says Grosen.
Through the programme, companies such as Onomondo, Raffle and Good iebox have been vising Berlin, London and New York, among others. Here they gain direct market insight and access to new local networks that can help their expansion in very concrete ways.
»It is essential that Danish startups get help to tackle the huge task of opening up a new market - because that is where the real growth happens,« says Grosen.
Half of Klimate’s turnover already comes from companies outside Denmark. And the startup is looking into a market that is facing explosive growth globally: today, only 0.006 per cent are being cap
Canute helps Nordic scaleups scale internationally through 3-day market entry programmes physically held in New York, Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm and London. Here, founders gain valuable input from other successful founders who have succeeded with their go-to-market strategy, as well as market-specific knowledge from key local players. In 3 days, founders get insights into best practices and local networks that would otherwise take them months to find on their own. A timeframe most founders cannot afford or have the time for.
Read more on Canute.io
tured of the 10 gigatonnes CO2 that the International Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) estimates will need to be removed annually by 2050.
To accommodate the global demand, Klimate is now establishing an office in London. Not least thanks to the Canute programme.
»As part of Canute, we went to both Stockholm and London to explore the opportunities there, and it was part of our journey to find out where the greatest potential is here and now. We actually thought we would open Stockholm first, but it turned out that London has much
more potential in the short term,« says Grothe-Eberhardt.
The trips have effectively given Klimate knowledge and networks in the two markets - on everything from co-working spaces and legal issues to cultural differ ences in the markets and local investors. At the same time, the trips have given them a strong relationship with the other scaleups that were on the same trips.
“It was those two trips that decided that the UK was a better fit for us. If we had to do it ourselves, it would have taken us a long time and cost us dearly,« she says.
The climate crisis is an opportunity for Danish companies to make Denmark a frontrunner in innovative climate solutions.«Mia Grosen, founder of Canute
From 44 to 1.505 million kroner invested in five years. Interest in green investing has exploded, with both individuals and the biggest funds joining the wave, where the green bottom line has become as important as the financial one.
Written by Sebastian KjærFrom an office in the centre of Aar hus, Morten Stahl is raising money for an investment fund. It takes time, but he has dedicated both time and money to the task. A task that is very important to him - almost a calling.
The fund will invest in companies that search for and extract naturally oc curring hydrogen. A cheap, non-pollut ing type of hydrogen, which he believes can become an important factor in the green transition.
»I expect future generations to ask my generation: you knew about the climate crisis, but what did you do about it? I want to be able to give my children a proper answer to that question, and one of the things I’m doing is taking my money out of green stocks and investing it in climate-change companies at an earlier stage. This offers greater risk, but also much greater potential for impact and return,« says Morten Stahl.
He believes that startups and their radical new ideas are where the biggest changes are born. Of course, if they are to make a real difference, they need capital - and preferably a lot of it. That’s why others should also have the opportunity to invest alongside him through the fund.
»Investing for the climate feels like the right thing to do. It may sound blueeyed, but I also believe it offers the best return. I see the green transition as the biggest megatrend ever, and that means there are huge investment opportunities
in it. And I think investors should think about what companies do with their money; I’d rather invest in climate tech than an app that delivers a pizza five minutes faster,« he says.
Both green and economic Morten Stahl is far from the only investor acting on the green trend. While venture funds invested 44 million in green Danish startups in 2017, they have invested 1,505 million in the first three quarters of this year alone.
The trend is also clear among public investment funds: in the first half of 2022, The Danish Growth Fund and The Danish Green Investment Fund have a combined activity within the green future fund mandate of DKK 4,3 billion out of the funds’ total mandate of DKK 10 billion.
»There is so much potential in this, and it is also the right thing to do. Sustainable investments are obviously a good fit for a sovereign wealth fund like ours because we have several parallel purposes. It has been shown that green investments can easily be financially good while creating a social impact - in this context a climate impact,« says Erik Balck, who is responsible for the Growth Fund’s direct investments.
Just a few years ago, investments were made with either financial or impact returns in mind. Today, Balck calls that thinking old-fashioned: startup invest ments no longer have to be a trade-off
37-year-old Morten Stahl has made a lot of money in green stocks in recent years. Some have been spent investing as a business angel - including in Climaider. Now the rest will be capitali sed in an investment fund that will invest exclusively in natural hydrogen.
A historic mega-trend:Morten Stahl
between financial and impact returns.
»The market is almost turned upside down. There is a huge demand from consumers for green. This has created a cross-pollination between entrepreneurs and capital which means we now have a number of companies presenting models that achieve both. There’s something sexy about companies that deliver returns beyond the financial; something that can also help save the world,« he says.
In fact, the green focus has become so ingrained today that even startups that don’t have impact as their main agenda need to be able to account for their cli mate ambitions. A software company that is first and foremost looking to solve a business problem must also be able to ac count for how much CO2 their server park emits - because customers demand it.
In that way, Balck doesn’t think it looks like a trend we’ve seen in the in
vestment market before.
»The maturation of other verticals in the ecosystem - e.g. fintech in Denmark - is a reflection that over the years, expertise has been built into how to operate and support that ecosystem. Con versely, the green paradigm is very much demand-driven,« he says.
The world is hungry for green solutions, making green transformation the most interesting investment area right now. With huge potential.
The Danish Growth Fund is particular ly interested in startups in areas where Denmark already has strengths - such as energy technology and food. And although the new wave of green entrepreneurs is not yet as mature as classic tech startups, Erik Balck has no doubt that we will soon see the first green unicorn.
»That’s the easiest question to answer: I will be very, very surprised if we don’t see a green unicorn. We’re going to have one. Denmark is in the right place for this, and as a stakeholder, we must support the development. Despite the slightly sour macro-trends and geopolitical challeng es: We are going to have a green unicorn from Denmark.«
I will be very, very surprised if we don’t see a green unicorn.«Erik Balck
Startups are expanding the renewable energy family
Wind
Written by Sebastian KjærFor five consecutive years, Rune’s childhood summer holidays were spent in a cottage village in Frederikshavn. Not only to enjoy the camping and the beaches of Northern Jutland, but also to keep an eye on the prototype of a wave energy plant that the family had developed in a small, family-owned business.
»I went to the first tests as a young boy. It’s been my whole life,« says Rune Pilgaard Bloom.
The green family business already started developing its wave system 15 years ago. Invented by father Henning Pilgaard, and first tested as a prototype together with Aalborg University in 2009.
»He got really good results - in fact, better than expected - and then the journey went from there,« says Rune Piilgaard Bloom.
In 2015, the first full-scale prototype was ready. And although the family business went through the major up heaval of founder and father Henning Pilgaard passing away shortly after, the family dream is now in its decisive phase: potential customers are ready once the plant has proven its viability, and Crestwing expects to have the first 10-megawatt park installed by 2025.
»Hardware is expensive and takes a
long time to develop, but we are now at the point where wave energy is close to proving itself on commercial terms. It’s not a question of if it happens, but when it happens,« says Rune Pilgaard Bloom, who has been CTO of Crestwing since 2020.
While Crestwing is proving the poten tial of wave energy, startup KiteX has a new approach to wind power. It has harnessed a special cord drive to develop a small, flexible type of turbine that requires 90 per cent fewer materials to produce than conventional turbines.
and solar currently contribute 10 per cent of energy production globally. The renewable energy market has grown enormously, giving way to startups with great new ideas for energy production.Rune Pilgaard Bloom presenting Crestwing at the Ocean Renewable Energy Conference in Oregon, US, as part of a EU delegation.
It’s not a question of if it happens, but when it happens.«
Rune Pilgaard Bloom CTO, Crestwing
»We wanted to make the world’s light est wind turbine. We started with the smallest turbine we could make that still made commercial sense, and here we identified campers who could set it up and power a refrigerator and a computer in their RV,« explains Christoffer Sigshøj, co-founder of KiteX.
The camping mill, which weighs 12 kg and produces 250 watts, went on sale on Kickstarter last year, where the startup raised 700,000 DKK. The first units have just been shipped, but the ambitions are much bigger. Within a few years, KiteX expects to sell 40,000
• Wave energy harnesses the energy of ocean waves using special equipment.
• Experience shows that the method can produce energy both at low wind speeds, when the waves are small, and in stormy weather.
• Denmark has a handful of wave energy plants set up as demonstration projects - including the Crestwing plant.
• According to the Partnership for Wave Power, wave energy has the potential to cover a significant part of Denmark‘s energy consumption. However, developing wave energy and making it competitive will continue to require a determined and long-term effort. Source: Danish Energy Agency
The special cord drive design enables Kitex to produce a wind turbine with just 10 per cent of the materials used by a conventional turbine.
mini-mills a year. And even that figure is just a stepping stone to the big goal: the next generation of domestic wind turbines.
»Vestas is good at what they do, and they deliver a lot of power. But it’s also mega-projects every time. It’s left a whole undergrowth of people who just want their own windmill to produce power,« says Sigshøj.
KiteX has a household turbine on the drawing board that, thanks to its special design, requires far less materials to build, can be efficiently shipped around the world and is easy to install. The startup expects to deliver it for just DKK 150 000 - a quarter of the price of today’s most popular domestic turbines.
»We’re not going to replace Vestas, but there’s a huge market for residential
The dream is that we will open the KiteX Giga Factory next to Elon Musk.«
Christoffer Sigshøj Co-founder, KiteX
Crestwing’s large prototype measures 30 metres and weighs 65 tonnes. The large
and have a 2.5 megawatt generator. The plant is based on known solutions and
believes that it can facilitate the production of plants equivalent to 100 megawatts
turbines. A recent report estimates that 670 gigawatts could be installed,« says Sigshøj.
With a price that is significantly lower than the competition, he does not consid er it unrealistic that KiteX could take 20 per cent of the market.
»The dream is that we will open the KiteX Giga Factory next to Elon Musk down in Texas,” Sigshøj says with a grin, adding, “And then we will make a million turbines a year. It will really make a difference when you can replace a diesel generator with a turbine you can set up at home in a day.«
In 2021, wind and solar generated more than 10 per cent of electricity globally for the first time, according to the Globel Electricity Review. And renewables capacity is still growing significantly: in 2021 it increased by 6 per cent, equiva lent to 295 GW, despite pandemic and value chain challenges.
While neither Kitex nor Crestwing have any ambitions to outcompete Vestas, the growing market and demand leave am ple room for complementary solutions. And Rune Pilgaard Bloom sees the wave turbine as a complementary product to future wind-based energy islands.
»One of our most profitable cases is to put our plant among the wind turbines in a park, so we use the area better. If you install our plant around the park, it reduces the wave height, so you have a wider service window to repair the wind turbines,« says Rune Pilgaard Bloom.
As the wave system is based on barges, it also allows transformer stations or solar panels to be placed on the barges, giving the energy island a more stable output. However, first the plants must mature from prototypes to commercial installations, of which none yet exist on a large scale worldwide.
If Crestwing succeeds, it has already received letters of intent from interested customers, including Shell. For the start up, the goal is to begin construction of the first commercial park in 2025. A park that will consist of four turbines producing 10 megawatts for the grid by 2026 - at a price competitive with offshore wind turbines.
»The potential is huge, so now it’s time for Denmark to jump on the wave. We have 4-5 good wave energy plants under development in Denmark that have come quite far. We could have a journey in Denmark that could be as wild as our wind journey. We just need to get behind the sector,« says Rune Pilgaard Bloom.
• 2007: Inventor Henning Pilgaard founds Crestwing with his wife Ruth Bloom.
• 2009: The first prototype of the wave system is tested in collaboration with Aalborg University.
• 2015: Production of Tordenskiold, Crestwing‘s first large-scale prototype, begins in Frederikshavn.
• 2016: Henning Pilgaard passes away. Ruth Bloom takes over the company.
• 2018: Ruth Bloom completes production of the Tordenskiold and begins offshore testing.
• 2020: Rune Pilgaard Bloom (trained physicist at Aarhus University) joins Crestwing as full-time CTO.
• 2022: Crestwing is proving commercial potential and has Letters of Intent from Shell, Robinson and YSEMD.
• 2025: Expects to have the first 2.5MW commercial wave plant connected to the grid.
The storage solution from Hyme is relatively compact: With storage the size of »Rundetårn«, the solution will be able to supply electricity and heat to central Copenhagen for 10 hours. Because the solution operates at temperatures of 700 degrees, Hyme can supply both electricity and steam to district heating and industry.
The spinout from nuclear power startup Seaborg has developed a promising solution for storing energy in 700-degree hot hydroxide salt. The solution produces both electricity and steam on a large scale - and is so close to reality that the first plants are currently being built.
Written by Sebastian KjærThe world is calling for green en ergy. Not just more wind turbines and solar panels, but solutions that can store energy when it’s not sun ny or windy. In fact, McKinsey suggests that Europe needs 400 times the storage capacity we have today.
Hydrogen created with renewable energy - so-called Power2x - is seen as the future of energy storage by many. How ever, the startup Hyme has a solution for energy storage closer to entering the mar ket. It stores energy in a 700-degree drain cleaner, and the first prototype is expected to be ready in Esbjerg next summer.
»It is the first plant in the world to run on hydroxide salt (drain cleaner) and the com mercial interest is overwhelming. We’re not actually ready to take on the interest - we need to prove that our first plant is a suc cess first,« says Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen, CEO and co-founder of Hyme.
The first components for the test facility have just been ordered. At the same time, Hyme has been awarded another project on Bornholm, where the storage technology will replace an old cogeneration plant. As soon as December 2024, this storage will supply both energy and hot water to Rønne - with a stor
age capacity equivalent to 10 per cent of Bornholm’s renewable energy.
The concept behind the Hyme solution is simple: when there is surplus energy from wind turbines or solar panels, the hydroxide salt is heated to 700 degrees and when the energy is needed, the heat is extracted again using a turbine.
Drain cleaner has been known as a good candidate for energy storage since the 1950s. It can be heated to 1400 degrees before boiling, and it’s hugely cheap be cause it can be produced from salt water and is a by-product of chlorine produc tion. It just has one major challenge that has led most to write off the method:
»It breaks down stainless steel at these temperatures - unless you have the processes under control. And that’s what we’ve been developing methods for over the past 4-5 years,« explains Løvschall-Jensen.
Hyme has only been around for about a year, but the technology is based on years of research. The company is a spinout of the nuclear power company Seaborg, which developed and patented the tech nology for use in its nuclear reactor.
»When you get to do research and development, a lot of things come with it - for example, a spinout like Hymethat wasn’t planned from the start. New opportunities arise because we’re doing something that’s difficult and that no one has done before. And I’m not sure this is the last energy spinout from Seaborg,« says Løvschall-Jensen, who is also a co-founder of Seaborg.
If the first two test plants show the same good results as in the laboratory, Hyme will have a commercially mature plant. This means commercial energy storage on a scale of up to 1 GWh, which is not available today. Storage capacity that could be ready in 2026.
»One of the things I’m most proud of on the big stage is that we’re able to store energy on a medium that can be produced from salt water. When you talk scalability, there’s no limit to how big we can make it. Then we still have to show that we are competitive on price, which is why we are doing a pilot plant,« says Løvschall Jensen.
This is how companies create green transformation in collaboration. Digital Energy Hub is in charge of formulating the challenge and connecting partners across sectors. In the first sprint, eight companies are involved, and if they solve the challenge in the 16 weeks of the programme, it is very likely to translate into a customer relationship on a large scale afterwards.
»Partners are asking for concrete solutions. It’s a scaling project: the digital companies have to take their established technology and match it with a new problem in the energy sec tor,« says Knudsen, adding, “Data can’t do anything on its own, but if we use it cleverly, we can really accelerate the innovation process for both large and small companies.«
Both the energy and digital sectors are strong in Denmark. By bringing the two more closely together to address concrete challenges, the Digital Energy Hub will secure Denmark’s position of strength in energy technology.
More wind turbines and power lines are part of the development, but if we are to reach the goal of being carbon neutral in Denmark, digital solutions and sector coupling will also play a crucial role. This is the view of the non-profit organisation Center Denmark.
»In reality, we can save a lot of money with digital solutions. Instead of digging more copper and building bigger trans former stations, we can manage the electricity grid better with data. But this requires the energy sector’s skills and dig ital skills to work together more and offer new, data-driven solutions,« says Søren Skov Bording, director of Center Denmark.
Today, Center Denmark has intercon nected data from Denmark’s energy sys tems, across electricity, water and heat,
and made it available through a digital infrastructure targeting new, data-driv en solutions. The next step is the Digital Energy Hub incubator, which facilitates meetings between big energy companies and digital SMEs to turn data into com mercial solutions.
Digital Energy Hub is planning so-called sprints where strategic partners - initial ly the power company EWII - offer stra tegic problems in the energy sector that startups and SMEs are invited to solve.
»We need to move from big data to also doing big business, and for both power companies and startups there needs to be payback on the work we do with data. Therefore, we are establish ing an ecosystem where it is SMEs that contribute with their digital skills to concrete solutions that also represent business opportunities in the long run,« says Flemming Pors Knudsen, Head of Innovation at Center Denmark and PhD at the Institute of Entrepreneurship.
1. The strategic partners identify concrete challenges to be worked on in the Hub.
2. Innovation sprints are conducted based on the challenges.
3. Talented SMEs are recruited to work with data from the challenge and develop digital business models.
4. Universities bring state-of-the-art knowledge of digital technologies and energy systems into the sprints.
5. Solutions mature in the hub, and the Danish Innovation Center in Silicon Valley brings in international investors.
Read more at www.DigitalEnergyHub.com.
When the big Chinese fac tories burn coal, it is felt in Canada. When cows lift their tails in Argentina, Zimbabwe pays the price.
In the climate crisis, the whole world is connected. If one country fails, all fail. That’s why they need to think globally if green solutions are to make a real differ ence to the planet.
Henrik Stiesdal knows this - one of the key forces behind the modern wind power industry, he is a climate change leader and founder of the climate technology company Stiesdal, which since 2017 has been working exclusively on developing scalable and executable solutions for the green transition. Today, the company em ploys 110 people and has four subsidiaries.
»Our primary bottom line is to mitigate climate change. If it can’t be mass-pro duced and scaled, we won’t do it,« says Jacob Nørgaard Andersen, CEO of Stiesdal.
To have a ‘global mindset’ is often heard. But how do you practice it in real life?
»We reduce the complexity of projects to avoid production bottlenecks. It’s no use if a technology can only be produced in one or two places in the world. It’s about leveraging existing supply chains, infrastructure and know-how,« explains Jacob Nørgaard Andersen.
Stiesdal is behind several different technologies, including a floating foun dation for offshore wind turbines, elec trolysis plants for hydrogen production, pyrolysis for organic gasification and an energy storage system using thermal energy. What they all have in common
is that they are designed from the outset for deployment worldwide.
»We never design a solution in ad vance. Instead, we always turn it around and ask the manufacturer: How would it be smart to manufacture this type of solution so that it can be easily pro duced?« explains the CEO.
Therefore, the Danish technology com pany also works primarily with licensing agreements for their solutions. In the de ployment phase, Stiesdal prefers to part ner up with local, existing companies.
»It is impossible to develop a solution that can work everywhere and in Den mark, we tend to underestimate the complexity of other countries. We have incredibly well-functioning logistics, but
many places in the world do not, and we must also take this into account in our solutions,« says Jacob Nørgaard Andersen.
For the people at Stiesdal, it’s not about creating the perfect solution that changes everything. It’s more about taking action.
»I think we have more solutions to the climate crisis than people think. It’s a problem that we wait to do something because we think something better is coming. We’d better accept that we won’t get the ideal scenario - and get going,« says Jacob Nørgaard Andersen.
Clean water just by the sun’s rays Although access to safe drinking water has become a basic human right according
If one country fails, everyone fails. Therefore we need to think big from the start if green solutions are to make a real difference to the planet.
to the UN, around two billion people in the world have access only to unsafe water sources. Combined with poor sanitation and hygiene, this is one of the world’s biggest health challenges.
4LifeSolutions set out to change that. The startup is behind the SaWa (Safe Water) solution, a water bag that needs nothing more than to be placed in the sun’s rays for about four hours to purify impure water.
Working with UNICEF, the Red Cross and WHO, the startup has been on a mission to bring the solution to as many people as possible in the worst affected areas. And one of the keys has been to ally with the locals.
»It has been difficult to scale and spread the solution. Because you quickly find out that you can’t do it from Den mark. So without the local forces in our Kenya office, it wouldn’t have been pos sible,« says Alexander Løcke, co-founder and CTO of 4LifeSolutions.
The bag can kill 99.99% of viruses and bacteria with just the sun’s UV rays and can be reused up to 500 times, which is equivalent to about 2,000 litres of clean drinking water. And with a unit price of $3, 4LifeSolutions has managed to distribute a total of 150,000 bags through aid agencies in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, India and Pakistan. All on commercial terms.
»For it to scale fast enough, it has to be for profit. If you can prove a product’s value on commercial terms, it simply scales faster,« explains Alexander Løcke.
So far, the Danish company has offices
4LifeSolutions has developed a water bag that needs nothing more than the sun to purify dirty water.
in Copenhagen, India and Kenya. But its ambitions go far beyond that.
»Our North Star in business is to reach a billion people. We’re going for maxi mum impact with what we’ve developed. Even if it’s without us behind the wheel - the most important thing is that it happens,« says Alexander Løcke.
If you can prove a product’s worth on commercial terms, it simply scales faster.«
Alexander Løcke Co-founder and CTO, 4LifeSolutionsJacob Alexander Løcke Co-founder and CTO, 4LifeSolutions
The new SDG Landing Pad pilot project matches Danish companies’ technologies and solutions with global organisations’ concrete challenges relating to UN SDGs through partnerships abroad. The initiative aims to encourage more Danish companies to try their hand at internationalisation in the future.
Climate. Health. Water. The challeng es are growing in many parts of the world, as is the demand for concrete solutions to them. This means huge busi ness potential for Danish companies ready to scale up their technology abroad.
That is why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Research, Innovation Centre Denmark, the national business clusters and the Danish Industry Foundation, among others, have joined forces for the SDG Landing Pad pilot project. Here, selected companies are given the opportunity to work on a concrete challenge posed by
a global partner through the innovation centres in Boston, Tel Aviv or Shanghai respectively.
»In Denmark, we generally interna tionalize and validate too slowly com pared to the rest of the world. Through the project, we can develop new models for how Danish companies can scale fast er in collaboration with global partners who demand solutions in many of the areas we are strong in,« explains Lasse Vinther-Grønning, Head of Innovation Centre Denmark in Israel.
»With the ministries behind us, inno vation centres are in a unique position, as we have easier or direct access to both knowledge institutions and authorities in the local market. This access can help Danish companies when they need to vali date or further develop their solutions with international partners, and really speed up internationalisation,« he explains.
The common lever for the challenges are the UN SDGs (in particular health, wa ter, and responsible consumption). This gives the selected companies the opportu nity for sustainable development and to test or validate solutions in new markets. In the long term, it will mature the model for Danish internationalisation.
Inspection Team have developed a thermo graphic drone to map pipe and cable networks.
»Many Danish entrepreneurs are not fully aware of the fierce global competition they face. In many cases, people in Singa pore, the US or Germany are developing a solution similar to the Danish one. So it’s often about getting to market first,
• The pilot project is a collaboration between Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Danish Industry Foundation, Rethink and the national business clusters DigitalLead, CLEAN and Life Science Cluster Denmark
• The selected companies will have access to resources and coaching on business model, product development and commercialisation and a longer stay in the country to support potential international innovation flows
• Initially, the project will focus on innovation centres in Boston, Tel Aviv or Shanghai.
and speed is increasingly becoming a key parameter in business ventures,« says Lasse Vinther-Grønning.
At the same time, the project will strengthen cooperation between national clusters and innovation centres.
»The idea is that while the clusters have deep insight into the Danish ecosys tems, the innovation centres have a local anchorage in the international environ ments and thus a unique feel for what is in demand in, for example, Israel, China or the US. We need to strengthen this link and thus bring more Danish solutions to the world,« explains Ulrik Hoffman, Se nior Innovation Manager at the national cluster DigitalLead.
One of the selected companies is Inspection Team, which has developed a thermographic drone to map pipe and
cable networks, find leaks and detect heat loss. And the solution has caught the eye of Israeli agricultural giant Netafim, which is experiencing challenges with irrigation systems in agriculture.
And the potential collaboration would not have been possible without the proj ect, say the people behind the startup.
»If you think that scaling internationally is just jumping on a plane to another coun try, you’re in for a scare,« says Luis Hollins, Director of Inspection Team and continues:
»There are a lot of things to deal with communicationally, legally and pro fessionally and the consultants and resources that have helped us in this process in everything from the local work culture to how to put together an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement, ed. ) have simply been gold.«
Inspection Team’s solution has caught the eye of Israeli agricultural giant Netafim.If you think that scaling internationally is just jumping on a plane to another country, you’re in for a scare.«
Luis Hollins CEO, Inspection TeamSponsored: This article is published in collaboration with Innovation Centre Denmark
Time flies, the bow is drawn and soon it will be too late. But how much of the green transition can we expect innovative startups and their tech solutions to drive on their own? We asked the experts.
What role do technology and startups play in the green transition?
to create green fuels for ships, planes, cars, industry and more.
Per Mikael Jensen Head of External Affairs and Commu nications, Seaborg TechnologiesNew technology is already crucial. A few years ago, floating wind turbines anchored to the seabed were not thought to make sense. Now they’re on their way. In nuclear power, a huge amount is happening globally, but far too little in Europe. Our small, modular reactors have some of the qualities the world badly needs: 100% clean, scalable, stable and secure energy. Not just for power and heat, but also to produce the huge amounts of energy needed
How do we scale the new solutions to the world?
Our approach is to focus all our energy on the unique - the new reactor type. Everything else we leave to others: Samsung builds the barges on which the reactors will be installed, Siemens supplies the turbines, etc. The small and new companies must focus 200% on the innovation they bring - and then work with the rest of the world on everything else.
What role do technology and startups play in the green transition?
If we imagine that the green transition is a vessel, then technology and startups are the turbo button. Universities are researching how to push the boundaries of what we know and what we can do. Here we provide a blueprint for our vessel. Big business is the engine and the hull that provides the steering speed to get us moving. No green transition without big business, but it is startups and technology that allow us to accelerate, find
shortcuts, safeguard against hull breaches and other accidents.
How do we scale the new solutions to the world?
The most important thing is that the Danish entrepreneurial scene is internationally attractive. The surest way to deliver internationally scalable solutions is to have international eyes and minds from the start. If we want our solutions to reach the world, we need to open our environments to international talent, investors and companies.
We see tech startups as a crucial building block on the road to a new sustainable reality. But to achieve this goal, we all - companies, leaders and society - need to master three major puzzle pieces and put them together appropriately: 1) technologi cal innovation, 2) purposeful use and 3) ongoing
How do we scale the new solutions to the world?
The first piece is technological innovation. With new breakthrough technologies being developed at lightning speed, this is our strength in the Nordics. However, we need to look at the other two. By using creative thinking and bringing the
heart into idea generation, we can unlock the sustainability potential of our technological advances through the purposeful use of technolo gy. When evaluating business ideas, impact should be as important as profit.
Without the third and final piece of the puzzle, ongoing market validation, a technology startup will have little impact - because it will not scale. Today, many startups still fail to validate their ideas in the marketplace through real experiments. With custom er behaviour changing dramatically due to market volatility, ongoing market testing has only become more important. What was true in the past may no longer be true today. Only by combining all three puzzle pieces can tech startups fully unlock their potential to create a better future.
Risk-taking is key when it comes to innovation. Startups usually test several things quickly to find one that works, while the public and corporates spend a long time analysing one solution before testing. That’s why startups move much faster and are often willing to test more radical solutions - and it’s often on the radically innovative solutions that the biggest advances are to be found.
How do we scale the new solutions to the world?
As a society, we often invest in the creation of new
ideas and new initiatives. In my opinion, we should invest more in scaling solutions that have already proven to work. There are plenty of them, but there is not much help to take your business from scaleup to the next level. If we want to ensure that green solutions from Denmark have global impact in the short term, we need to identify those that are already well underway and have global potential - and then work together to push them forward. The few support initiatives that exist that are aimed at scaleups - pub lic and private - need to collaborate more across the board, and then investing in green scaleups needs to be prioritised by policymakers.
Going green is not only about new solutions but also about making better use of our re sources. And that’s exactly what Reshopper has been working on for the past 10 years: a marketplace for selling second-hand children’s clothes between private individuals, which today has 250,000 users.
Earlier this year, they took that ambi tion to the next level. With the acquisition of Kids Group, the app will now be joined by physical children’s clothing stores with remnants, returns and a physical exten sion of the marketplace to make Reshop per a circular super-concept.
»We want to create a unique one-stop shopping experience using data and the app that makes it easy to save money, mi nimise clothing waste and recycle goods time and time again,« says Casper Blom, CEO of Reshopper.
The interaction between the app and the physical store means, among other
things, that items bought in the store are automatically registered with all the info in the app, so the item can easily be sold second-hand. And that’s crucial for the circularity: Reshopper doesn’t make much selling a pair of children’s shoes for 50 kroner, but if they handle the handle goods effectively and get them sold both
Reshopper has introduced a number of initiatives to offer customers circular shopping at a reasonable price. These include:
• Packaging recycling: Surplus packaging from other brands is recycled, with Reshopper using stickers and tape to explain to users why goods are sent with packaging from another brand.
• Click and collect in stores: means fewer shipments from the app - and with plans for 10-20 physical stores nationwide, Reshopper will be able to avoid shipping excessively.
• Green shipping between users: Reshopper offers the greenest shipping through DAO and Bring between users.
• Buying returns: Reshopper buys returned goods from other webshops that would otherwise be in danger of being discarded.
• Shop and warehouse combined: Reshopper also uses the shop as a webshop and parcel centre - instead of using a separate warehouse.
the third and fourth time, it becomes a very viable business.
With its physical stores, Reshopper is creating a number of hubs for the circu lar economy. Hubs where you can buy leftovers and returns that would other wise have gathered dust in a warehouse or ended up in a landfill. Where you can trade second-hand clothes in a physical marketplace. And where a parcel centre is connected, so you can pick up parcel post from the app in the same place.
»Of course, you could just charge extra to climate compensate in a webshop, but I don’t think that’s how we solve the problem. The circular economy has always been difficult from a business point of view, but we have found a model that makes sense both for us and for the consumer, which is why I think it can succeed,« says Casper Blom.
Reshopper aims to increase both circularity and turnover by consolidating a wid variety of initiatives in its new physical stores.
No major logistics company has done it before. But Bring wants to be fossilfree by 2025, which means continually inventing the green logistics of the future as new technologies emerge.
The fleet must be fossil free in Denmark, Sweden and Finland by 2025. That’s the ambitious climate target from logistics company Bring.
»A sustainable company is a prereq uisite if we want to be here tomorrow. We have a social responsibility, and customers who demand it. The same applies if we want people to work for us. It’s the only way into the future,« says Catherine Löfquist, sustainability manager at Bring.
The big ambitions mean that Bring has to replace vehicles and fuels. However, one new solution implemented across the group is not enough. The solutions must be adapted to the individual market - in Sweden, a number of cars run on biogas, while in Norway, electric cars are used on a large scale.
At the same time, Bring must look at a host of supporting initiatives and climate-smart solutions - big and small. Fill rates must increase. Routes
must be planned smarter. And when new solutions succeed in one place, the lessons must be shared across the wider organisation.
»There is no easy solution. No one one has all the answers. We can’t just call a consultant, because nobody has electri fied a big fleet like ours. So we have to keep learning, while new solutions keep emerging. The pace of development is incredible - there’s never a dull moment at work,« says Löfquist.
On the journey to a fossil-free future, Bring needs to challenge the way logis tics has been done for the past 100 years. Electric vehicles have a different range and charging time. It requires smart er scheduling of intelligent software, charging at parcel terminals while a car is being loaded - and perhaps even new or different links in the value chain.
»We’re not used to being in charge of fuel infrastructure. It’s something new that we’ve had to learn. But we believe we can find smarter solutions to it in the future,« says Löfquist.
At the same time, Bring has invested heavily in startups in recent years to
get even closer to the latest technology. These include secondhand platform Tise, rental startup Sharefox and drone company Aviant.
“We’ve come a long way, and we’ve made great progress - but the absolute most important thing now is that we don’t stop. We must continue to move forward quickly,« says Löfquist.
• Collaborations to test and develop fossil-free vehicles, including trucks, from Volta and Einride, among others. In addition, no more fossil vehicles will be purchased after 2023.
• Contributed to the development of a train line between Sweden and Norway, which shifted 8,427 trailers from road to rail in 2021.
• Many terminals have solar panels. For example, the terminal in Greve produces 300,000kWh per year, which is equivalent to the annual consumption of 66 houses.
Sponsored: This article is published in collaboration with Bring
99 per cent of all Danish companies are SMEs. That’s why it’s important that the smallest businesses get on board the green wave.
Written by Sebastian KjærFew hairdressers or self-employed carpenters employ a green trans formation expert. Yet SMV Den mark, the sector organisation for SMEs, finds that many small businesses actually prioritise green issues in their busy self-employed lives.
»SMEs are already very much on board with the green agenda. It is clear to any company operating in Denmark that you have to think sustainably to have a sustainable business - also in a finan cial sense. The wind is blowing in that direction,« says Jacob Stendevad, political advisor to SMV Denmark.
Both now and in the coming years, companies must make green choices that will secure the future of their core business. The members of SMV Denmark are diverse and so are the ways for them to become greener. But the green agenda is clear, and some members have also shown that you can actually make a dif ference even if you are a small fish.
»Just the other day, I was talking to one of our members who own a chain of sausage vans, who has been pushing their supplier to make more sustainable pack aging - because they didn’t think the ones they were getting for their sausages were sustainable enough,« says Stendevad.
For many of the members of SMV Den mark, there is still a lot of green transfor mation to be gained in low-tech improve ments; the energy efficiency of lighting and heating, insulation of production halls, recycling policies and green trans port where possible.
»Our efforts are characterised by the fact that many of our members are small businesses. They may have less than 10 employees, and of course, you have to think sustainability, but it’s a different set of tools than it is in Novozymes and Mærsk,« says Stendevad.
He has no doubt that small businesses will also benefit from rapid technological developments in many different ways. But he points to one silver bullet to en sure the transition of SMEs: a fair carbon tax that applies to all industries equally and thus provides a very direct business incentive to act.
»We are of course pushing legislators to get the best climate policy. We believe that a broad and uniform carbon taxwhich we hope will come before too long - is the best tool to encourage businesses to make more sustainable choices. If there is a financial incentive to being sustainable, then people will automat ically think along those lines. But it is important that the tax is introduced with as few exemptions as possible so that it is not small businesses that have to bear the burden of some large emitters that have been exempted,« says Stendevad.
The Danish Climate Act’s target of a 70 per cent reduction by 2030 and the ambition of the Climate Partnership for Manufacturing Companies is for Denmark to have the world’s first climate-neutral manufactur ing industry by 2030.
The will to go green is there, but it will not happen by itself. Therefore, the Con federation of Danish Industry is now of fering the “Climate Ready” course, where all Danish manufacturing companies can learn to measure, document and com municate their climate efforts.
»We know what is hitting companies: A lot of external requirements due to EU legislation on sustainable reporting. Both from business partners, the financial sector, customers and employees. So we need to enable them to do carbon accounting. It benefits the climate, but of course also the company, because it gives them a strong competitive advan
There is an ocean of new green technologies and solutions that have the potential to move businesses in a more sustainable direction - and many more are on the way. But it will only make a difference if they are actually implemented on a large scale. How do we make sure this happens?
tage to be able to be at the forefront when customers demand climate action,« says Marie Thorsø, Chief Consultant at the Confederation of Danish Industry.
50 companies completed the first Cli mate Ready initiative targeting SMEs in general, and by making the programme digital, Danish Industry is now making the programme available to all 8,500 manufacturing companies in Denmark.
Growing demand for climate action from across the value chain means that now is the time for companies to act. Many are in the process, but more also need help to get started.
»We want to equip companies with the tools to adapt. CO2 calculations are the focal point, but of course, this needs to be coupled with action and good commu nication. The method in Climate Ready Production Efficiency is based on the Cli mate Compass from the Danish Business Authority and international calculation standards,« says Thorsø.
By offering the programme on a digital learning platform, the Confederation of Danish Industry aims to reach all Danish manufacturing companies. They will still receive a few hours of advice at the beginning of the programme, and from the spring all seven modules in the pro gramme will be available digitally.
You need to know your carbon footprint if you want to become a greener company. That’s why the Confederation of Danish Industry offers all manufacturing companies knowledge and tools to help them get started with climate accounting.Marie Thorsø Chief Consultant at the Confederation of Danish Industry
EUtaxonomy. Product life cycle. Scope 1,2 and 3. Most companies want to green their operations, but many get lost in the jungle of concepts, metrics and cer tificates. Some don’t even know where to start. Others, how to move forward.
It is therefore important that we have a common language when working on sustainability. This is the view of the climate organisation Sustainary, which works actively to promote green innova tion and entrepreneurship in Denmark and pushes companies and organisa tions in a greener direction through impact assessment analyses.
»Our philosophy has been to create an assessment based on ESG (Environmen tal, Social and Governance, ed. ) There fore, it is important for us to both help startups and SMEs map their overall impact and at the same time identify with the company the next steps on the sustainability journey, ensuring trans parent action behind the plan,« says Human Shojaee, Director of Sustainary.
You don’t have to be an expert
For the Green Impact assessment, Sustainary has developed a number of archetypes and a rating system that makes the green journey transparent for the company. After all, it must be easy to take greener steps if you want to make a difference.
»It’s about people who aren’t neces
sarily experts in this field still being able to understand where they are, where there’s room for improvement and what needs to be done to get there,« explains Human Shojaee.
EcoTree, a CO2 reduction through tree planting startup, has undergone a Green Impact Assessment by Sustainary. And the people behind it are in no doubt about what it has achieved.
»The Green Impact Assessment has been an important tool in identifying where we excel, but also in determining how we maintain the same standard going forward. And of course how we can improve even further as we grow and develop,« says Thomas Norman Can guilhem, co-founder and international director of EcoTree.
• Sustainary (founded in 2018) works to create better conditions for green startups and SMEs
• Sustainary‘s Green Impact Assessment process consists of four tracks: 1) Market adaption, 2) Lifecycle analysis, 3) Environmental Impact and 4) Social Impact
• The organisation holds annual SDG Tech Awards and Green Impact Week to promote green innovation and sustainability in society.
Human Shojaee CEO, SustainaryWe need to strengthen the common understanding of what it means to work with impact if we are to push society in a more sustainable direction, the climate organisation Sustainary believes.
A tribute to green startups started the journey Sustainary was established in 2018, working alongside ESG assessments as a meeting point between universities, investors, en trepreneurs and SMEs to develop new green business opportunities. The non-profit organisation is both a network, community, idea bank and moderator, connecting the key players in sustainability.
From the same idea, the SDG Tech Awards were born - a sustainability event that has gradually become a fixture on the green scene in Denmark. To begin with, the potential nominated companies had to be impact-assessed. And that was the start of the assessment process.
»The SDG Tech Awards started the journey. So we invited a number of startups and stakeholders to understand what their needs were. And it quickly
became apparent that there wasn’t a meaningful assessment for early stage startups and SMEs that wasn’t super
complex and very expensive,« Human Shojaee describes.
Sustainary set out to change that. In collaboration with professors from DTU and Reykjavik University, the organ isation has developed an assessment process based on feedback and dialogue over the past few years. A credible stamp of approval for investors, stakeholders and the surrounding community. And development continues as knowledge of the field grows.
»We approach this task with humil ity and respect for the many talented people in the field. But the whole field of sustainability is currently in a big mat uration process and we will only reach our common green goals if everyone does their part to push in the right direction. We want to be at the forefront of this,« says Human Shojaee.
We will only reach our common green goals if everyone does their part to push in the right direction.«
Human Shojaee CEO, SustainaryThe green NGO Sustainary has developed an assessment process based on feedback and dialogue over the past few years to help startups and SMEs reach their climate targets.
With new technology, the fight against climate change has entered the fields and the dinner tableWritten by Erik Lillelund
It seems a little absurd. But it is true.
On one hand, our food system, the production of food, accounts for about 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions. On the other, about a third of all food goes straight into the bin after it is harvested.
Fortunately, several Danish start ups are ready to take on the challenge. Among them is food-tech company NextFood, an advanced and automated vertical farming system that produces crops made-to-order and delivers them from hyperlocal warehouses.
»The problem is that natural resources are extracted and polluted by growing crops conventionally today,« begins Rasmus Bjerngaard, co-founder and CEO of NextFood.
»By moving production indoors, we avoid polluting nature. We do this by simulating a climate in reality. So re gardless of whether a crop is doing best on Lake Garda or in the south of France, through our IoT system we can control everything; air exchange, temperature, water, humidity, size, nutrients and so on,« he continues.
NextFood is primarily aimed at the canteen and restaurant industry, where customers simply order a number of kilo grams of a crop for a specific date and then the AI software the company has devel oped provides capacity in the vertical farm, schedules production and sets sensors, lights, water and nutrients and monitors that the harvest goes as it should.
»Because all variables are controlled by artificial intelligence, we can predict ev erything. The quantity, taste or timeframe will always be exactly as we want because we don’t depend on wind and weather. It also means much less risk than for farm ers, who after all work with good and bad years for their crops. So you could say it’s much more software-based than farmbased,« the entrepreneur explains.
In fact, the solution is so far from con ventional farming that the plant’s roots
don’t even grow in soil, but instead hang in the air, drawing 16 different nutri ents from a haze of high pressure. The Artificial Intelligence, IoT software, lights, sensors, ventilation and irrigation system were all developed by founders Rasmus Bjerngaard and Hannes Lindal (both engi neering graduates) themselves.
»The method uses no pesticides, uses up to 98 percent less water and will always have been produced hyperlocally. For every square meter of vertical farm, our technology can free up 200 square meters of nature. So I have no doubt at all that the future of food is based on tech nology,« predicts Rasmus Bjerngaard.
Both agriculture and the food industry are facing a technological revolution that will enable us to grow and sow smarter, eat more climate-friendly and waste less food.NextFood have developed an advanced vertical farming system that produces crops to order and delivers them from hyperlocal warehouses.
SoilSense is a mix of hardware and intelligent software that uses algorithms to analyse irrigation data in real-time.
A high-tech revolution doesn’t happen overnight in all places. That’s why DTU engineers Jesper Alkestrup and Michal Gacka have developed a software plat form and sensor system that helps grow ers streamline their irrigation strategy to get the same or more yield for less water.
The idea came from projects in Kenya and Zimbabwe, where the entrepre neurs saw first-hand how local farmers struggled to get the most out of a scarce supply of water.
»We recognise the soil and how much
water the soil type can hold. Because it can vary from field to field and from area to area. In addition, we calibrate the sensor to the specific crop according to the different thresholds recommended by the literature,« explains Jesper Alke strup, co-founder and CEO of NextFood.
SoilSense is a mix of hardware and intelligent software that uses algorithms to analyse irrigation data in real-time. This means the platform automatically collects and analyses irrigation data and displays it in an easy-to-understand way through a smartphone app to customers
currently from Denmark, Sweden, Lith uania, Hungary, the Netherlands, Peru and Kenya.
»At the heart of this water issue is agriculture. More than 70% of the world’s water is used for crops. And if we are to solve this challenge, we must first work more efficiently,« says Alkestrup.
According to the EU’s calculations, higher efficiency could save around 40-45 per cent of water in the cultivation of socalled high-value crops such as fruit and vegetables. And technological optimisa tion will only gain momentum as climate change accelerates, SoilSense believes.
»There is clearly a technological devel opment underway in agriculture. But it’s also driven by necessity: 2022 will have been the driest in 500 years, so many farmers are suddenly feeling very tangibly about how the climate is changing and the uncertainty it creates for their livelihoods. So I expect there will be a lot more focus on this area,« says Jesper Alkestrup.
A technological scarecrow
It’s not just water we have to worry about when growing our food. Birds also play a key role in the big climate game.
Because they eat the crops, and on large farms, the problem is so big that up to 30% of green yields are stolen by our little beaked friends. And in coastal areas it can be up to 70 percent, experts say.
But the startup NAUST Robotics wants to change that.
»A Hungarian fruit grower once told a joke that it was a race between him and the birds. But when we dove into the problem, we found that the issue was actually quite crucial for the green
There is clearly a technological development underway in agriculture.«
Jesper Alkestrup Co-founder and CEO, NextFood
transition,« says Guifré Vidal, co-found er of NAUST Robotics.
»Over the years, this problem has exist ed. Chemicals, scarecrows and dead ani mals on sticks have been used, but none of it is very effective - not to mention unsustainable. The technology is outdat ed,« explains Guifré Vidal.
Together with two other international founders, he has developed an auto matic drone that interacts with an app to fly over farm fields and playback the birds’ own sounds, gently and naturally removing them.
»Birds quickly identify that the sound is from their own breed. Basically, the sounds are a combination of warnings about the approach of large birds, such as an eagle or similar,« says Guifré Vidal.
In the worst cases, the problem can amount to a loss of over 300,000 DKK. /100 Ha per year. Therefore, farmers need to regain control of their fields through technology.
»Our solution works automatically. With a small controller, the farmer marks the relevant bird species and the zones or fields to be protected, and then the drone takes off by itself and follows the route,« Vidal describes.
Although the solution can already help farmers today, the founders of NAUST Robotics hope to develop the drone even further before too long.
“We aim to have a 100% autonomous product that you basically just put in the middle of the field and the drone itself detects when there are birds and what sounds to make. And when they drift away, it quietly lands again,” says Guifré Vidal.
In coastal areas bird can steal up to 70 percent of the crop, experts say. Agrotech startup NAUST Robotics have set out to change that.
A Hungarian fruit grower once told a joke that it was a race between him and the birds.«
Guifré Vidal Co-founder, NAUST Robotics
What can an engineering house and a plant-based dairy startup get by collaborating with each other? Quite a lot, actually. Although you might not think so.
For FÆRM, a food tech company that has evolved traditional cheese production to be plant-based, it was all about con necting with the right people. And here, the Niras Green Tech Hub could help.
»We started up in an old basement in Vanløse - a former karate club - and had a hard time seeing what was the best way forward in terms of. partnerships. But when we became part of the hub, we sud denly had great contacts out in the real world. And it quickly stopped feeling like a basement start-up,« says Andrea Donau, co-founder and CEO of FÆRM.
The Green Tech Hub is the latest addi tion to the Niras engineering consultancy to ensure the company remains innova tive. The Hub invites startups in to develop everything from prototypes to company structure, and can often match them with relevant customers through a large network of partners. It is at the same time a showcase, workshop and laboratory for the green solutions of the future.
And as a startup member of Niras Green Tech Hub, you are allocated 30 con sulting hours with an advisory specialist in the exact field you are working in.
»We have deliberately chosen a very open approach. For example, what can we learn from agriculture in the con struction industry? It’s about breaking
down silos, because you can’t put a for mula on innovation. So when we explore the terrain for startups, we never operate with industries - only solutions,« says Sophie Ryle Bech, Hub Director at Niras Green Tech Hub.
A survey by Oxford Research and others shows that almost all Nordic companies work or have worked with startups (78% of Nordic companies currently work with startups, or 13% have worked with start ups before). For many large organisa tions, it is clear that startups are becom ing increasingly crucial to the ability to continue innovating.
»We have dedicated this effort to green tech entrepreneurs, whom we want to support, but of course also because we need to get smarter. For us, it’s about get ting closer to innovation and matching
Large companies are starting to fish in the ecosystem for innovation, while startups are increasingly benefiting from having more established resources in their back.Written
CEO, FÆRM
Corporates and
can become soul mates in the green transition
What can we learn from agriculture in the construction industry?«Sophie Ryle Bech Hub Director at Niras Green Tech Hub.
our consulting engineers with the prob lems of the startups, so that both they and we evolve,« explains Sophie Ryle Bech.
Cheese is one of the most polluting foods and FÆRM’s alternative production method can reduce the footprint by up to 75 percent, according to the company’s own calculations. In the early stages, the startup made cheese with soybean milk, but always with the ambition to switch to horse bean milk, which aligned better with sustainable values. The problem was just not being able to find anyone
who produced it.
»Every time we knocked on the door of a manufacturer, we were told they don’t make horse bean milk. So when Niras made an introduction to Doe hler (German food giant, ed.) and we were allowed to test with their prod ucts, things suddenly took off.« Andrea Donau describes.
Today, the startup redesigns plant masses to achieve the familiar textures and flavours of cheese. And this would never have happened if the plant-based
product had been developed at a large, heavy, established company.
»As a startup, we can work really, really fast. In the first two months, we were running 80 trials a day. We didn’t know exactly where we wanted to go, so we tried out a lot of different protein isolates with enzymes and looked for whey and cheese grains. Just to be able to do it that inten sively for two months, I don’t see it hap pening in big companies. And that phase where you’re just playing is where innova tion happens,« says Andrea Donau.
The Niras Green Tech Hub invites startups in to develop everything from prototypes to company structure, and can often match them with relevant customers through their large network.
We must prepare for more violent and volatile weath er in the future.
Because rising tempera tures are not only making the planet uninhabitable over time, but are also intensifying and causing new natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, droughts and storms, say scientists who call the phenomenon ‘extreme weather’. This is likely to mean greater casualties in terms of lost resources, destruction and human lives.
In particular, floods caused by extreme rainfall or rising sea levels are increas ingly having disaster potential, warns the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Cli mate Change (IPCC). And Danish startup RiverWorks is preparing for that future.
»Water wears and shapes the en vironment significantly over time. This means that rivers are constantly changing, and failure to keep a constant overview of their condition can have huge consequences, for example in the event of torrential rain.«
So says Alexander Rietz Vesterhauge, one of two engineers from DTU behind the RiverWorks project - a drone that can land on water surfaces and take cross-sectional measurements of rivers and streams autonomously. This allows local authorities to map water flows and model how water is transported and how much water a given area can hold before it becomes a safety hazard.
»One of the ambitions is to make this type of measurement more accessible. Not just in the West, but for the countries hardest hit by these floods. That’s why we’ve worked to make the drone autono mous and affordable,« says Vesterhauge.
The latest example came in Pakistan, where almost 1/3 of the country was flooded in August by the annual mon soon rains, which this year turned out to be stronger and more violent than ever before - a development scientists attribute to climate change, warmer temperatures and melting glaciers.
technology
At the mercy of the weather:
Rivers are constantly changing, and failure to keep a constant overview of their condition can have huge consequences.«
Alexander Rietz Vesterhauge RiverWorks
Therefore, it is precisely areas without the resources to send expensive consultants into the field with vadders and measuring equipment (which has been the usual method in this type of measurements) that the drone is used.
In nature, everything is inextricably linked. California, Canada, Australia and France are just a few of the many places that have felt the effects of increasing numbers of violent forest fires, which also weaken the soil and make it less ab sorbent to, for example, torrential rain.
Denmark has also become aware of the problem. That is why Aalborg Uni versity spinout Robotto has developed a drone that can autonomously scan and report in real time on the extent and area of a forest fire, isolate areas by fire level and identify hotspots that are essential to tackle in the aftermath.
»Although the drone can also be used for the detection stage, 70 percent of all forest firefighting consists of the huge clean-up work the disaster leaves behind. Particularly problematic are the many hotspots where the fire is likely to flare up. And our solution helps identify them effectively,« ex plains CEO and co-founder of Robotto, Kenneth Richard Geipe.
And it’s the artificial intelligence it’s equipped with that makes it particularly effective in fighting forest fires.
»Our core technology is artificial in telligence, which we develop through up to 40,000 images to identify the objects and situations to which the drone needs to respond. In this way, it acts autono mously from the situation as it arises,« describes Kenneth Richard Geipe.
Eight of the 20 largest fires in Cali fornia’s history have occurred within five years. And the cascade of disaster casualties and costs has Silicon Valley investors looking towards so-called fire tech solutions to both prevent fires and reduce the damage that follows. And Robotto is noticing this trend.
»Unfortunately, the paradox is that the more disasters there are in the world, the more demand there is for our drone. And it’s telling that technology related
to fighting forest fires is one of the more fast-growing markets,« explains the entrepreneur.
But in the long term, other markets may await the Danish startup.
»Our ultimate dream is to eventually have small drone air bases that can help with everything from forest fires and oil spills, to human searches and building in spections«“ says Kenneth Richard Geipe.
So far, forest fires are the focus area. In that context, the most brutal wildfire in
California’s history, ‘The Camp Fire’, de stroyed about one American football field every 3 seconds it lasted, killing a total of 68 people in 2018. And the cost was thought-provoking, the Robotto founder believes.
»We’ve gone from discussing whether the symptoms even existed to now talking about how we manage them. We have accepted that we have failed and that we cannot postpone this global warming,« says Kenneth Richard Geipe.
More and more people are crying wolf when companies make themselves out to be greener than they are. But will we end up silencing the green transition all together? We take the temperature on one of the most used terms in sustainability.
Written by Erik LillelundWhen hotel chains began en couraging guests to recycle towels in the mid-1980s, citing environmental concerns, environmental ist Jay Westerveld was quick to highlight the trend. For the request was a hoax in vented for the sake of economic savings - not the climate. It was ‘greenwashing’, as he called it.
Today, the term has taken hold in the tumultuous climate debate, often used in an attempt to hold stakeholders, organi sations and companies accountable to a constantly shifting bottom line that few agree on what even looks like.
»Currently, there is no litmus test for ‘greenwashing’. The EU has standards, of course, but they are mainly about mis leading. So the average consumer doesn’t need to know anything about sustain ability to accuse a company of making itself greener than it is,« says Lars Thøger Christensen, PhD and professor specialis ing in CSR and corporate communication at the CBS Sustainability Centre.
We still need a common language and measurement system before consumers can really compare products, services and benefits on company shelves, says the CBS professor.
»There is a great demand for standards and certifications that can translate something extremely complex into some thing quite simple. But right now, stan dards are limited by the times we live in. Right now it’s too complex a calculation,« says Lars Thøger Christensen.
Sustainability is still immature
One company that is using technology to make the calculations more manageable is Denmark’s BeWo.
The startup is behind a SaaS platform that collects and standardises corporate data, automatically reports environmen tal footprints and visualises sustainabil ity data to continuously take the next step towards ‘net-zero’. And the people behind it hope for more common stan dards in the future.
»In its infancy, the sustainability field has been immature, with many different
Lars Thøger Christensen PhD and professor specialising in CSR and corporate communication at the CBS Sustainability Centre
Will the green ever be written
The average consumer doesn’t need to know anything about sustainability to accuse a company of making itself greener than it is.«
Lars Thøger Christensen PhD and professor, CBS Sustainability Centre
standards, labels and marks. It has mainly served as branding for companies. This has changed over the last few years. But there is a long way to go before it be comes an exact science, « says Mikkel Ber ing Alstrup, CEO and co-founder of BeWo.
In a global report by the Boston Con sulting Group, companies almost unan imously estimate that they are likely to miss the mark by 30-40 percent when re porting on sustainability. One challenge in particular is the many uncertainties, individual assessments and varying data sets that underpin the calculations.
»With the EU Green Deal, companies al ready report in a standardised way - but only on the basis of business activities. But this is only a small part of the overall picture. The next step will be a protocol
to calculate the real footprint of products, which is ultra-complex because it relies on averages, estimates and best-case sce narios,« says Mikkel Bering Alstrup.
The wolf comes effect More and more people are crying out when companies - apparently - cheat on the green scales. And while the trend is positive, it could end up with more companies failing to sign up to the green agenda altogether for fear of the public gavel. That they ‘greenhusher’, simply.
»If we get a communication environ ment where no companies dare to say anything about, then we are actually stalling development. We need to have something to hold the players up on. And we’ll only get that when they dare to
articulate their ambitions,« explains Lars Thøger Christensen.
In a 2021 report, the European Commis sion found that 42% of organisations sur veyed used green statements or claims that were exaggerated - and in many cases outright misleading. Most often, the claims were generic and vague green descriptions with no actual evidence.
That’s why we need to make sustain ability quantifiable if we want to eradicate the problem, says Mikkel Bering Alstrup.
»I hope in the future we will have good enough data to work with CO2 figures in many areas - e.g. water, biodiversity or similar. The goal should be that each company can work with absolute figures for their climate footprint,« he says.
Mikkel Bering is the CEO and co-founder og SaaS platform BeWo that collects and standardises corporate data, automatically reports environmental footprints and visualises sustainability data.When mentioning CO2 emis sions, most people think about heavy industry, beef or planes rather than en terprise technology.
However, while enterprise technologies might seem like innocent yet necessary tools for work, new research done by McKinsey shows it is responsible for emitting about 350 to 400 megatons, accounting for about 1 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions - half of the emissions from aviation or as much as all of the United Kingdom.
»The sheer size was a surprise, and frankly, the lack of attention we are having from enterprises and media is a testament to the problem: It’s much bigger than we thought,« says Andrea Del Miglio, Senior Partner at McKinsey.
According to Del Miglio, the industry has a disproportionate focus on making data centres greener. In reality, user de vices such as smartphones, laptops and printers in enterprises can generate twice as much carbon as data centres globally.
Emissions by devices are mainly gen erated by manufacturing – not usage. This means that organisations that have deployed bring-your-own-device policies widely have an advantage here, as the best answer is having fewer devices and recycling them.
»Employees with an additional corpo rate device have a 30-40 per cent reduction potential right away. It’s a relatively simple step to take to make a difference – while keeping everyone happy,« Del Miglio says.
Andrea Del Miglio Senior Partner, McKinsey
At the same time, climate-conscious employees might want to make sure that the basics are in place: What is the most eco-friendly choice they can make, when they order a new device?
Answering questions like »what is the most emitting part of our tech stack?« and »how do employees make the cli mate-friendly choice?« will become much more manageable once carbon tracking really kicks in. Making additional technol ogy part of the solution.
»Many companies lack a CIO role to help the rest of the company to decarbonize. The very first step is tracking: Putting in place systems to know the footprint generated. Certain things are obvious - transportation is using algorithms to optimize route on delivery. But we can do much, much more, and we don’t have to use less tech – we have to use more,« Del Miglio says.
The lack of attention is a testament to the problem: It’s much bigger than we thought.«Andrea Del Miglio Senior Partner, McKinsey
a vegetarian for a week, switch to a greener electricity company or unsub scribe from physical advertising in your mailbox.
»You emit 64 kg of CO2 every year by receiving advertising. They didn’t even make it into the apartment at my place - they went straight into the bin, which is absolutely crazy. So we’ve made it easy to press a button and the ads are off. A great example of how you can reduce your climate footprint without really noticing,« says Dahl.
Climaider currently has 70,000 users in Denmark. Its ambitions are international, and the startup will soon start offering the solution to companies as a tool to motivate employees in the company’s green transition.
The green transition relies heavily on new hardware such as wind turbines, solar cells and supporting infrastructure. But software has unique potential when it comes to behavioural change that cuts emissions.
It can be hard to achieve green climate consciousness. Cutting out meat, new electronics and the vacation to Gran Canaria can all seem like overwhelming life changes. And does it even make a difference in the big picture anyway?
Climaider was established to get around climate apathy. The startup has developed an app that calculates CO2 emissions for
individuals and offers compensation on a subscription basis. At the same time, the app works to motivate its 70,000 users to make small, concrete changes in their daily lives that benefit the climate.
»We started with an ambition to make climate action more accessible and more manageable for the general citizen. Climate action doesn’t have to mean com promising on everything. It just means doing things differently,« says Oskar Dahl, co-founder of Climaider.
The app teaches users and encourages action through challenges: try being
A single »no thank you,« to advertis ing represents a modest saving, but if all 70,000 users of the app do it, it actu ally starts to move the needle.
»We don’t provide hardware solutions that produce green power. We build software, which in this perspective can be used to provide the necessary steps before a possible use of hardware. And we’ve spent a lot of time doing that in a way where climate action is a bit sexi er,« says Dahl.
Climaider is all about getting as many people as possible on board so that the small changes add up to big differences.
»It’s a numbers game. If we had 700 users, we would have no reason to exist. And we still need to grow to significantly more than 70,000 users if we’re really going to make a difference,« says Dahl.
Oskar Dahl Co-founder of Climaider
