We all remember Bertrand Piccard’s incredible round-the-world trip in 2016, aboard his strange solar-powered plane. The Swiss aeronaut and his foundation, Solar Impulse, had launched the World Alliance for Clean Technologies the same year, to federate the players in this field of activity. Since then, more than 2,000 start-ups, companies, investors and public authorities have joined.
Today, a new step has been taken with the launch of the “Solar Impulse Efficient Solution” label, one of the first labels for companies that combine environmental protection and financial viability.
The aim is to select 1,000 solutions that can protect the environment in a cost-effective way and propose them to decision-makers in order to help them adopt more ambitious environmental objectives and energy policies.
In Luxembourg, this initiative is supported in the context of a cooperation focusing on clean technologies, among other topics, between the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development (MECDD), the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and the World Alliance.
International visibility
Three Luxembourg companies have already been awarded the label: Apateq (for its MarinePaq system for the treatment of washing water resulting from the cleaning of ship exhaust gases), Eiravato (which has developed software for the digitisation of waste and a market place for circular economy materials) and Clariter (specialising in the treatment and reuse of plastic waste).
The “Solar Impulse Efficient Solution” label, simple and free of charge, is awarded after an evaluation carried out by independent external experts. LIST is one of them.
Once the solutions have been labelled, the Foundation provides support at six specific levels:
- better access to the market
- more attractiveness to investors
- promotion support
- access to input from industry experts
- greater credibility
- greater visibility
“Obtaining the label brings many benefits to innovative companies and promotes their success. We strongly encourage Luxembourg companies to join the World Alliance and to submit their innovative solutions,” explains Caroline Fedrigo, Senior Engineer at LIST.
“This is a great opportunity for innovative Luxembourg companies to position themselves effectively and gain international visibility,” adds Charles-Albert Florentin, the manager of the Luxembourg Cleantech Cluster.