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Are you a green entrepreneur in Queensland? The largest climate change business ideas competition is in town

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Climate-KIC Australia recently launched the Australian 2019 edition of the world’s largest global Green Business Ideas Competition,ClimateLaunchpad, hosted in Brisbane by Australia’s largest startup community, Fishburners.

With over 50 countries participating in the competition run by the EU’s main climate innovation initiative, Queenslanders will have their chance to turn their clean-tech ideas into a global business.

Globally, ClimateLaunchpad brings in clean-technology and green business ideas from across 5 continents.

The program is part of the entrepreneurship offerings of Climate-KIC Australia’s collaboration partner the European Union’s innovation initiative for climate change, EIT Climate-KIC.

Who is eligible to take part?

The competition is open to anyone with an idea in renewable energy, energy efficiency, food and agriculture, water, transportation, industrial technology or any other way to tackle climate change.

Whether an idea is still on the back of a napkin or a fledged early stage start-up, everyone is welcome to apply.

In Queensland, selected applicants will take part in rigorous training at an intensive two-day Boot Camp, led by a renowned European entrepreneur and start-up trainer.

Leading teams are also given mentoring from industry leaders and former participants, culminating in a National Pitch Final in October, with the top two competitors joining the Global Grand Final in November 2019.

The competition will be co-led by Fishburners in Brisbane, Australia’s largest startup community dedicated to creating highly scalable Australian tech businesses. It is also offered by Climate-KIC Australia in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

“We’re really excited to be partnering on this competition with ClimateLaunchpad to seek out really valuable, high-impact business ideas that might ordinarily never materialise,” said Isaac Holmyard, Brisbane General Manager at Fishburners.

“We have such a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Queensland, and we are really keen to capitalise on that, and show the world what we have to offer.”

Isaac Holmyard, Brisbane General Manager at Fishburners

What format is the competition following?

The two most promising start-ups from each state will then compete in the National Finals in October, with the top two competitors joining the other winners from all competing countries in the Global Grand Final in November 2019.

Global Finalists present their ideas to an audience of start-up accelerator programs, angel investors and professional networks that can help them kick-start their businesses and expose them to the global market.

The world’s top-10 best ideas win access to the EIT Climate-KIC accelerator program.

The overall winner of the Global Grand Pitch Final also receives a cash prize of €10,000 (AU$16,000), the runner up gets €5,000 (AU$8,000) and the team that comes in third place wins €2,500 (AU$4,000).

Jaine and Ashleigh Morris, sisters from Maroochydore and founders of the start-up Coreo, were lucky enough to be chosen to represent Australia in the ClimateLaunchpad Global Finals in 2017.

“The ClimateLaunchpad journey with Climate-KIC Australia from pitching our entry through to competing against the world’s best green start-ups was exhilarating,” said Ashleigh.

“Jaine and I learned so much through our ClimateLaunchpad experience that continues to directly influence the impact we are able to have in our business today.”

What does Climate-KIC Australia do?

Climate Knowledge Innovation Community (Climate-KIC) Australia is a public-private partnership founded in 2017 to foster innovation and develop links between industry, government, research and civil society to address the challenges of climate change mitigation and adaptation to achieve systemic change.

What is ClimateLaunchpad?

ClimateLaunchpad is the global green business ideas competition. Its mission is to address the negative impacts of climate change by ways of innovation, invention and entrepreneurship.

A green future demands thousands of innovations challenging the current business models. The competition supports aspiring and promising cleantech entrepreneurs with training, coaching and networking opportunities.

ClimateLaunchpad operates on a global scale, currently in over 50 countries. ClimateLaunchpad was established in 2014 and is part of the Entrepreneurship offerings of EIT Climate-KIC and facilitated in Australia by Climate-KIC Australia.

Who are the Fishburners?

Fishburners hosts Australia’s largest startup community – with 383 startups and 728 entrepreneurs across the Sydney, Brisbane and Shanghai hubs, as well as over 100 virtual members.

A recent survey recorded that in 2018 Fishburners members achieved approximately $65 million in sales, raised around $40 million in investment and created close to 1,000 jobs.

As one of Australia’s first startup spaces, more than 2,000 startup entities have been part of the not-for-profit operations since it opened, including high-profile alumni such as Koala, GoCatch, graphic design marketplace DesignCrowd, Code Camp, Tinybeans, Madpaws, Jayride, GradConnection and Hyper Anna.

Fishburners is also home to Australia’s largest event space dedicated to startups and entrepreneurship and has hosted well over 4,000 startup-focused events since opening.