image: This is the Dynamic Demand logo. view more
Credit: Nesta
Climate-KIC, Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership working to address the challenge of climate change, has awarded more than £125,000 through the Climate Market Accelerator (CMA) programme to a project aimed at shifting electricity usage towards renewable energy at off-peak times.
Dynamic Demand Challenge, a call for innovative solutions for dynamic electricity demand management. The challenge is working with Climate-KIC's Open Innovation Slam and aims at ensuring electricity demand is shifted from peak and off peak periods, and importantly towards times when electricity from renewable energy is available.
Run by Nesta's Centre for Challenge Prizes, and supported by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Centre for Carbon Measurement, Climate-KIC and the National Grid, the challenge will develop and ultimately fund the best idea for managing electricity demand.
The funding from Climate-KIC will allow applicants with ideas to develop them into close-to-market products. In particular it will provide the funding for shortlisted entrants to test at the world leading measurement facilities at The Centre for Carbon Measurement at NPL and to receive assistance from experts to build their ideas at Imperial's Faculty of Engineering, Design Engineering Group and the Imperial College Business School.
Following this, the entries and their business plans will be assessed by the judging panel and a prize of £50,000 (which is separate from the £125,000 Climate-KIC funding) will be awarded to the solution that demonstrates the most significant impact.
Jane Burston, head of the Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory said:
"Climate change and a secure, clean energy supply are two of the biggest challenges of our time. Balancing demand is a critical step in supporting the shift in supply towards renewable generation. This will only be successful with engaging tools and technologies we want to use in our homes and offices. The support from Climate-KIC will help to develop such tools by ensuring that all the ideas submitted to the Challenge are tested and measured in leading facilities by experts. The result will be a range of products and prototypes that are close to market-readiness and of interest to investors and buyers."
Mary Ritter, Chief Executive Officer, Climate-KIC, said:
"Climate-KIC plays an important role in bringing potential end users in direct contact with suppliers of climate innovations. Our funding will help applicants to the Dynamic Demand Challenge to test and refine their work. We're delighted to fund this challenge as ultimately, our goal is to commercialise innovative climate change products and services that have real impact on climate change mitigation and adaptation."
Constance Agyeman, development manager, Nesta's Centre for Challenge Prizes, said:
"The £50,000 prize will deliver a significant boost to the prospects of the winning idea. However, thanks to the funding from Climate-KIC and the expert support from Imperial and NPL that this will provide, most of the finalists should have developed their ideas to the point that it is attractive option for buyers or investors."
Notes to editor
Dynamic demand, or demand side response (DSR), is the exchange of information between electronic devices, responding to signals from the grid directly or indirectly. These products or technologies can either shift electricity consumption away from peak hours where electricity consumption is high, or enable greater usage of excess electricity generation from renewables.
Nesta's Centre for Challenge Prizes was launched in April 2012 and brings together the growing expertise and interest in challenge prizes. Challenge prizes, also called 'inducement' prizes, offer a reward to whoever can first, or most effectively, meet a defined challenge. http://www.nesta.org.uk/areas_of_work/challengeprizes
About Nesta and the challenge prize partners
- Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta Operating Company is a registered charity in England and Wales with a company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE
- Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory: The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the UK's national measurement institute, which means it is a centre of excellence for accurate measurement, science and technology. The Centre for Carbon Measurement at NPL reduces uncertainties in climate data, provides the robust measurement that is required to account for, price and trade carbon emissions and helps develop and accelerate the take up of low carbon technologies.
- National Grid is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. We own and manage the grids that connect people to the energy they need, from whatever the source. In Britain and the north-eastern states of the US we run systems that deliver gas and electricity to millions of people, businesses and communities.
- Climate-KIC is the European Union's largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate change, consisting of dynamic companies, the best academic institutions and the public sector.
The organisation integrates education, entrepreneurship and innovation resulting in connected, creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into economically viable products or services that help to mitigate climate change.
Climate-KIC is one of three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) created in 2010 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The EIT is an EU body whose mission is to create sustainable growth. Climate-KIC supports this mission by addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Open Innovation Slam is a crowd-sourced online competition and a mentor-driven offline accelerator. The aim is to identify innovation demands and solutions in form of promising ideas delivered by start-ups that will be supported by accelerator activities. See more at: http://openinnovationslam.org/
About Imperial College London
Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 14,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.
Since its foundation in 1907, Imperial's contributions to society have included the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of research for the benefit of all continues today, with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to improve global health, tackle climate change, develop sustainable sources of energy and address security challenges.
In 2007, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust formed the UK's first Academic Health Science Centre. This unique partnership aims to improve the quality of life of patients and populations by taking new discoveries and translating them into new therapies as quickly as possible.
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