Australian Cleantech Competition semifinalists announced

The Australian Cleantech Competition has whittled down this year’s 150 entrants to 30 semifinalists, ranging from start-ups through to listed companies that have raised tens of millions of dollars.

Now in its third year, the Clean Technologies Competition is an initiative of the Supplier Advocate Program and championed by Dr Marc Newson, the Clean Technologies Supplier Advocate. Judges assess and short list entrants who have the ‘greatest potential’ to be a commercial success and thereby facilitate the greatest environmental benefits.

Dr Newson explained, “It is recognised that the balance between the impact of a single installation and likely scale of the business is a key factor in assessing the overall potential of each entrant.”

The short list includes a wide variety of companies and their technologies, including the following:

• Bombora Wave Power: a novel wave-energy converter that utilises a sturdy, seabed-mounted design and flexible membrane.
• Commercial Diving Services: a cleaning technology that helps ships travel faster through the water and consume less fuel.
• DiUS Computing: a home charging solution for plug-in electric vehicles. 
• F Cubed: pure clean drinking water from any feed water source by bio-mimicking the natural water cycle of evaporation and condensation.
• Nexus eWater: high-efficiency hot water using heat recycled from grey water, and high-quality treated water for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and garden irrigation.
• Specialty Coatings: a large-format, resin-impregnated fibreglass composite roof sheeting product with embedded thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) material. 
• Utilitas: a specialist biogas project development company that uses a smart business model to produce competitively priced ‘organic energy’.

The principal sponsor of the competition, Autodesk, will be working with each of the Top 30 companies to help them design, visualise and simulate their ideas with digital prototyping software. Through the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program, any cleantech company in Australia and New Zealand can apply to receive up to AU$150,000 worth of selected software programs for only AU$50 or NZ$60, as applicable. 

Jake Layes, Autodesk’s Asia Pacific Cleantech Head, explained, “Through our cleantech initiatives, we hope to support the efforts of brilliant innovators, like the competition’s Top 30, and accelerate the development of important technologies that will address some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.”

The Top 30 will receive two months of mentoring before having to submit business plans for further judging. The winner of the overall competition and the five sector awards will be announced at a gala dinner in Sydney on 2 October. The Australian winner will represent the company in the global competition in November, and all the Top 30 will attend a trade mission to Hong Kong, China and Singapore to meet with potential partners, customers and investors.

Last year’s winner was enLighten Australia, for its low-cost LED lighting design providing energy savings of up to 93%.

The full list of semifinalists and their concepts can be viewed here.