Royal DSM is teaming up with Sungevity, the University of Oxford, Accenture and others to provide technical and mentoring support to scale up 100% renewable energy solutions. They will work under the #BrightMindsChallenge banner and focus on solar and energy storage.
"This collaboration drives radical innovation and attempts to unlock the potential of bright minds around the world. Together we will offer these scientists the opportunity to take their solutions to the next step for the benefit of society as a whole,” said Rob van Leen, chief innovation officer at DSM.
The Challenge is designed to help scientists around the world with bright solutions to overcome barriers they face in scaling up their ideas and solutions. Anyone with a solution relevant to renewable energy – focusing on solar and/or renewable energy storage - can submit an entry. The solution needs to be prototyped, and ready to scale up.
The top three solutions will all receive commercial, technical and mentoring support, with the winner getting 500 hours of tailored help to fast-forward their solution. All entrants will receive valuable exposure for their projects.
The hunt for the solutions starts now, with voting taking place in January and February 2017, and the winners being announced in June 2017. The central platform for the #BrightMindsChallenge is www.sciencecanchangetheworld.org.
Other members of the consortium include: Greentown Labs; Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Solarcentury and SolarAid.