Pitching session in the context of the EIC Summit 2024 - Green Hydrogen Field, Alternative fuels and chemicals, CCU and Carbon Dioxide Removal
The European Innovation Council (EIC) in collaboration with the First Movers Coalition (FMC) are organising a Pitching session in the context of the EIC Summit 2024.
First Movers Coalition is a global initiative led by the World Economic Forum focused on advancing the most critical, emerging climate technologies by leveraging members’ collective purchasing power.
The Pitching session is carried out with support from the SPIN4EIC programme (EIC Flagship initiative on Innovation Procurement).
This pitching event is dedicated for networking and exchange between innovative suppliers and procurers in the field of green hydrogen, alternative fuels and chemicals, CCU and Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies. The event will feature worldwide leading companies, members of the FMC, namely:
- Pierre-Yves Menet, Casting and Recycling R&D Group Manager at Constellium, a global leader in the development, manufacturing, and recycling of aluminium products and solutions;
- Andreas Belschner, Regional Vice President at Salesforce, a leading cloud-based CRM platform empowering businesses to connect with customers;
- Martin Gorricho, European Union Sustainability Policy and Partnerships Lead at Boeing, a global aerospace company pioneering innovation in aviation and defense technology;
- Martin Pei, Chief Technology Officer at SSAB Swedish Steel, a forefront innovator in steel manufacturing, shaping industries with sustainable strength solutions; and
- Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira, Partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an innovative investment fund driving transformative solutions for global energy and environmental challenges.
Background information
First Movers Coalition (FMC)
The First Movers Coalition (FMC) is a global initiative aimed at accelerating the deployment of critical technologies that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It involves a group of leading companies and governments working collaboratively to advance the development and adoption of innovative solutions in areas such as energy, transportation, and industry. By bringing together key stakeholders, FMC aims to create a supportive environment for the early adoption of technologies that can play a pivotal role in addressing climate change.
EIC Summit
The European Innovation Council Summit 2024 edition will be part of the Research & Innovation week. The EIC flagship event will take place on 18 and 19 March 2024.
Day 2, 19 March, will be fully dedicated to EIC beneficiaries with workshops covering diverse issues for researchers and entrepreneurs, such as intellectual property rights, investments, or scaling up your company. The EIC pitching to Innovative Procurers from the First Movers Coalition will occur during Day 2.
The agenda of Day 2 is available here, and you can find here the agenda of the Pitching session.
Who will be pitching?
5 EIC Innovators will be pitching their innovative products or services related to green hydrogen, alternative fuels and chemicals, CCU or Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies, including:
Challenge description
The current energy crisis underlines our over-dependence on fossil resources across all industrial sectors: energy generation and the provision of everyday goods is heavily reliant on the steady extraction and utilisation of fossil resources, which serve both as a source of energy of carbon, e.g., to produce polymers for plastics.
Removing CO2 from the atmosphere or from industrial waste streams and turning it from a pollutant into a valuable resource offers a route out of this dependency on fossil fuels and their associated impacts on the climate and economic security. Renewable fuels and chemicals are synthetic fuels and chemicals produced from renewable energy, water and simple molecules. The products are manifold, ranging from hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels to proteins for food and feed applications. Product-wise, there is no designated winner and the current quest is to find overall viable business models.[1]
There is a strong demand for innovative projects which can provide sustainable hydrogen, fuels and chemicals production at scale and at lower cost than currently possible. To link the demand and supply sides of this complex puzzle, this challenge seeks to showcase innovative tech suppliers and match them with companies interested in investing in their innovations.
1 European Innovation Council Tech Report 2023, Article “FUELS AND CHEMICALS FROM THE SUN – A POTENTIAL GAME CHANGER FOR OUR CURRENT ENERGY AND PRODUCTION SYSTEM”, C. Faber