The European Innovation Council Business Acceleration Services and Fortum – the leading Finnish-based corporate in energy and circular economy – invite you to gear up your business and apply to our joint online EIC Corporate Day, taking place on 9 June 2022. Fortum is looking for SMEs that have innovative and scalable solutions and want to work together towards achieving an energy system that works on a low-carbon operating model.
Fortum’s purpose is to drive the change for a cleaner world while securing a fast and reliable transition to a carbon-neutral economy by providing customers and societies with clean energy and sustainable solutions. Being the European leader in energy and circular economy, together with its subsidiary Uniper (one of its five business segments), Fortum is the third-largest producer of low-carbon electricity in Europe.
With a strong handprint in clean power generation (hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar), the corporate is active in power retailing, recycling and waste businesses, and district heating. To ensure the transition of the energy system to a low-carbon operation model, Fortum is strongly investing in innovation and venturing activities, working with both internal and external innovators to accelerate the change. As a part of its innovation activities, Fortum is now partnering with the EIC to find SMEs with scalable solutions to make this change.
Interested in this opportunity?
Make sure to apply here until 29 April 2022 then!
The selected EIC-beneficiaries to attend the EIC Corporate Day matchmaking event with Fortum on 9 June 2022 will have access to pitch training provided by the EIC and will pitch their proposed solutions to Fortum representatives. The pitching event will be held online and afterwards, Fortum will invite the winning companies to a face-to-face kickoff workshop held towards the end of summer 2022. After the kickoff, the intended goal is to engage in proof-of-concept (PoC) project(s) that validate the proposed solutions. If successful and viable, the solution(s) can be taken to a full commercial scale after completion of the PoC.
Who can apply?
Fortum is looking for innovative EIC SMEs working on solutions in the following fields:
1. Origination of renewable energy projects
Siting is a critical success factor of any renewable energy project. Identifying a site with optimal wind or solar production conditions is a key requirement for project profitability. Competition for the best sites is therefore intensive, and solutions enabling more efficient and impactful siting have high business relevance. Relevant solutions can leverage e.g., satellite imaging or drones.
2. Operation of renewable energy assets (in cold climates)
Optimising the operation of wind and solar assets is naturally a key determining factor in project revenues. Maximising Annual Energy Produced (AEP) is a key metric for renewable energy projects. One of the key challenges for Fortum in this area is related to wind turbine blade icing, as many of our assets are in cold climates with harsh winters. Detecting, analysing, and managing blade icing are value-creating activities for us. However, proposals for this category need not be limited only to blade icing.
3. Effectively operating in a multi-asset, multi-market power trading environment
The operating environment for power trading has changed quite significantly in recent years. Whereas generation assets used to consist mostly of hydro, nuclear, and thermal production capacity – which are dispatchable and predictable –, increasing penetration of renewable power production is changing the landscape. In parallel to this development, power used to be traded primarily on the day-ahead market, while today there are multiple markets to take part in. Optimising trading activities in the changing landscape requires increasingly sophisticated analysis and decision-making tools. Proposals can be related e.g., to AI/ML-enabled trading solutions.
4. CCU solutions: turning waste into materials
The Recycling and Waste business of Fortum operates several Waste-to-Energy plants. Waste incineration releases CO2, which can be captured for utilisation instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. We are interested in exploring different conversion paths of CO2 into added-value products and materials.
Opportunities for selected EIC-funded SMEs
- Privileged access to one of the world’s leading companies with the potential to initiate strategic partnerships along with increased visibility and possible access to new markets.
- Networking opportunities with relevant business counterparts based on your company profile.
- Personalised online training on pitching techniques and Fortum specifications before the event.
- Services related to support before, during and after the event.
Application
You can apply by clicking on the following link.
After logging in with your EU-Login, please fill in the respective form.
In your application form, you should:
- Describe how your business meets the requirements of the Corporate Day with Fortum
- Explain what the expected specific synergies/outcomes for your potential business with the Corporation are
Please acknowledge the information you provide on the application form is shared with Fortum to maximise potential benefits and ensure the effectiveness of meetings. Fortum, based on its business interests, will select the final participants among the applicants.
The Business Acceleration Services will contact all applicants once the selection process finishes. However, this contact does not include feedback or recommendations to those not selected.
About the EIC Business Acceleration Services
This opportunity is brought to you by the EIC Business Acceleration Services. To explore other opportunities to connect with the largest corporates in Europe, keep an eye on our events page.
All participants are expected to fill out a brief satisfaction survey shortly after the event and a business impact survey after six months. Failure to do so may lead to exclusion from future Business Acceleration Services.
Cancellation policy
Cancellations will only be considered in duly documented cases of “force majeure”. Unjustified cancellation can lead to exclusion in future Business Acceleration Services events. For additional information, please refer to our Helpdesk (please choose “EIC Corporate Day with Fortum” as the subject).
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.