Scientists from UKCEH and students from Imperial College London are working together to come up with novel climate solutions in the Green Innovation Challenge.
The Green Innovation Challenge is a joint initiative between UKCEH and Undaunted*, a leading UK hub for climate innovation and green entrepreneurship. The initiative focuses on developing real-world applications for research in the natural environment.
The teams - comprising members from UKCEH and Imperial - joined forces last week at UKCEH’s Wallingford site for their first in-person session. They explored key themes and presented initial ideas on novel solutions to environmental challenges to a panel of climate experts and entrepreneurs.
During the ideathon session the teams were encouraged to:
- Dig beneath the surface—peeling back the “onion layers” of both consumers and businesses—to better segment their customers and identify potential early evangelists.
- Explore their Value Proposition Canvas by first defining the customer, then mapping products and services that address key pains and create meaningful gains.
- Recognise that innovation and creativity in the business model are just as critical as the technical solution itself.
The six themes and related questions the teams are working on are:
Biochar: How can biochar be most effectively deployed as a carbon sink, soil improver, nutrient management tool and crop yield booster in agriculture?
Nitrogen circularity: How can we move towards nitrogen circularity to protect waterways and support sustainable agriculture?
Rock weathering: How can rock weathering products be used for enhanced carbon capture in soils and water, balancing co-benefits and trade-offs?
Ammonia: What sensing technologies will be needed in the ‘ammonia as an energy carrier’ market?
Urban flooding: What innovative solutions could be deployed for urban flood impact forecasting?
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV): How can high-resolution earth observation data be used to develop new, practical and affordable solutions to environmental challenges?
The teams now embark on a five-week programme, to develop their ideas and undertake masterclasses on customer data, prioritising and testing risky assumptions, business model design and innovation and pitching techniques and storytelling. They present their final pitches at Imperial on 4 March to a team of judges, alongside a public audience.
Larissa Kunstel-Tabet, Head of Climate Solutions Catalyst at Undaunted said, “Partnering with UKCEH through the Green Innovation Challenge allows us to channel world‑class research into bold, practical climate solutions. The energy and creativity emerging from these multidisciplinary teams is inspiring, and highlights how collaboration and innovative thinking can unlock meaningful impact for our environment and our communities.
Jim Williams, Head of Innovation at UKCEH said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Undaunted on the Green Innovation Challenge. It is a great opportunity to marry research outputs with green innovation to develop solutions to real-world problems. We are excited to see the outcomes achieved by bringing together diverse teams together combining their different skill sets and experiences.”
*Undaunted, is a collaboration between the Royal Institution and the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and has supported startups that have raised over $1.3bn since 2012.
Find out more about the Green Innovation Challenge and Undaunted.