Are you interested in climate change and want to give entrepreneurship a try? Want to develop your ideas and be in with a chance of winning a £1500 cash prize? The Climate Challenge is an early-stage climate entrepreneurship training programme and competition for postgrads and postdocs at the University of Cambridge.
Over the course of the Lent Term, come along to free weekly training sessions to learn about effective storytelling, voluntary carbon markets, intellectual property rights, pitching your ideas and more. Meet likeminded individuals and share ideas over pizza and pub socials! Participants will form teams of 2-3 to propose scalable solutions to climate challenges. Shortlisted teams will pitch their ideas to our expert panel of judges at the final, where the winning team will receive a £1500 cash prize and the two runner-up teams will receive a £750 cash prize.
The theme of this year's Climate Challenge is nature.
The Climate Challenge is run by Cambridge Zero, in partnership with Cambridge Enterprise, Carbon13, the Maxwell Centre, Energy IRC and CISL, with support from Moda Living.
For full details of the Climate Challenge training programme and competition, including the terms and conditions and concept note structure, view the Brief here.
If you're planning to participate in the Climate Challenge this year, please fill out the pre-programme survey: https://forms.office.com/e/T8tSUaaQdR
Full programme:
- Climate Challenge Launch Event
- At this Launch Event, find out more about the competition, socialise with fellow students and aspiring entrepreneurs and get inspired! The event will begin with a series of speakers in Lecture Theatre A of the Student Services Centre, including guest speaker Dr Shima Barakat, followed by networking over drinks and nibbles in the foyer.
- Friday 19 January, 6:30-8:30pm, Lecture Theatre A, Student Services Centre
- Register to attend here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgezero/1114383
- Ideas Jam and Pub Social
- With Dr Amy Munro-Faure from Cambridge Zero
- Wednesday 24 January, 4:30-6pm, Seminar Room, Old Cavendish East
- Intro to Climate Entrepreneurship and Evaluating Impact
- With Dr Nicky Dee from Carbon13 and Zoë Loughlin from CISL Canopy
- Thursday 1 February, 4:30-6pm, Seminar Room, Old Cavendish East
- Intro to the Voluntary Carbon Market
- With Dr Robin Daniels, Visiting Fellow with the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits (4C)
- Wednesday 7 February, 5-6pm, Seminar Room, Old Cavendish East (with option to join online)
- Come along from 4:30pm for some social time! Meet other participants and form teams if you haven't already.
- Effective Storytelling
- With Viola Jardon from CISL Canopy
- Wednesday 14 February, 4:30-6pm, Seminar Room, Old Cavendish East
- Concept Note deadline: Thursday 15 February, 11:59pm
- Intellectual Property Rights Masterclass
- With Chris Gibbs from Cambridge Enterprise
- Wednesday 21 February, 5-6pm, Seminar Room, Old Cavendish East
- Shortlisting results announced: Monday 26 February
- Pitching with Climate Start-Ups
- Meet some climate entrepreneurs and hear them pitch their ideas!
- Wednesday 28 February, 4:30-6pm, Seminar Room, Old Cavendish East
- How to get backed by a climate VC
- With Dr Nicky Dee from Carbon13 - plus, meet and ask questions of a climate VC!
- Monday 11 March, 5-6pm, online
- Climate Challenge Final
- Come along to hear the finalist teams pitch their ideas and find out who will win the cash prize!
- Thursday 14 March, 2-7pm, WYNG Gardens Conference Room, Thompsons Lane, CB5 8AQ
- Register to attend here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgezero/1171879
- See a preview of our shortlisted teams here: https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2024-03/our%20shortlisted%20teams....pdf
Use these instructions to find the Seminar Room where we have our weekly training sessions: https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2024-01/How%20to%20get%20to%20Seminar%20Room%20-%20Climate%20Challenge%202024.pdf
