Within four hours of London is a huge ecosystem of climate tech talent, technology and investment that spans the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
This region is already home to over 3000 climate tech startups and scaleups with the market worth over $1tn, 46% of all European startup value has already emerged from this important geographical area.
So today (13th June 2023), at the London Tech Week Climate Tech Summit, we are launching the Climate Tech SuperCluster – a joint venture between Oxfordshire Greentech, Cambridge Cleantech and Liminal, and in partnership with EDF Energy, Founders Forum, Climate KIC, Climate Connection, Sustainable Ventures and Zinc.
Our mission is to raise awareness of the SuperCluster and to develop and scale climate-critical technologies by bringing together innovators, investors and institutions across the region and globally. Our focus is upon addressing shared challenges including energy, transport, agriculture and construction.
From our work in Oxfordshire and beyond, we’re aware that there are many organisations innovating their way through the climate crisis. And yet the fragmentation across is glaring, reminding us of the early tech ecosystem in London around 2010, and also indicating what we can learn from how other ecosystems evolved including Silicon Valley and Shenzhen.
We already work very closely with Cambridge Cleantech, our sister network, to collaborate and amplify impact – could the successes of our partnership be replicated and built on at scale?
In order to accelerate climate action at the rate we need, we need to go beyond Oxfordshire, beyond London, beyond any one place. We need an ecosystem of actors working together, creating impact across a much larger region, responding to the urgency of the climate crisis with the level of ambition required.
From vaccines to flatscreens, a mix of competition and cooperation drives innovation the world over. Strong business ecosystems are driven by commercial incentives and collaborative structures. Stronger networks bring many benefits whether that be through R&D consortia, patent pools, joint ventures, co-investment vehicles, open or shared data, or shared physical and virtual logistics.
We realised that “we are the ones that we have been waiting for” and that this SuperCluster region really is a great place to research new solutions, build a great business, or invest in the biggest innovation opportunity on and for the planet right now.
Initially our core activities will be an Observatory (to research and map key technologies and trends), a Spotlight (to promote relevant activities and organisations), and a Network of Networks (to active new partnerships and markets).
We don’t have all of the answers. Nobody does. So we are actively seeking people and organizations who want to officially be involved as a SuperCluster partner or sponsor to help us to build out our mission and capacity to operate at speed and scale. The climate crisis is our unifying global purpose as a species.
The race to decarbonise is on. Are you in? Please do get in touch to find out more or to get involved.