2nd call of Climate Change Technology Accelerator (CCTA)

This time we are super excited to announce the 2nd call of Climate Change Technology Accelerator (CCTA) with new challenging topic on  Sustainable Urban Development. The Accelerator is implemented by UNDP ImpactAim in cooperation with ISTC – Innovative Solutions and Technologies Center Foundation, Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF). The Project is funded by Russia Trust Fund for Developmentand Asian Development Bank Ventures, implemented jointly with Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia.

Climate Change issues are largely affected by urban areas, making cities not only major contributors to it but also vulnerable to its consequences.  By taking appropriate measures, cities can make a significant contribution to mitigating climate change and increase their resilience to climate-related shocks. Therefore, the initiative aims at raising awareness about existing challenges of urban development and promoting integrated infrastructures and efficient planning to ensure resilience to climate change, supporting innovative solutions for urban planning and making cities fit for climate change with the intention to make tackling climate change an integrated and strategic element of urban development.

CCTA vol. 2 aims to push forward new urban agenda to ensure that cities not only become resource-efficient and low carbon-emitting, but also positively influence startups to commit to the goals of sustainable urban development in which both environmental concerns and human wellbeing will be addressed.

As one of the essential steps of Climate Change Tech Accelerator,  the Climate Tech Hackathon was organized on March 16-17, to discover innovative solutions, which can overcome challenges in the way of building Resource-efficient cities. Overall, 28 teams and respectively 81 participants had applied for the Hackathon, out of which only 16 teams were selected to be part of the main event. After 24 hours of hacking, and pitching in front of the jury,  5 winners were selected, who, apart from financial prizes, received a chance to be part of the CCTA’19 program.

Climate Change Tech Accelerator is launched to find ventures focusing on 6 Major Challenges:

1. Green spaces in the city (e.g. inefficient/insufficient irrigation system in the city, existing green landscape mapping and data-driven recommendations, vertical and roof gardening, urban forestry, etc.)
2. Air pollution
3. Water pollution (e.g. data or monitoring system of river pollution, etc.)
4. Smart traffic/transport management and green transport promotion (e.g. new parking model both for bicycles and cars, biking, city tours etc.)
5. Municipal solid waste management
6. Urban agriculture

All startups that have innovative ideas tackling the challenges can apply for this unique acceleration program and become part of UNDP ImpactAim community.  The intensive training program followed by roadshows and global pitching events will help the startups pilot the solution in Armenia and scale it up to the international leverage the unique global network and expertise of UNDP.

The accelerator will last 20 weeks and will have the following program:

Business Track  – this part will consist of:

• Intensive Bootcamp, during the first 6 weeks teams will have weekly workshops on the specifically chosen topics, as well as office hours will be offered by mentors during the week.
• Customer Development, which will be dedicated to the practical activities and actual usage of the knowledge and techniques learned during the Bootcamp.

Impact Track – Series of workshops with leading experts in the industry from Armenia and worldwide. The track integrates the IMM model, which relies on the creation of the Impact Value Chain (IOOI Framework, IMP-integrated), Lean Data Collection and the Social Return on Investment model to measure impact. All modules include practical exercises for each section.

Technology Track – A curated series of workshops on cutting edge technologies and its possible implications for your solution. Covering topics like AI, ML, BlockChain, IoT, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, etc.

Through tailored mentorship and a specially designed curriculum, ventures will be able to strengthen their market presence, scale up their impact, and increase their investment absorption capacity. Ventures will be introduced to a network of Impact VCs and angels with access to funding opportunities by participation to conferences and roadshows. They will also be provided with access to ISTC physical, hardware and software infrastructure.  Selected ventures will receive motivational awards and grants.

More information about CCTA can be found at https://impactaim.com/accelerators/ccta-19 .

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