Kickstart 2022: Ukrainian SolarGaps Partners With The City of Zurich
Kickstart 2022
Helping partners identify key themes, Kickstart provides opportunities for open innovation. An exclusive number of the best national and international startups and scaleups are selected annually to participate in the ten-week program in the fields of
- New Work & Learning,
- Finance & Insurance,
- Food & Retail,
- Smart Cities,
- Health & Wellbeing,
- Intrapreneurship.
In total, Kickstart has generated more than 270 innovation deals since its inception in 2016.
Fifty-two startups as well as intrapreneurship teams have brought solutions for the future to Switzerland: from a software platform for decarbonizing supply chains to sustainable insulation packaging made from recycled wastepaper to solar thermal and photovoltaic collectors that achieve one of the highest energy densities in the world.
Ten intense weeks are behind us, during which established Swiss companies and institutions, such as AXA, Coop, Swisscom, La Mobilière, PostFinance, Sanitas, the City of Zürich, Canton de Vaud, Credit Suisse, Galenica, CSS Insurance, and other organizations, explored new solutions with startups from sixteen countries, – Katka Letzing, Co-Founder and CEO of Kickstart Innovation.
Also, Kickstart launched the Kickstart Academy with more support for organizations with access to hackathons, innovation sprints, expert sessions, and more. Organizations engaged have included: Credit Suisse, Hirslanden, Swisscom, CSEM, La Mobilière, AXA, Holcim, PostFinance, Axpo, and energie360.
Ukrainian Innovators On the Stage
Within the Partnerships in the Smart Cities Vertical, The City of Zurich and Ukrainian SolarGaps will work together to test the use of solar blinds to properly measure their potential for urban buildings.
Since 2015 SolarGaps has been on a mission to make energy free and accessible to all. The team is pioneering a method of energy distribution that will power the offices, homes and cities of the future.
SolarGaps offers a simple Smart Blinds solution that automatically tracks the sun and generates electricity. Simply plug-in SolarGaps and solar energy starts to power all devices in home.
By exploring innovative concepts and adopting new technologies, SolarGaps can help move every city closer to their Net Zero goals.
Team: Yevgen Erik, СЕО, Oleksandr Krotenko, СОО, and Andrew Koval, СTО.
Global Awards
- The Smarter E – Award for innovations in renewable energy (2019, Germany)
- COP 24 – UN and EBRD Special Climate Innovation Award (2018, Poland)
- Amazon – Innovation Center China Award (2018, China)
Watch the video to discover more about SolarGaps:
Kickstart is one of Europe’s largest zero equity, open innovation platforms. Our mission is to build innovation ecosystems with purpose, by fast-forwarding innovation. We bring together public and private organizations, startups, investors, and experts, with the shared ambition to deliver next-generation products and services and have a meaningful impact at scale. Each year, Kickstart engages 100 entrepreneurs to collaborate with key players for proofs of concept, pilot and commercial projects, and other innovation partnerships. Additionally, through the intrapreneurship program Kickstart helps established organizations promote and accelerate internal innovation.
