The Institute for Sustainability, in partnership with the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate-KIC), has launched a challenge-led competition to find solutions to help some of the UKs biggest commercial and retail property owners and investors to reduce the environmental impact of their buildings. The competition is in its last week, but theres still time to enter your market ready and close to market solutions to two real-world challenges, one identified by the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) a collaboration of leading London commercial property owners and investors and the other by leading UK supermarket chain Sainsburys. The deadline for submissions is Friday 7 March 2014. Commercial property challenge (BBP): Metering and monitoring solutions. The BBPs membership has identified a need for innovative metering and monitoring solutions to help reduce energy/water use across their portfolios. Shaped by a working group that includes Land Securities, Henderson Global Investors, and Legal and General Investment Management, the competition criteria have been designed to complement significant work already underway by members to drive sustainability standards across their commercial property portfolios. Retail property challenge (Sainsburys): Innovative Photovoltaic solutions Sainsburys is seeking cutting edge photovoltaic solutions suitable for use on its properties. Sainsburys aims to be the UKs greenest grocer and has committed to reaching 20 ambitious goals by 2020 to help customers make more nutritious, sustainable and ethical purchasing decisions. The 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan is Sainsburys roadmap to make this vision a reality and includes plans to ensure all UK stores perform as sustainably as possible. Reasons to enter – Shortlisted solutions will be selected to pitch their innovation to either the BBPs membership or to Sainsburys which could result in an opportunity to demonstrate solutions in situ* – Shortlisted solutions will also be invited to participate in roundtable discussions with those making buying decisions and managing some of the UKs largest property portfolios – Opportunity to access a network of large potential innovation buyers – Profile on the iVeridis database where buyers of clean technology are actively looking for solutions – Forge new contacts through access to the Climate-KIC communitys Europe-wide innovation network. *We are unable to guarantee that shortlisted solutions will be demonstrated in situ. The Chief Executive of the Institute for Sustainability, Ian Short, said: The relative immaturity of the climate change mitigation and adaptation market can slow the take-up of innovative products, with many organisations concerned about potential risk and return on investment. Alongside this, many innovation support initiatives tend to start with a focus on the technology or product, rather than identifying the needs of the demand side in the first instance. By working closely with potential buyers to understand their requirements better, we hope to stimulate suppliers, innovators and researchers to respond with innovations that solve real world challenges. Who should apply? Submissions from individuals, sole traders, SMEs, and research and academic institutes are particularly encouraged. Deadline The deadline for submissions is Friday 7 March 2014. For more information and to enter visit http://www.instituteforsustainability.co.uk/news/28-Jan-2014.html Background The competition is part of the Institutes Sustainable Innovation Forums (SIFs) set up to support property owners, investors and managers in the following areas: retail, commercial/municipal and residential. The SIFs are funded by the Climate-KIC through its Climate Market Accelerator (CMA) project, which aims to speed up the time it takes for climate change adaptation and mitigation innovations to reach the market. CMA is a pan-European project, working with leading experts to help demand side partners define their requirements in ways which will stimulate suppliers to respond with effective solutions. About the BBP membership The BBP counts amongst its members some of the largest property owners, developers and managers in the UK. These include British Land, Blackstone Group, Canary Wharf Group, Grosvenor, Hammerson, Henderson Global Asset Managers, Hermes Real Estate, Land Securities, Legal and General Property, PRUPIM, Quintain Estates & Development, Transport for London and Workspace Group. Property assets include over 2.2m m2 of office space (225 buildings), with an average size of 9,500m2 in London and 1.2m m2 (135 buildings) across the rest of the UK. About Sainsburys Sainsburys aims to be the UKs greenest grocer and has committed to reaching 20 ambitious goals by 2020 to help customers make more nutritious, sustainable and ethical purchasing decisions. The 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan is Sainsburys roadmap to make this vision a reality and includes plans to ensure all UK stores perform as sustainably as possible. Eligibility In order to draw from as wide a pool of potential solutions as possible, eligibility is not restrictive and should encourage a broad range of submissions. However, entrants will need to operate/be based within the European Economic Area in order to qualify for Climate-KIC support. ENDS Notes to editor: For more information, please contact Emma Joy at the Institute for Sustainability: Tel: 020 7517 1830 email: emma.joy@instituteforsustainability.org.uk The Institute for Sustainability is an independent charity established in 2009 to support cross sector collaboration and innovation. Its mission is to significantly accelerate the delivery of economically, environmentally and socially sustainable cities and communities, by driving innovative demonstration projects and developing programmes to actively capture and share learning and best practice. To find out more about the Institute for Sustainability, visit www.instituteforsustainability.org.uk The Better Buildings Partnership is an exclusive collaboration of Londons leading commercial property owners and allied organisations, supported by the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority. Their aim is to develop solutions to improve the sustainability of Londons existing commercial building stock and achieve substantial CO2 savings in support of the Mayors target of 60 per cent by 2025. For more information about Climate Market Accelerator activity in Europe, visit: http://www.climate-kic.org/entrepreneurs/business-support/climate-market-accelerator/
Innovation competition – closing soon
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