ENGIE Switzerland Pitch

Who is it for?

In order to participate, you should be a company, start-up or entrepreneur with an innovative solution or even disruptive commercial solution relating to any of the following themes:

• Smart Technologies
• Energy Efficiency
• Renewable Energy
• Smart Cities

Deadline for submission : May 22nd at midnight

Rewards and benefits

Selected projects will:

1. - Pitch their projects or solution to ENGIE executives and potential clients
2. - Win the opportunity for coaching to help them develop and market their innovations, with relevance to Cofely Switzerland activity
3. - Showcase and pitch their solution during the biannual customer event to be held in Zurich’s Umwelt Arena on November 3rd , and network with 300 hundred customers participating from all segments, residential, public, utilities, etc. and 100 employees. The winners are invited to the whole event with the guided tour in Umwelt Arena, the 1st CO2 free building in Switzerland, with one of the biggest photovoltaic installation and showing the latest technologies in energy efficiency and sustainability.
4. - Co-develop new offer and have access to a part of ENGIE's Switzerland customers portfolio and exposure to the wider global ENGIE Group
5. - Winning project will pitch in front of the members of the ENGIE New Ventures Investment Fund, which has at its disposal €100m.

Context

Within ENGIE's global innovation initiative, Cofely Switzerland is searching for collaborative partnerships with innovative companies in order to bring new solutions to their customers.

We want to hear from you, if you are a company, start-up or entrepreneur with an innovative solution relating to any of the following themes:

1. - Disruptive service offers to optimize energy efficiency for residential, commercial and industrial customers, utilizing smart technological solutions and disruptive business models.
2. - Deep learning algorithms and predictive analytics to give insight for building operators, owners, facility managers, etc.
3. - New business models and applications to drive benefit from both existing and new developments in the field of renewable energy, solar, wind, battery storage, heat pumps, etc.
4. - Solutions to improve in a sustainable way the urban environments and developments of our greatest towns and cities, such as transportation and mobility, lighting, security, health, urban farming, air quality and citizens engagement and well being

A panel of ENGIE and external experts will select the most exciting innovative projects that will be invited to participate at ENGIE Switzerland Pitch.

Eligibility criteria

Submissions will be assessed against the following criteria

1. - Relevance to the identified themes (Energy efficiency; Renewable energy; Smart technologies; Smart Cities)
2. - Innovative character of the submission
3. - Maturity of the project / time to market
4. - Feasibility and deployment of the project in the short term
5. - Solutions should be based or be deployable in Switzerland
6. - Innovative Business model

Selection procedure

Selection will take place in 2 phases:
- Initial selection to compile a shortlist of finalists who will pitch – May 27th
- Presentations by shortlisted companies in pitch session in front of ENGIE jury for final selection – June 3rd

After the pitch sessions, the Panel will choose finalists who will have the opportunity to participate and pitch at the Customer event in Zurich on November 3rd.

Provisional Timetable
May 22nd at midnight : Deadline for submission of application forms
May from 23rd to 26th: Selection of candidates for the pitch session on June 3rd
May 27th: Announcement of finalists to be invited to the Pitch session
June 3rd : Live presentation of finalists in Zurich
June 17th : Selection of winners who will come and pitch during the customers event in Zurich on November 3rd


Selection Committee
ENGIE Corporate and Switzerland executives and Engie New Ventures investment fund representative

Why is ENGIE doing this?
A major utility and service provider for over 150 years, ENGIE Group believes the world of energy is undergoing a profound and lasting transformation. The Group has set itself the goal of becoming Europe’s leader in energy transition, in particular by focusing on innovation. This drive is at the core of the Group’s efforts to transform good ideas into operational services for the benefit of its customers. To achieve this goal, ENGIE has launched an ambitious programme on innovation to boost entrepreneurial creativity.
As part of this initiative, ENGIE has created a “New Ventures” fund of 130 million € , aimed at accelerating the development of new business linked with energy transition by capturing external innovation. The fund is focussed on start-ups with a differentiating technology or an innovative business model that are looking for an industrial partner.