Decarbonizing Industry for a Better World
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Calling all innovators to participate in the
Industrial Decarbonization Innovation Challenge!
Up to $250,000 in prizes available for the Best Industrial
Decarbonization Solutions
The challenge will connect industrial decarbonization technologies
with some of the leading industrial companies and investors in the world.
What?
Centrepolis Accelerator is excited to announce, alongside our sponsoring partners the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Whirlpool Corporation, Gerdau, Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Breakthrough Energy, the launch of the Industrial Decarbonization Innovation Challenge.
The goal of this challenge is to globally crowdsource best in class Industrial decarbonization technologies and connect them with our industrial corporate sponsors to accelerate their emission reduction goals and industrial decarbonization programs. Michigan Executive Directive 2020-10 charged EGLE with developing a Michigan Healthy Climate plan and achieving economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. Our goal is help achieve goals like these.
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Up to $250,000 will be made available to demonstrate and test best-in-class industrial decarbonization technologies in a real world setting*.
Why?
We believe that this work is crucial now more than ever, to ensure a sustainable future for our planet. By bringing together industry experts, innovators, and investors, we are helping to create solutions that will make a lasting impact. The Department of Energy has lofty goals of moving toward a Net Zero economy by 2050, and the U.S industrial sector is a massive contributor with total emissions in 2021 equalling 6,340 Million Metric Tons of COâ‚‚ or nearly 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
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We are committed to helping the industrial sector transition to a more sustainable future by providing resources, and support to help them achieve their goals. This innovation challenge will help empowering industry and innovators to reduce carbon emissions of industrial processes.
Michigan has a strong industrial base with over 10,000 manufacturers. It is essential that we support their transition to reduce energy consumption and emissions. By doing this effectively we also provide our local manufacturers with an opportunity to improve their operational margins and improve their global competitiveness.
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How?
By deeply understanding our partner organizations' industrial decarbonization opportunities, utilizing Centrepolis' expertise in open innovation, and leveraging our ecosystem of experts this challenge will effectively scout, evaluate, and match best-in-class decarbonization technologies with the problem statements provided by our industrial partners to accelerate the adoption of industrial decarbonization.
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Challenge Benefits
Connect With Corporate Partners
Expand Your Network
Enter Paid
Pilot Program
Develop & Drive Your Solution
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Fast Track Product Development
Accelerate Commercialization
Our Challenge Focus Areas
Decarbonize How We Manufacture Things
To reach Net-Zero, we need to use clean energy and production processes. We aim to enable traditional machine applications to switch to sustainable energy sources and to improve carbon capture
Some examples of technologies we're looking for:
- Unique fuel switching technology for traditional machine applications
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Breakthroughs in Hydrogen fuel or electric boiler
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Substitutes for natural gas equip, methods to retrofit and electrify natural gas
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Carbon capture systems for manufacturing procedures and plants
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Decarbonizing and or electrifying paint curing and drying ovens
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Decarbonized water heating technologies
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Decarbonizing dewatering and moisture removal
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Affordable and scalable biofuel technologies
Decarbonize the Built Environment
How we run and monitor the buildings we occupy is important but we need to decarbonize the way we build these environments. We aim to make current buildings more efficient and at the same time build new structures without emitting carbon.
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Some examples of technologies we're looking for:
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​​Low cost energy consumption metering
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​Dynamic supply balance across multiple energy sources (Grid, Wind, Solar, Battery)
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Dynamic load balancing
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Breakthrough energy efficient building technologies
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Water monitoring and reduction
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Systems that heat or cool isolated work areas locally without having to cool and heat the whole building
Decarbonize The Supply Chain
Our program seeks to leverage new circular design processes, materials, and manufacturing technologies to eliminate new carbon from the industrial supply chain
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Some Examples of technologies we're looking for:
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Material, product recycling and waste reduction technologies
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Improve onsite scrap recycle and reuse
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​Increase the use of non-virgin materials in manufacturing
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Create new materials and manufacturing processes that are carbon neutral or carbon negative
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How can we recycle and reuse foams (insulation foams) throughout the product life cycle?
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How can we reuse parts of returned products that can be recycled back into the manufacturing process?
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How can we utilize “digital passport” to improve the circularity of our products for supply chain transparency
Challenge Timeline
Aug
21
Dec
31
Feb
2024
Challenge Opens
Technology companies, startups and established, can start submitting applications. To learn more sign up for the September 14 launch webinar here
Application Review Complete
Our internal group of technical and business experts will review applications and down select applicants for review by our sponsor organizations
Jan
2024
Finalists Announced
We will announce the finalists via a Webinar and list them on our website.
Nov
30
Mar/Apr
2024
Submissions Close
This is the last day applications will be accepted. The submission portal on F6S will close at midnight Pacific Standard Time
1-on-1 Meetings
After our reviewers and sponsors have down selected the top applicants, we will schedule 1-on-1 meeting with the sponsors to better understand the best fit and further narrow down the applicants
Pitch Event
Live Event allowing finalists to present to sponsors, investors and broader group of industrial manufacturing partners in Michigan.
Centrepolis and our corporate and supporting partners
are experts in helping startups scale their solutions.
*Prize money will be available for both pilot demonstration projects as well as product development services as deemed needed by the awardee companies and the industrial corporate partners. Prize money can be in the form of cash or in-kind services from Centrepolis and their Challenge sponsors and is subject to industrial partners agreeing to pilots in their operations based on the value of each Challenge applicant.