Social Alpha launches 3rd edition of Energy Challenge

Social Alpha has launched the third edition of the Energy Challenge as ‘Techtonic – Innovations in Clean Energy’ inviting innovators and entrepreneurs with transformative technologies that have the potential to create deep and irreversible social, economic and climate impact.

Techtonic - Innovations in Clean Energy will seek solutions across the entire energy lifecycle, value chain and multiple use cases with a special focus this year on Energy for Livelihoods; Smart Energy Systems; Energy Storage and Thermal Comfort. 

The challenge is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals – SDG 13 (Climate Action), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 1  (No Poverty), amongst others.

Techtonic is looking for disruptive, innovative, and impactful clean technology solutions that should focus on affordability, accessibility and user experience with scope for deployment in households, industry, farm, utility, infrastructure, buildings and any other use case.

The winning solutions will be nurtured through the various stages of their lab-to-market journey. Innovators and entrepreneurs can apply in pre-pilot and post-pilot categories.

Winners in the pre-pilot category will receive physical incubation at Social Alpha-Atal Incubation Centres set up under Atal Innovation Mission, the flagship initiative of NITI Aayog, Government of India.

The customised incubation includes prototype and MVP design and development support; business model development support; mentorship from technical and business experts; and access to legal, IP, communication and branding services. 

Post-pilot category winners will be incubated at the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre, a joint initiative of Tata Trusts and the Government of India and supported by Department of Biotechnology, BIRAC, Tata Power and Tata Power-Delhi Distribution Limited. They will receive support in product design, testing and development, GTM and market access, and get international collaboration opportunities through Mission Innovation, a global initiative working to accelerate clean energy innovations. 

Selected startups from both the labs will also receive full spectrum venture development and scale-up support from Social Alpha, which may include techno-commercial pilot support by Tata Power’s Pilot Accelerator of upto 25L per startup, scale-up support of upto 1 crore per startups by Social Alpha’s SDG-7 accelerator and Sustain Plus Foundation and seed funding of up to Rs 1 crore per startup by Social Alpha. Besides this, a number of corporations and investors are expected to join the support ecosystem as the programme progresses. Various incubators, accelerators and investors participating in the programme are expected to deploy collectively more than Rs 20 crores over a period of 24 months.