- Second edition of competition celebrates women-led innovation and technological solutions to climate change
- Winners will see their solution implemented in Lisbon, Los Angeles, Stockholm and Tel Aviv-Yafo
Ten finalists were announced today for the second edition of C40’s Women4Climate Tech Challenge. The finalists and their projects represent a diverse and inspiring range of innovative technology solutions to the global climate crisis for the world’s megacities.
The exciting solutions include smart self-shading windows reducing energy consumption in buildings; and a brand new outdoor fabric to reduce urban temperatures in the face of global heating.
The Women4Climate Tech Challenge is an international competition designed to empower women to lead climate action through technical innovation. Sponsored by the VELUX Group, it aims to support and promote diversity and inclusion in technology, innovation and the built environment sectors. The competition also gives projects, led and designed by women, an opportunity to be trialled in participating cities.
The finalists and their projects are:
- Johana Sanabria (Bogota, Colombia) – Agua Urbana
- Meiling Gao & Vivian Bi (California, USA) – Clarity
- Elizabeth Ledesma & Monica Pulido (Barcelona, Spain) – Ecolocal Market
- Cristina Mota Capitao & Rosário Sommer (Lisbon, Portugal) – Generosa
- Doris Sung & Karen Sabath (Los Angeles, USA) – InVert™ Self-Shading Windows
- Anai Green, (Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel) Lumiweave
- Lorena Gordillo Dagallier (Cambridge, UK) – Open-seneca
- Yael Arbel (Tel Aviv-Yafo) – ReTake
- Marquidia Pacheco (Mexico City, Mexico) – The Fourth State of Matter
- Natalia Mykhaylova (Toronto, Canada) – WeavAir
Four winners of the Women4Climate Tech Challenge will be selected by a panel of mayors and city officials during Entrepreneurship Week, May 4-8, 2020 in Lisbon.
Winners will receive financial and technical support to implement their projects, and will see them brought to life in Lisbon, Los Angeles, Stockholm or Tel Aviv-Yafo. Alongside the mayor’s offices in these cities, city partners City Zone in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Stockholm Business Region in Stockholm, LACI in Los Angeles and Lisboa e-Nova in Lisbon will support in the experimentation phase of these projects. Four winners of the Women4Climate Tech Challenge will be selected by a panel of mayors and city officials on the Entrepreneurship Week on May 4-8, 2020 in Lisbon.
“When women have the chance to innovate, invent, and lead, our economies, our families, and our environment are better off,” said C40 Chair and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “The Women4Climate Tech Challenge puts the power of saving our planet in the hands of women — bringing bold solutions to our cities and placing them at the forefront of our global effort to combat the climate crisis.”
“The climate emergency calls for cities and innovators to join hands and come together. While we need to face old and new challenges in different ways, our creative and innovative ideas are the key to success,” said Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina. “Women4Climate Tech Challenge fosters answers to cities’ everyday questions and does so by empowering women in a world where women are more affected by climate change and yet underrepresented in the decision-making processes. We can’t wait to hear the finalists pitch session in Lisbon in May and to adopt one women-led project who will help us lead the way in climate action.”
The Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Ron Huldai, said: “The Women4Climate Tech Challenge addresses three issues that are high on our municipal agenda: the environment, women’s entrepreneurship, and promoting innovation. Therefore, we are thrilled to be able to continue this successful programme that combines all three.”
”I look forward to seeing the finalists’ pitches in this next decisive phase of the Tech Challenge. It will be interesting to see how they address climate action in buildings, streets and cities through innovative solutions.” Ingrid Reumert, VP, Global Communications, Sustainability & Public Affairs, VELUX Group, member of the Tech Challenge expert jury.
Women have a central role to play in driving climate action to transform cities and communities into sustainable places to live and their leadership and participation in climate action extends beyond politics. For the first edition of the C40 Women4Climate Tech Challenge, two inspiring young women tech entrepreneurs, Elodie Grimoin (Paris) and Inna Braverman (Tel-Aviv Yafo), won the global contest. The winners received support and acceleration from C40 and its partners during the experimentation phase in Paris and Tel Aviv-Yafo. The Urban Lab from Paris&Co in Paris, and The Platform: Urban Innovation Center in Tel Aviv-Yafo supported in the roll-out of the winning project in these cities.
Ultimately, the Tech Challenge aims to cultivate ground-breaking climate solutions and create opportunities to see winning projects scaled in other C40 cities.
Women are often disproportionately impacted by climate change but have also proven to be some of the world’s fiercest advocates for action. Women mayors, entrepreneurs, and leaders across society have been a driving force behind meaningful climate action that is steering cities, businesses and NGOs toward sustainable, long-lasting solutions.
The Women4Climate initiative, originally launched in 2017 by former C40 Chair and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, aims to advance women’s leadership in climate action in the world’s leading cities. Through the Tech Challenge, C40 brings the Women4Climate initiative and its successful mentorship programme into the innovation community, driving action that will help cities tackle climate change with measurable impact.
The Women4Climate Tech Challenge 2nd edition was launched in October 2019 at the C40 World Mayors Summit, Copenhagen.