ISC3 Investor Forum for Sustainable Chemistry Changemakers
150 international guests from start-ups, finance, industry, science, NGOs and politics took part in the second international and for the first time virtual Investor Forum of the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Center (ISC3) and the American Think Beyond Innovation Accelerator ™.
During the three-day event, innovative solutions from sustainable chemistry were presented that make important contributions to the global sustainability goals (SDGs).
The conference participants discussed to what extent the capital market and financing instruments contribute to maintaining the innovation pipeline and how exactly the dynamics in the innovation ecosystem of sustainable chemistry are shaped.
The panel discussions were supplemented on all three event days by pitching sessions with a total of 20 innovative start-ups. In addition, another 20 companies presented their sustainable innovations on the ISC3 partner website and in a virtual investor brochure https: //www.flipsnack.com/95BC9776AED/sustainable-chemistry-investor-forum-2020 / …in front. A virtual platform also offered interested international investors and the participating start-ups the opportunity to network directly with one another and to explore synergies and business opportunities. This exchange took place over a total of 1644 streamed minutes as part of the Investor Forum 2020.
In addition, the best start-up pitch was chosen by the audience with an audience award for each day of the event. The event ended with the award ceremony for the winners of this year’s ISC3 Innovation Awards on the topic of sustainable building and living.
On the three days of the event, Dr. Andreas Förster, ISC3 Innovation Hub, Daniella Russo, Think Beyond Innovation Accelerator and Dr. Alexis Bazzanella, ISC3 Innovation Hub.
Christine Wellington-Moore from the United Nations Development Program started the first discussion at the Investor Forum on October 21 with a rousing opening contribution on the transformative power of innovations. The other panelists, Gian de Belder, Procter & Gamble, Pierre Barthélémy, Cefic, and Elsbeth Roelofs, MVO Nederlands, discussed the immensely important role of sustainable chemistry in terms of achieving the global sustainability goals (SDGs).
The opening speech on the second day of the event was given by Ludwig Goris, who works as a senior partner at cleantech investor Capricorn Partners. In his contribution he showed that investing in sustainable chemistry is a good idea and that money can be made with it. In addition, he referred to numerous synergy effects that investments in the circular economy can have and showed how capital market investments and the achievement of global sustainability goals can be achieved. Subsequently, Danya Hakeem, Elemental Excelerator, Marc Leduc, BASF Venture Capital, Martin Mulvihil, Safer Made Fund, and Ludwig Goris discussed to what extent the capital market and financial instruments contribute to maintaining the innovation pipeline and how exactly the dynamics in the innovation ecosystem of sustainable chemistry are shaped.
On the third day of the event, Rócio Fonseca, Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO), Abdel-Raman Fahmy, youthinkgreen Egypt, Nitesh Mehta, Industrial Green Chemistry World (IGCW) and Newreka Green Synth Technologies and Hugo Delissen, Brightlands Chemelot Campus spoke about how the growth of the Sustainable chemistry innovation ecosystem can be further promoted.
On each of the days of the event, the best presentation of the day was chosen by an audience survey. The audience chose “KBCols” on the first day of the event, “Primitives” on the second day of the event and “Ecoact Tanzania” on the third day of the event as the winners of the Investor Forum 2020 Audience Awards.
The Indian start-up “KBCols” extracts natural pigments and bioactive substances from microbes and thus produces a completely new generation of environmentally friendly and sustainable dyes.
The North American start-up “Primitives” actively reduces the pollution of the environment by plastic waste by manufacturing attractive plastic materials based on algae and other bio-based and biodegradable raw materials.
And the third winner of the audience award on the third day of the event, the African start-up EcoAct Tanzania, is developing an energy-efficient extrusion method for plastic materials in order to transform used plastic packaging and materials into tough and durable plastic components. This creates a cost-effective alternative to conventional construction timber.
The highlight of this year’s edition of the Investor Forum were the presentations by the finalists of the € 25,000 ISC3 Innovation Award on the topic of sustainable building and living, as well as the free choice of the winning innovation with a festive award ceremony instead of a third impulse contribution.
Originally, the competition only provided a financial bonus for the winner. However, since the 50 applications submitted contained a large number of innovations of very good quality, additional categories and awards were created in order to do justice to different and unusual solutions.
The forum originally planned as a face-to-face event in Frankfurt am Main in May 2020 was postponed to late autumn due to the corona pandemic and was relaunched as a virtual event for the first time. The Investor Forum is a central event of the ISC3 Innovation Hub located at DECHEMA eV in Frankfurt and is part of the global start-up service, which accompanies innovations in the field of sustainable chemistry along the entire journey from the laboratory to market readiness and into the expansion phase. In addition to events such as the Investor Forum, the Global Start-up Service of the ISC3 supports start-ups with a variety of other support services.
The third Investor Forum organized by ISC3 and its international partners is planned for autumn / winter 2021.
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