Building on the success of the Energy Launchpad International pilot (2020-2021) in Thailand and India, Energy Systems Catapult was seeking to build partnerships in Thailand, South Africa and Mexico.
Following two challenge calls, 16 UK innovators were chosen for their unique propositions – with three innovators focused on Mexico. They worked closely with Catapult incubation managers and third party experts to learn about their new focus market, adapt their business models and meet potential collaborators.
Energy Launchpad International works closely with innovators to build their business development capacity. Innovators often lack the resources to create full export strategies, and our research shows the two most common things they lack are in-country contacts and market understanding.
The Opportunity
Both South Africa and Mexico currently depend strongly on fossil fuels and at national level it’s hard to see how UK innovators might collaborate.
However, through discussions with our in-country partners we’ve found opportunities for real impact and potential business collaborations at local level – whether that’s helping rural landowners in Mexico diversify their incomes and reduce reliance on diesel generation, or working with South African municipalities as they seek stability from rolling blackouts.
UK firms need support navigating the South African and Mexican markets because they operate differently and there are unique barriers. UK innovators will need to build trusting relationships with local partners in addition to demonstrating a strong product or service. The Energy Launchpad International will support innovators with unique smart energy business model expertise and strong overseas networks to foster collaboration between UK and local firms.
The remote engagement approach is beneficial in that it extends the engagement window beyond that of traditional trade missions – allowing trusting business relationships to be established and for the UK innovators to adapt their approach to the market.
The Solution
Energy Launchpad International combines our international experience of running missions with our start-up incubation service that provides specialist energy systems expertise, to create a unique programme that responded to the needs of UK energy innovators.
We draw on experts from across the Catapult and our network of delivery partners to provide an end-to-end export programme tailored to the technologies, business needs and level of maturity of the three innovators focused on Mexico. The programme ran three overlapping stages (see infographic below).
Build Solar aims to build integrated, affordable, efficient and attractive solar technologies as part of a building’s architecture, in places where energy demand is highest, whilst having minimal impact on the landscape and on quality of life.
Naked Energy’s products use solar energy to decarbonise heat and power in buildings. “Virtu” is an innovative solar collector that combine the best of solar thermal and photovoltaic to produce the world’s highest energy density rooftop solar product.
RheEnergise has developed an innovative pumped storage solution that is low-cost, fast to build and globally scalable, in the timescales demanded by the climate crisis. Its projects use a fluid with 2.5x the density of water, meaning that they can be installed on small hills instead of mountains.
Energy Launchpad International aims to bridge the gap between UK innovators and international markets. These can be grouped into two main issues: (1) understanding the market and (2) establishing relationships with local stakeholders.
Our Energy Market Deep Dives offers insight into the mechanics of a country’s power system, with a focus on smart and clean energy solutions. They include case studies of pilots and local business models and the references section can be used to link to further reading. Our deep dives are a valuable resource for innovators to use in creating their export roadmap, giving them access to relevant data and sources of information that they may not have the resources to collect themselves.
Energy Market Deep Dive
Mexico market assessment for smart energy business models
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Energy Launchpad International - South Africa & Mexico Impact Report
Download
To download this file, we would be grateful if you could tell us a little about yourself.
We use this information for internal research purposes to help us better understand which energy sector stakeholders are interested in which areas of our work. We do not share your details with any third parties.