Global Cooling Innovation Summit and Prize Launch

On November 12th and 13th, the Global Cooling Prize coalition hosted the first-of-its-kind cooling solutions oriented summit—Global Cooling Innovation Summit in New Delhi, India. The summit most prominently featured the launch of the Global Cooling Prize and panel discussions on the important topics of innovations in cooling, investment, and scaling of breakthrough technologies, and policy support for cooling innovations of the future.

 

Highlights of the event were:

 

The launch of the Global Cooling Prize by Dr. Harsh Vardhan

 

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Minister of Science and Technology, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Government of India launched the prize portal on November 12 and thanked the Global Cooling Prize Coalition for promoting innovation in this space in his inaugural address.

 

Powerful remarks by global thought leaders and innovators

 

At the Inaugural Session, the most senior representatives from key ministries in the Government of India spoke about the cooling challenge and the need for innovation. The Indian ministries represented at the summit were the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Power. John Loughhead, Chief Scientific Officer, Government of UK and Mission Innovation also spoke during the Inaugural Session. Also on the dais was the Indian Prime Minister’s Chief Scientific Advisor, who delivered special remarks supporting the prize. Richard Branson, an official Global Ambassador of the prize, recorded a personal video message calling on all innovators to enter the prize.

 

The release of a groundbreaking report on solving the global cooling challenge

 

RMI released a report titled “Solving the Global Cooling Challenge”, which received a fantastic response and continues to generate interest globally. The report stresses the need for a breakthrough cooling solution across the world – one that has five-times less climate impact (5X solution), which would prevent up to 100 gigatons of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2050 and help mitigate up to 0.5°C in global warming by the end of the century. RMI also released a dossier titled “Why India and the world needs a breakthrough in comfort cooling technology,” focusing specifically on the Indian market.

 

Affirmation of the Prize’s goals by industry experts and potential prize applicants

 

The first day of the Global Cooling Innovation Summit was attended by over 180 individuals from around the world. These attendees represented various intergovernmental and national government entities such as Mission Innovation, Government of India, United Nations Development Program, World Bank, USAID, Oakridge National Laboratory, and The United States Embassy, as well as prominent universities and not-for-profits such as Sustainable Energy for All, The Climate Group, World Wildlife Fund, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The Energy and Resources Institute, the University of Birmingham, and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. Many of these leading experts voiced their support for the Global Cooling Prize as speakers or panelists during the event. Additionally, several potential prize applicants attended, including incumbents, start-ups, and prominent industry associations, most of whom expressed their interest to enter the prize.

The second day of the event provided all attendees an opportunity to learn all the details of the prize and ask their questions to prize organizers as well as other industry experts. The day consisted of a presentation and Q&A on the prize criteria, roundtable discussions on the support prize participants require to be successful, and a Pitch clinic with experts in which 16 experts held a total of 47 individual sessions with potential prize participants.

 

Widespread media coverage and outreach globally

 

The event and the Global Cooling Prize received excellent media coverage and noteworthy articles in some of the most premier news outlets around the world such as CNN, NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Financial Times, Cooling Post, Economic Times, Inside Climate News, The Wire and Times of India

 

The Prize’s Outreach Partners which include UN Environment, SEforAll, Virgin Unite, NRDC, The Climate Group, U4E, World Economic Forum, ASHRAE, ISHRAE, AIRAH, CLASP, German Energy Agency, ECEEE, Social Alpha, TERI, ASE, IGBC, AHRI, and AEA helped spread the word through their networks, amplifying global outreach for this important initiative.

 

Global interest and participation in the prize

 

In the two weeks following the event, more than 550 teams registered to participate in the prize and over 60 teams submitted their initial proposals. The teams that registered come from more than 20 countries across six continents, demonstrating a truly global participation.

 

 

ITC Maurya
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi,
India

November 12

The Global Cooling Innovation Summit

Time
Session
9:00 am - 10:00 am
Registration - Coffee and tea
10:00 am - 10:15 am
Introduction
Dr. Sanjay Bajpai, Head, Technology Mission Division: Energy & Water, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
Mr. Iain Campbell, Senior Fellow, Rocky Mountain Institute

10:15 am - 11:00 am
The Cooling Challenge and a Call to Action

Mr. Iain Campbell, Senior Fellow, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)
Dr. Paul Bunje, Co-Founder and COO/CSO, Conservation X Labs
Dr. Satish Kumar, President and Executive Director, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)
Mr. Rajan Rawal, Executive Director, CARBSE, CEPT University
Inaugural Session
11:00 am - 11:03 am
Welcome
Dr. Sanjay Bajpai, Head, Technology Mission Division: Energy & Water, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
Mr. Iain Campbell, Senior Fellow, Rocky Mountain Institute
11:03 - 11:05 am
Ceremonial lighting of lamp and Inauguration of Global Cooling Innovation Summit
11:05 am - 12:05 pm
Remarks by Mission Innovation Leadership
Prof. John Loughhead, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Government of UK

Research, Development & Innovation Framework in India
Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India

Accelerating Clean Energy through Mission Innovation
Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India

India’s Innovations towards an Energy Efficient Economy
Shri Abhay Bhakre, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India

India Cooling Action Plan
Shri Anil Kumar Jain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India

Vision of India towards a low carbon energy efficient economy
Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the
Govt. of India and Chairperson, Prime Ministers’ Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)
12:05 pm - 12:08 pm
Launch of the Global Cooling Prize
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Mission Innovation leaders, other dignitaries launch the prize and open the application portal.

Followed by Media Interviews
12:08 pm - 12:28 pm
Inaugural Address by Shri Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister of Science and Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Earth Sciences, Government of India
12:28 pm - 12:30 pm
Vote of thanks
Dr. JBV Reddy, Scientist/ Programme Officer (MI-IC7), DST-GoI
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch and Press Interactions
1:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Report Presentation: "Solving the Global Cooling Challenge"
Launch of the global report and presentation by Ms. Sneha Sachar, Senior Program Lead, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)

Panel Discussions
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Policymaker’s Panel Discussion: Cooling as a National Challenge
Panelists share their perspective on the role of policy in solving the cooling challenge with a discussion on the currently available public policy tools and how those may be informed by or enhanced as a result of new innovations in the space.

Moderator: Dr. Satish Kumar, President and Executive Director, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)
Panelists:
Shri Abhay Bhakre, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India
Dr. Sanjay Bajpai, Head, Technology Mission Division: Energy & Water, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
Shri Anil Kumar Jain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India
Ms. Christine Egan, Executive Director and CEO, CLASP
Mr. Brian Motherway, Head of Energy Efficiency, International Energy Agency
2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
Solutions to the Cooling Challenge: Innovations of the Future
Global experts talk about the industry, the cooling landscape and what cooling innovations we may see that will drive the cooling revolution

Moderator: Mr. Iain Campbell, Senior Fellow, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)
Panelists:
Prof. Toby Peters, Professor of Cold Economy, University of Birmingham
Mr. Ben Hartley, Energy Efficiency and Cooling Specialist, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll)
Prof. S. Srinivasa Murthy, Visiting Professor, Centre for Energy Research (ICER), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Mr. C Subramaniam, National President, Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE)
Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI (The Energy & Resources Institute)
3:45 pm - 4:10 pm
Tea and Coffee Break
4:10 pm - 5:15 pm
Scaling and Financing Breakthrough Innovations in Cooling
A panel of VCs, foundations, policy specialists and financial institutions will discuss pathways for scaling innovation that can fuel the cooling revolution.

Moderator: Ms. Fatima Karan, Consulting Editor, Bloomberg TV India
Panelists:
Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
Mr. Krishan Dhawan, CEO, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation
Dr. Paul Bunje, Co-Founder and COO/CSO, Conservation X Labs
Mr. Ashok Sarkar, Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank
Mr. Andrew Eil, Partner, Climate Finance Advisors
5:15 pm - 5:20 pm
Closing Remarks
Dr. Sanjay Bajpai, Head, Technology Mission Division: Energy & Water, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
Dr. Satish Kumar, President and Executive Director, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)

November 13

Pitch Day Challenge: Innovative Solutions in Cooling

Time
Session
9:30 am - 10:00 am
Participant registration -
Open networking with Experts, VCs, Investors, Bilaterals, as part of the technical review and investment and scaling committees
10:00 am - 11:30 am
An introductory presentation on “What it will take to win the prize?”
- Technical criteria
- Testing process
- Application deadlines
- Q&A
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
An introductory presentation on “What support and resources will be available?”
Participants will learn about:
- Interim awards for prototype development and the final prize
- Applicant Support Access to global incubators/technology accelerators
- Access to IP expert
- Longer term support and access to other markets
- Q&A
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Lunch
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Pitch Clinic with Experts -
Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and to share their preliminary ideas with technical experts, financial and scaling experts, prize organizers, and IP Lawyers. Individual teams will share the elevator pitch of their ideas with these experts who will provide advice to participants individually. Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc81llzmSRS0j9tKxq75gdk2rCVou8egTfOT6AqUZyfS0y81w/viewform.
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Participant Team Mixer over Tea and Coffee -
Interested to collaborate on a solution to compete in the prize? Join potential participants who also are seeking to collaborate on the prize.
4:00 pm
Closing Remarks
Dr. Sanjay Bajpai, Head, Technology Mission Division: Energy & Water, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
Dr. Satish Kumar, President and Executive Director, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)

Dr. Harsh Vardhan Hon'ble Union Minister of Science and Technology and Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Government of India
Iain Campbell Senior Fellow, Rocky Mountain Institute

Dr. Sanjay Bajpai Head Technology Mission Division : Energy & Water, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India

Paul Bunje Co-Founder, Conservation X Labs

Prof. John Loughhead Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Government of UK

Dr. Satish Kumar President and Executive Director, AEEE

Rajan Rawal Executive Director, CARBSE, CEPT University